Cyclone 'Dana', which is located in the west-central Bay of Bengal and adjacent areas, is increasing its strength and is moving towards the coast.

The cyclone may hit the coast between Thursday (October 24) night and Friday morning. The Indian Meteorological Department has warned that the tidal surge may be strong on the coast of West Bengal when the cyclone hits the land. The maximum wave height may be more than 14 feet!

'Dana' is moving towards the coast at a speed of 12 kilometers per hour. The direction is mainly northwest. Meteorologists have said that 'Dana' may hit the Dhamara from the inner core of Odisha. The height of the waves on the coast will be the highest from late Thursday night to early Friday morning.

As per the forecast, the waves on the coast of West Bengal may rise from 9.84 feet to 14.43 feet between 2:30 am on Thursday and 5:30 am on Friday. It has been advised to keep the coast clear during this period.

According to the latest bulletin issued from Alipore, 'Dana' is 120 km southeast of Paradip in Odisha, 210 km south-southeast of Dhamara and 270 km south of Sagardip in West Bengal.

An official of the Alipore Meteorological Department said that even if 'landfall' is not made in West Bengal, the most damage is expected in East Midnapore district. The speed of the storm there may be more than 100 km from Thursday night. The maximum speed of the storm can be 120 km in East Midnapore. Apart from this, some parts of South 24 Parganas including the Sundarbans will witness the havoc of 'Dana'. The speed of the storm can be 90 to 100 km. In Kolkata, the maximum speed of the storm can be 80 km. An alert has also been issued for Haldia and Kolkata ports.

Due to the influence of 'Dana', rains in West Bengal will continue till Friday. Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly and North 24 Parganas are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rains till Friday. The same possibility is there in Jhargram. However, there is a possibility of heavy rainfall in Purulia, Bankura, East Burdwan, West Burdwan, Murshidabad and Nadia till Friday. A red alert of very heavy rainfall has been issued in East Midnapore, South 24 Parganas and West Midnapore on Thursday and Friday. The alert is in effect in Jhargram on Friday. Heavy rain will continue in Midnapore and Jhargram on Saturday as well.

It is learnt that the issue of Md. Shahabuddin’s stay or not as president was discussed in a meeting of the Advisory Council presided over by Dr. Yunus. The government will decide on this issue after discussing with the political parties.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Advisory Council held at the office of the Chief Adviser in Tejgaon in the capital on Thursday (October 24).

Forest, Environment and Climate Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan said that the government will decide on the issue of the president’s resignation based on discussions with the political parties.

The Chief Adviser held a meeting with top BNP leaders on the president issue yesterday, Wednesday. After the meeting, the BNP leaders said that they do not want the president to resign at this time, as it will create a constitutional and political crisis.

Recently, President Md. Shahabuddin’s comments on the issue of Sheikh Hasina’s resignation from the post of Prime Minister have led to demands for his resignation. He said, there is no documentary evidence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation in the student-public uprising. As a result, protests started in various places.

In view of this, the government's law advisor Asif Nazrul said, the current President Md. Shahabuddin has lied on the issue of the resignation of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. This is tantamount to violating his oath.

In the last few days, news has spread that a new face is being sought for the post of President. Although Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed was offered the post of President, he did not accept it.

Dhaka: A court has acquitted BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, 3 others, from the case in the Global Agrotrade Private Limited (GATCO) corruption case. It has ordered the trial to begin by framing charges against 12 others.

The other two acquitted are BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain.

The court of Judge Abu Taher of Dhaka Special Judge Court-3 passed the order after the hearing on Thursday (October 24).

The other accused whose trial has begun are former chairman of Chattogram Port Authority Commodore Zulfikar Ali, wife of former minister Colonel Akbar Hossain (late), Jahanara Ansar, two sons Ismail Hossain Saymon and AKM Musa Kajal, Ehsan Yusuf, former Shipping secretary Zulfikar Haider Chowdhury, former member of Chattogram Port Authority AK Rashid Uddin Ahmed and directors of Global Agrotrade Private Limited (GATCO) Shahjahan M Hasib, AM Sanwar Hossain, Syed Tanvir Ahmed, Syed Galib Ahmed and AMM Shahadat Hossain. Accused Ismail Hossain (Saymon) and Shahjahan S Hasib are absconding after getting bail from the High Court.

The hearing of the charge sheet in the case was scheduled for today. Khaleda Zia's lawyers Masud Ahmed Talukder, Joynal Abedin Mejbah, Zakir Hossain and others held a hearing seeking exemption from liability in the case.

ACC prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam opposed the state's plea.

After hearing both sides, the court ordered the three people to be exempted from liability in the case. The court also ordered the trial to begin by framing charges against 12 people.

Khaleda Zia's other lawyer Abdul Hannan Bhuiyan confirmed this.

On September 2, 2007, ACC Deputy Director Md. Golam Shahriar filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station against 13 people.

The then Prime Minister of the four-party coalition government, Khaleda Zia, and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko were accused in the case.

Khaleda Zia and Koko were arrested the next day. The case was included under the Emergency Powers Act on September 18 of that year. The charge sheet was submitted against 24 people, including Khaleda Zia, in the case on May 13 of the following year.

The charge sheet states that the accused, in collusion with each other, caused a loss of Tk. 14 crore 56 lakh 37 thousand 616 to the state by awarding the contract to the Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Dhaka and the container handling work at the Chattogram Port.

Eight of the 24 accused in the case, including former minister M Saifur Rahman, have died. In addition, former Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami was also acquitted from the case after his death sentence was implemented.

After various discussions, lawsuits and investigations, the Higher Secondary Examination (HSC) results of the son of former Chattogram Education Board Secretary Professor Narayan Chandra Nath have been canceled.

The decision was taken at the Education Board's disciplinary committee meeting on Thursday (October 24) after allegations of fraud were raised.

After the meeting, Education Board Chairman Rezaul Karim informed the media about the cancellation of the student's results.

Rezaul Karim said that the Ministry of Education instructed us to take action in this regard on September 15. Earlier, the issue of result fraud was raised in the report of the investigation committee formed in this regard. As per the instructions, a disciplinary committee meeting was called on Thursday. At that meeting, it was decided to cancel the results.

While he was the examination controller of the Chattogram Education Board, this board official of Narayan Chandra Nath was accused of giving his son a GPA of 5 in the HSC examination held in 2023. Later, there were various discussions for and against this. The matter escalated to the police station. At one stage, an investigation committee was formed by the Ministry of Education.

Meanwhile, on July 9, Narayan Chandra Nath was transferred from the Education Board to the post of Director of the Department of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (DSE) Chattogram Region. After the fall of the government, he was made Officer on Special Duty (OSD) from there on September 23. Earlier, on September 15, the ministry had directed the Director General of DSHE and the Chairman of the Chattogram Education Board to take action against him (including criminal cases). At the same time, the relevant department of the Education Ministry had ordered to file criminal cases against the people involved in the fraud with him.