State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shah Alam said the current government’s achievements and public welfare activities during its first 180 days must be presented to the public in a factual, concise and objective manner. He made the remarks as chief guest at a meeting on Thursday, July 30, at the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division conference room in the Secretariat. The meeting reviewed progress in implementing the ministry and division’s 180-day action plan under the government’s election manifesto.

At the start of the meeting, offices and agencies under the division presented implementation progress, achievements, existing challenges and proposed responses. The state minister directed each office to provide brief, data-based accounts of its work and results. He said reports should include specific information on tree planting and environmental protection, employment creation, women’s empowerment, new projects, agricultural development, loan distribution, beneficiary numbers, cooperative membership growth, training programmes and public-awareness activities.

He also called for stronger coordination with NGOs, volunteer groups and social organisations to make government activities more effective and public-oriented. Mir Shah Alam stressed skills training, third-language education and needs-based technical training to expand overseas employment opportunities. He said an initiative would be taken to conduct a national survey collecting population, socioeconomic and other important data to support future planning and targeted service delivery.

Bangladesh aims to begin sending workers to Malaysia from the final week of August, Prime Minister’s adviser and office spokesperson Mahdi Amin said at a Thursday 3 p.m. press conference at the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. Labour and Employment, and Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury attended the briefing.

Amin said bilateral discussions had produced consensus between the two countries, creating an opportunity for workers from all sectors to travel to Malaysia. He described the target as realistic and said beginning departures within the next month could play a major long-term role in Bangladesh’s economy. He also urged the public to remain alert to fraud by brokers and dishonest groups.

Malaysia will determine the final number of recruiting agencies through its own screening process and framework, based on a list of 423 agencies Bangladesh submitted during the interim government’s tenure. The current memorandum of understanding remains valid until December this year. Amin said licences of people linked to past fascism, corruption or unethical activities had been cancelled, and that those involved in such conduct or syndicate-related corruption would not be included on the new list. Malaysian authorities are expected to confirm the matter soon.

Mobarok Hossain Iman, also known as David Iman, was sent to jail after being shown arrested in four cases in Chattogram. The listed top criminal from Chattogram was produced before a Chattogram court at about 4pm on Thursday, July 30, after his arrest near the Jhikargachha border in Jashore while allegedly attempting to flee to India.

Judge Sayma Afrin Hima of Chattogram Senior Judicial Magistrate Court-1 ordered that he be sent to jail. The application sought to show him arrested in one murder case and two arms cases filed with Fatikchhari police station, as well as one case filed with Bayezid police station.

Court Inspector Md Habibur Rahman confirmed the development. Earlier on Thursday morning, David Iman was brought to Chattogram from Jashore under tight security. He and four associates were arrested from the Jhumjhumpur area near the Jhikargachha border in Jashore.

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has announced a Tk8.71 per litre cut in the price of furnace oil in Bangladesh. Under the new rate, furnace oil supplied by Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will cost Tk100.39 per litre, down from Tk109.10. BERC issued the related notification on Thursday, with the revised price taking effect from midnight on July 30.

BERC said the new price was set based on international furnace oil prices and the free-on-board, or FOB, price of imported crude oil. The notification did not provide further details on fuel supply, demand, or other factors behind the adjustment beyond those pricing references.

The revised rate will apply to the Bangladesh Power Development Board, public and private power plants, industrial factories, and other customers. BERC said the new price will remain in force until further instructions are issued. The announcement specifies the BPC-supplied furnace oil rate and identifies the customer groups covered by the change.

Sheikh Azizur Rahman, who was seriously injured during the July movement, met Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Thursday, July 30, 2026, at the Prime Minister’s Office under the Cabinet Division at the Bangladesh Secretariat. Azizur presented the national flag he had tied around his head to stop bleeding from a gunshot wound. The flag had become stained with blood, and he said handing it to the prime minister fulfilled a long-held wish.

The meeting followed a media report saying Azizur had not received recognition as a July warrior despite being shot, allegedly because of his involvement with Chhatra Dal. After the report came to the prime minister’s attention, Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Rumon was instructed to look into the matter and Azizur was brought to the office. The prime minister asked about his injuries, education, treatment, living conditions and his work driving a CNG vehicle to cover education costs.

