Nation this week
![](https://sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/cosmosgroup-dc/news/E5O00KbwEQG2BPrE9NlJDfTOk0WbCuhByx7I0vMn.jpg )
Matiur Rahman. Photo: Collected
The editor of the country's leading vernacular daily, Prothom Alo, was sued alongside other staff members under the Digital Security Act. The case was filed at Ramna police station in the small hours by a lawyer named Abdul Malek (Mashiur Malek), accusing the paper's editor and publisher Matiur Rahman, reporter Shamsuzzaman Shams, an unnamed 'assistant cameraman', and unnamed others of 'using print, online, and electronic media to tarnish the image and reputation of the state'.
The case was filed under sections 25, 31 and 35 of the DSA. Shams, the paper's Savar correspondent, was also sued in a separate case under the same act just a day earlier, and also picked up from his house by members of the CID. That case was filed at Tejgaon police station by Golam Kibria, who is involved in Juba League, the ruling party's youth front. The cases were prompted by a quote from a day-labourer lamenting inflation published on the paper's website on Independence Day, that was taken down in 17 minutes.
The share of agriculture as the chief source of employment in Bangladesh is increasing, according to the latest edition of the Labour Force Survey. In the previous edition of the survey in 2017, the sector accounted for 40.6 percent of employment in the country. In 2022, that increased to 45.3 percent. The share of manufacturing in total employment declined from 20.4 percent in 2017, to 17 percent in 2022. The share of the services sector also declined, from 39 percent to 37.7 percent.
The share of manufacturing actually declined in absolute terms as well, from 1.24 crore to 1.21 crore over the five-year period, despite being the fastest-growing sector during the same period. The total number of employed increased from 6.08 crore to 7.08 crore. The survey conducted by the Bureau of Statistics, put the unemployment rate at 3.6 percent, down from 4.2 percent. Female participation in the labour force increased from 36.3 percent to 42.7 percent.
Eighteen Bangladeshis were killed in a bus accident in Saudi Arabia, while performing umrah. The bus carrying 47 pilgrims, of whom 34 were Bangladeshi, overturned on a bridge and caught fire in the southwestern region of Asir, killing at least 24 pilgrims. The extent of burns sustained by those under treatment suggests the death toll may rise further. It came during the first week of Ramadan, a busy time for umrah pilgrimages, and just months before millions of Muslims are expected to make the annual hajj pilgrimage.
The state-affiliated Al-Ekhbariya channel said the bus had "car trouble", without specifying, while private newspaper Okaz said the accident resulted from an issue with the brakes, which caused a collision with the bridge. Many of the Bangladeshi victims were expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia, which is home to the largest number of the country's economic migrants abroad.
Ain O Salish Kendra called for a judicial inquiry into the death of government employee Sultana Jasmine while in the custody of the Rapid Action Battalion in Rajshahi on March 24. The rights group also demanded the government scrap the Digital Security Act without any further delay. Mohammad Nur Khan, executive director of ASK, said that the number of deviations from its standard operating procedure by RAB, from the time of her arrest on March 22 to her funeral, merits a judicial inquiry.
Khan questioned how Jasmine (41), an office assistant at the Chandipur union parishad land office in Nagaon, could be picked up before a case was even filed against her. That only happened on March 23, while she was already fighting for her life at the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, where she would die the next day. ASK also said their inquiry did not find the presence of any female members of RAB during the arrest.
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