Bangladesh in world media this week

Bangladesh was featured on many news outlets last week (January 29 to February 4). The news Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal taking a break from T20Is was covered on many international media outlets. Also, the closure of educational institutions amid the worsening Covid situation in the country came into the spotlight.

Here is a prick of five stories on Bangladesh that made headlines on international media:

Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal takes six-month break from T20I cricket

Explosive Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal has expressed that he is taking a break from international T20 cricket for the next six months, IndiaTVNews published on January 29.

The decision rose many eyebrows as this also put a question mark on Iqbal's participation in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.

Tamim, however, said that he could reconsider this decision if the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) asks him again before the World Cup. Though he doesn't believe it will be required.

The 32-year-old made the announcement following his discussions with top BCB officials including president Nazmul Hassan, who tried to dissuade him from taking the decision.

Tamim had been mostly away from Bangladesh's T20I side for the past 12 months. His last T20I was against Zimbabwe in 2020, after which he missed the rest of the three-match series due to a knee injury.

Trial over Rana Plaza factory collapse resumes after five years

Bangladesh has resumed the murder trial in the collapse of a textile factory after five years of appeals and legal holdups, the Deutsche Welle (DW) reported on February 2 citing court officials.

More than 1,100 workers died when the Rana Plaza factory complex came down on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, on April 24, 2013.

In 2016, 41 people were charged with murder for their suspected roles in the disaster, including the building's owner, Sohel Rana, his parents and factory executives.

They were accused of signing off on building standards and forcing employees to work inside the eight-story building despite knowing that it was not structurally sound. But the case was put on hold for more than five years because some defendants tried to appeal the indictment in court.

US sends 7.4 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Bangladesh

The United States began shipping another 7.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Bangladesh on Friday, AFP reported on January 29 citing a US official.

"Thanks to the US commitment to playing a leading role in ending the pandemic everywhere, the United States is shipping 7,434,180 doses of Pfizer vaccine to Bangladesh," a White House official said, asking not to be identified.

The latest shipment - made through Covax, the global distribution initiative co-led by public-private partnership Gavi - came as totals of US donations rose above 400 million worldwide.

Washington has pledged 1.1 billion shots to the rest of the world - more than any other country - and has already sent vaccines to countries ranging from Guatemala to Papua New Guinea.

The US shots often cross paths with shipments from China and Russia in what has been dubbed "vaccine diplomacy," although the official insisted that the US contributions "do not come with strings attached."

The United States had already dispatched 28.4 million doses of vaccines to Bangladesh, not counting the latest batch, according to Kaiser Family Foundation's database.

Bangladesh Police accused of hounding families of victims of enforced disappearances

Rights activists are alleging that police and a paramilitary force in Bangladesh are coercing families of the victims of enforced disappearances to issue statements that they deliberately misled police by hiding information about how their relatives went missing, reports the Voice of America (VOA).

A 57-page report by Human Rights Watch in August last year said that “despite credible and consistent evidence that Bangladesh security forces routinely commit enforced disappearances, the ruling Awami League has ignored calls by donor governments, the UN, human rights organizations, and civil society to address the culture of impunity.”

Rights activists have said the security agencies themselves are writing the statements and asking the families to sign them to make them look like voluntary statements from the families.

Schools Close, Fairs on Amid Omicron Surge in Bangladesh

Rufsa Hasina Afroze, a teacher and academic supervisor at a leading private school in Bangladesh's capital was relieved to see students return to its campus in September after it was closed for 543 days because of the pandemic, reports the Associated Press on February 3.

It was only a brief respite from online learning. With the recent surge in coronavirus cases mostly because of the omicron variant, authorities have ordered the schools to close once more.

“It was not the same campus, but still we were happy to return,” she said. “During the whole period, I missed my students and colleagues. It was a big challenge for me to adjust to the new reality."

The closure initially was just for two weeks, until Feb. 6. But on Wednesday Education Minister Dipu Moni announced it was to be extended for another two weeks.