The UK Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch has called upon Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to dismiss Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq amid corruption allegations and concerns as Bangladesh Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus has called for an investigation into properties used by Tulip Siddiq in London.
"It is time for Keir Starmer to sack Tulip Siddiq. Now the Government of Bangladesh is raising serious concerns about her links to the regime of Sheikh Hasina," Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch posted on her X account (formerly Twitter).
The statement followed remarks by Prof Yunus in an interview with The Sunday Times, where the Nobel Laureate urged an investigation into London properties used by Siddiq.
He suggested these properties be returned to Bangladesh if found to have been acquired through "plain robbery."
Chief Adviser Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam today said the government is trying to take the country tax-GDP ratio to a healthy state by imposing a simplified 15 percent VAT (value added tax) in a bid to ensure the country economic growth.
He said this at a press briefing at Foreign Service Academy here this evening.
Alam said the tax-GDP ratio in Bangladesh has been going down since 2021. It has reached such a level this year that there is a revenue shortfall of about Taka 42,000 crore in the last five months, he added.
"We had a revenue collection target of Taka 1,69,000 crore (during last five months) but we have collected over Taka 1,26,000 crore," he said.
The magistracy power of officers from the Army, Navy and Air Force have been extended for another 60 days which will come into effect from January14 aiming to maintain law and order across the country.
The public administration ministry today issued a notification in this regard.
According to the notification, commissioned officers holding the rank of captain and above in the Bangladesh Armed Forces have been granted special executive magistrate powers for another 60 days across the country.
Two regular trains Saikat Express and Prabal Express will start running on the Chattogram-Coxs Bazar route by this month.
Railway officials said both the trains will have 16 coaches each. The number of seats will be 743 and a total of 2,972 passengers will be able to travel every day.
In a letter from the Ministry of Railway sent to the Railway authorities here said two pairs of trains have been proposed to be named Prabal Express and Saikat Express.
The ministry has fixed the names of the two trains and issued a letter of approval on Thursday for the movement from this month