Minister of Agriculture Dr. Md. Abdus Shahid said that China wants to buy mangoes from Bangladesh this year. An expert delegation from China has expressed interest in visiting mango orchards and production operations during mango ripening.

He said that the delegation wants to come to Bangladesh in early June this year. Based on the report of the delegation, China's customs department will give final approval for the import of mangoes from Bangladesh.

He said these things at the end of the meeting held with Yao Wen, the Chinese ambassador appointed in Dhaka, at the Secretariat's own office on Monday (April 29).

At this time, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Malay Chowdhury, Joint Secretary Md. Mahmudur Rahman, Economic and Commercial Counselor of Chinese Embassy Song Yang and others were present.

Expecting China's investment in agriculture, the minister said, "China's investment and technical cooperation is needed to modernize and mechanize Bangladesh's agriculture." China's cooperation is needed in this regard especially so that the country's farmers can get modern agricultural machinery at a low price because we can buy machines from China at relatively low prices.

Earlier in the afternoon, Irma Van Duren, Ambassador of the Netherlands appointed in Dhaka, had a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture. The meeting emphasized on increasing mutual cooperation in the agricultural sector and working together on strengthening agricultural research and technology exchange.

The meeting discussed the construction and operation of an onion storage facility at Bhaluka, Mymensingh, under the initiative of the Netherlands government. It is said that onions can be stored all year round in this archive.

The minister said, 'Onion is a very important crop for us. To become self-sufficient in onions, we are emphasizing on increasing and preserving onion production. The construction of storage houses under the initiative of the Netherlands government will play a very helpful role in this regard.

The Agriculture Minister will inaugurate the onion storage facility built at Bhaluka in Mymensingh on the initiative of the Netherlands government on May 2. 

For the sake of humanity, the foreign minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud urged the international community not to accept any new weapons, including automatic weapons.

He made the call at a high-level panel discussion on the challenges of regulating automatic weapons systems at the International Conference on 'Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation' at Vienna's Hofburg Palace on Monday (April 29).

The foreign minister said that it is necessary to focus on the beneficial application of artificial intelligence for the benefit of mankind, including agriculture, medicine, space exploration, climate change, employment creation, and not on weapons systems to wipe out humanity.

Dr. Hasan highlighted the importance of controlling the use of weapons on people. He questioned what would happen to international peace and security if non-state actors and terrorist organizations had access to artificially intelligent automated weapons.

He advocated global policies to effectively control automatic weapons systems and said appropriate international laws should be judiciously applied to both lethal artificial intelligence and automatic weapons.

The foreign minister highlighted the precarious situation in Gaza and warned the international community against opening new fronts of conflict and tension.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schulenburg, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Arnoldo Andre Tenneco, Norwegian State Secretary Eivind Vad Peterson and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric Eger joined as co-panelists.

More than eight hundred representatives of more than 120 UN bodies, rights groups and international organizations are participating in this conference organized by the Ministry of European and International Affairs of Austria.

A farmer named Bayatullah was killed in the cross firing of RAB-dacoits in Varuakhali, Cox's Bazar.

The incident happened on Monday (April 29) in the evening of Cox's Bazar Sadar Upazila in Ward No. 9 Mura Para of Varuakhali Union.

It has been reported that Masud Chowdhury, an NGO worker of the private organization Tytashi, confessed to the kidnapping this afternoon. When RAB came to know about the matter, RAB conducted an operation in the hills of Ward No. 9 Mura Para of Varuakhali. Dacoits shot at RAB in that operation. At one point, an innocent farmer was shot and died.

Karimullah, the brother of the deceased Bayatullah, said that Farhad-Mostak, the gang chief of Shere Bahini, had caused the incident. They have established a reign of terror in our area. When they came to the market, they would order everyone to turn off the video camera of their mobile phones.

In this incident, NGO worker Masud Chowdhury was rescued by RAB in an unconscious condition. RAB sources said that dacoit Farhad was arrested. 

At 11:30 a.m. in the Eidgaon area of Cox's Bazar, 6 people including 5 people from Banshkhali of Chattogram have been reported dead in a head-on collision between a bus and a micro. After 2 people died on the spot, 4 others died while undergoing treatment at the hospital. With this, the death in road accidents has increased to 6 people. It is also learned that at least 12 people including 6 people from Banskhali were injured.

The tragic accident took place at Khodaibari AG Lutfur Kabir Adarsh Dakhil Madrasa area of Eidgaon on Cox's Bazar-Chattogram highway around 11:30 am on Monday (April 29).

Dullahazara highway police in charge Mozammel Haque confirmed the truth of the incident.

The deceased are Hafsa Begum, wife of Monir Ahmed of Ilsha village of Baharchhara UP, Banshkhali Upazila of Chattogram, son of Golam Sobhan of Kufia Dongra village of Khankhanabad UP. Dula Mia, son of deceased Mofizur Rahman of Ilsha old village of Ward No. 7, Baharchara, Mahmuda Begum, wife of deceased Mahbubul Alam, Saira Khatun, wife of Abdul Quddus of Dongra Chowkidar. Relatives of the deceased said that Saira Khatun and Mahmada Khatun were mother and daughter.

The injured in this incident are- Abdul Mannan, son of deceased Akmal Mia of Ward No. 8 Baharchhara, Fatema Begum wife of deceased Abu Salek of Ward No. 5 of South Ilsha of the same UP, Abdur Rashid son of deceased Dudu Mia of Ward No. 4 of Khankhanabad UP, Taiyab Ali of Matbar Bari of Ward No. 2 Kathria. Wife Jahanara Begum, son of Abul Khayer of Ward No. 3 Bagmara Village, Rafiq Ahmad, Abdul Qayyum of the same area. At least 12 people, including Qayyum Mia's son Nurul Hossain, were reportedly injured.

The victims came to Cox's Bazar Baitush Sharaf Eye Hospital for eye treatment and were returning home after treatment.

Mohammad Ibrahim Sikder, a local UP member of Baharchhara Union Parishad of Banshkhali, told Barta24.com that Banshkhali's Saber Ahmad Master Memorial Society and Bachao provide free eye treatment to poor and distressed people. This time also 215 people are undergoing free cataract surgery. Operation was done at Baitush Sharaf Hospital in Cox's Bazar. Five people in my area died on the way back from the last stage of surgery. It is very shocking.

The bodies of the deceased have been handed over to the families, said the in-charge of Dullahazara Highway Police Mozammel Haque.