Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived in Dhaka yesterday after wrapping up her three-day official visit to Thailand to attend the 2nd Asia-Pacific Water Summit (2nd APWS).

President Md. Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinayesterday expressed their deep shock and sorrows at the loss of lives and property in a powerful tornado in Oklahoma, USA on Monday, In a condolence message sent to US President Barack Obama, she said and hoped that the US government would soon be able to overcome the losses caused by the tornado. The PM prayed for salvation of the departed souls and conveyed deep sympathies to the bereaved families.

President Md. Abdul Hamid expressed gratitude for the US support of providing artificial limbs and better treatment to the injured victims of Rana Plaza building collapse at Savar. The President also expressed his gratitude for the US support to bring modernization in the activities of the Jatiya Sangsad. US ambassador Dan W Mozena said his country is keen to extend all possible cooperation to Bangladesh. He said this while paying a courtesy call on the President at Bangabhaban yesterday. 'I hope that the existing excellent bilateral relations will be further expanded in the days to come,' he said.

President Md. Abdul Hamid laid emphasis on increasing seats at the country's engineering and technology universities for creating more engineers to expedite the ongoing development endeavours. The President made the remarks when a six-member delegation of Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET) led by its Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr M Murtuza Ali paid a call on him at Bangabhaban yesterday.

The United Nations (UN) has lauded the cyclone preparedness programmes (CPP) undertaken by Bangladesh in the wake of the storm Mahasen that hit the coastal belt last week. The preparedness had saved thousands of lives in the country, the UN said in a statement issued on Monday.

India and Bangladesh are aiming to start setting a rail link between Agartala, the capital of India’s northeastern state of Tripura, and Akhaura, a Bangladeshi town near the border, by the end of this year. This was disclosed by officials of both countries after the project steering committee discussed the issue at a meeting at Bangladesh Rail Bhaban in the capital yesterday.

The government is preparing a National Safety Net Strategy Paper through evaluating the existing social safety net programmes (SSNPs) to make them more effective in achieving millennium development goals (MDGs), a top government official said.

The Election Commission (EC) will announce schedules for election to newly constituted Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) and by-election to Kishoreganj-4 parliamentary constituency today. Besides, the EC will decide soon about holding polls to two city corporations in Dhaka.  Election Commissioner M Shahnewaz disclosed this to journalists at EC secretariat yesterday.

Bangladesh Shanti Parishad (BSP) will celebrate 40 years of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's receiving the Julio-Curie award tomorrow (Thursday). This was disclosed at a press conference at the National Press Club in the city yesterday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to attend the function  at Osmani Memorial Auditorium as the chief guest.                 

Stocks returned to the red yesterday. DSEX, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, finished the day at 3,832.62 points, falling 69.77 points, or 1.79 percent.