Bangladesh

DHAKA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A devastating fire swept through one of the largest slums in Bangladesh capital Dhaka, destroying at least 100 shanties on early Monday.

A total of 18 fire units battled hard for hours to extinguish the blaze at about 9:15 a.m. local time Monday, Fire Service Headquarters Duty Officer Lima Khanom told Xinhua.

No casualty has been reported so far.

The Saat Tola slum in Dhaka's Mohakhali area, a densely populated residential complex, is home to many poor residents.

DHAKA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh began administering the China-donated COVID-19 vaccines to its medical students on Tuesday.

About 1,000 medical students from the country's four top leading medical colleges, namely Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mugda Medical College, took their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine thanks to a second batch of China-donated COVID-19 vaccines.

(Reuters) --- Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing cast doubt on the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled to Bangladesh in comments made in his first interview since taking power in a Feb. 1 coup.

Min Aung Hlaing was asked by Chinese-language Phoenix television whether the Muslims could be allowed back to Rakhine State - from where most fled an army crackdown in 2017 that U.N. investigators said had "genocidal intent".

DHAKA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh will receive the second batch of China-donated Sinopharm vaccines to help the country combat COVID-19.

According to a statement of the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka, the donation was made after Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone conversation with Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen on the evening of May 21.

"At the critical time point in Bangladesh's fight against the epidemic, China is concerned about the urgent need for vaccine of Bangladeshi friends," said the statement.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — India’s surge in coronavirus cases is having a dangerous effect on neighboring Bangladesh, with health experts warning of imminent vaccine shortages just as the country should be stepping up jabs and as more contagious virus variants are beginning to be detected.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A court in Bangladesh on Monday allowed police to continue to question an influential leader of an Islamist group that led violent protests against last month’s visit by India’s prime minister to the Muslim-majority nation.

Lawyers said Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Devdas Chandra Adhikari issued the decision after state counsels argued that Mamunul Haque of the group Hefazat-e-Islam was dangerous and investigators need to continue questioning him.

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — A fire on Friday destroyed more than 20 shops in a makeshift market near a Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, killing at least three people, police and witnesses said.

Local police chief Ahmed Sanjur Morshed said they recovered the bodies from the debris after it took firefighters several hours to bring the blaze under control.

The fire broke out early Friday when residents of the sprawling Kutupalong camp for Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees were asleep.

Sayedul Mustafa, the owner of a shop, confirmed the dead were his staff.

(Reuters) - About 300 Rohingya Muslim refugees were still unaccounted for last week after a huge fire swept through the world’s biggest refugee settlement in Bangladesh, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.

“Many families are still being reunited,” Andreij Mahecic, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, told journalists, adding that 11 deaths had been officially declared.

The blaze tore through the cramped camp in southeast Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district last Monday, forcing about 45,000 people from their bamboo and plastic homes.

COX’S BAZAR (Reuters) - Hundreds of members of a hardline Islamist group attacked Hindu temples and a train in eastern Bangladesh on Sunday, police and a local journalist said, as violence spread across the country in the wake of a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Local police and doctors have said at least 11 protesters have been killed since Friday in clashes with police during demonstrations organised by Islamist groups against the Indian leader’s visit. Violence has raged on since Modi’s departure as anger has swelled over the deaths.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived Friday in Bangladesh’s capital to join celebrations marking 50 years of the country’s independence.

His visit sparked violent protests at Dhaka’s main mosque that were dispersed by police using tear gas and rubber bullets — injuring scores of people — after clashes broke out between groups of demonstrators, officials and witnesses said.

Critics accuse Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party of stoking religious polarization in India and discriminating against minorities, particularly Muslims.