Azizur is a second-year social work honours student at Government Bangla College and a member of its Chhatra Dal convening committee. He is from Lohagara upazila in Narail. The report says he was injured during the July 2024 mass movement at Mirpur-10 flyover, arrested on July 19, remanded for two days and released on July 21. It says he has yet to receive July warrior recognition.

Two armed robberies were reported at separate homes in Islamabad and Pokkhali unions of Eidgaon upazila, Cox’s Bazar, late Wednesday night. Victims said gold jewellery, cash and other valuables were taken, while several people were injured in attacks. At former union parishad member Nuruchhafa’s home in Tekpara, Islamabad, robbers allegedly cut through a grille and entered at about 3am.

Nuruchhafa said he was away working at a shrimp enclosure and only women, including guests, were at the house. He alleged that the group assaulted his wife Amena, 50, and a child grandson, held them at gunpoint, and took Tk2.1 million, 50 bhori of gold jewellery and four Android phones. He estimated his losses at nearly Tk15 million.

At Md Hossain’s home in west Pokkhali, victims alleged that robbers took 16 bhori of gold, Tk350,000, three Android phones, an Tk8 million cheque and other valuables after cutting a grille. Police visited both sites and collected information and evidence. Officer-in-Charge ATM Sifatullah Majdar said efforts were under way to identify an organised robbery gang.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, claimed it launched a ballistic missile strike against US F-35 fighter jets at Al-Azraq Air Base in Jordan. The report, published on July 30, 2026, said advanced US F-35 aircraft are deployed at the base.

According to Iran’s Fars News Agency, the attack was carried out in response to a recent US strike on Iran’s Qeshm Island that killed parents and a child from the same family. The IRGC said the missile strike targeted a runway and a maintenance hangar at the air base.

The IRGC claimed that three US F-35 aircraft were completely destroyed and another three were seriously damaged. It also said several US officials and members of the base’s technical and maintenance teams were killed. The organization described the strike as part of a struggle to expel the last US occupier from Islamic lands.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said three of its members were killed in a US missile strike on July 30. The information was carried by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency, citing an IRGC statement, according to Al Jazeera. The statement said the deaths resulted from a US attack.

The IRGC’s Ansar al-Mahdi branch in Zanjan province identified the three men as Mahmoud Mollajabari, Mohammadreza Cheraghi and Jamal Amiri. The corps said they died while defending Iran’s borders and its people. No further details about the location or circumstances of the reported missile strike were provided in the source.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard condemned the attack, calling it a brutal assault by what it described as the United States’ criminal terrorist regime. The IRGC also expressed condolences to Iran’s supreme leader, the families of those killed and the Iranian people. There was no immediate response from the United States regarding the reported attack.

France and Germany provided military-aircraft assistance to the United States in intercepting Iranian missiles aimed at a US military base in Jordan, according to Iran's Fars News Agency as cited by Al Mayadeen. The report was published on July 30, 2026.

Fars News Agency said aviation tracking-system data showed at least two German and French aircraft in Jordanian airspace. It said the aircraft were observed supporting US forces, presenting the navigation data as confirmation that such an operation took place.

According to the report, the aircraft helped Washington destroy or intercept missiles arriving from Iran before they reached the US base in Jordan. It further claimed that German and French military aircraft entered the operation after the United States failed to intercept the Iranian missiles on its own.

Bangladesh Bank has updated its consolidated foreign-exchange management instructions to better align the country’s export trade with international standards. The circular, issued on Thursday, adds provisions to promote paperless trade, digital trade documents, alternative trade finance, and service- and e-commerce-based exports. It will apply to export-related foreign-exchange transactions for the next year.

The central bank said the revisions reflect changes in international trade systems, the expansion of digital commerce, and the development of new export sectors. It has also brought all instructions on export-related foreign-exchange management under a consolidated framework. The circular allows export documents to be presented electronically under documentary collection arrangements.

Bangladesh Bank has directed the launch of a pilot framework for processing digital trade documents in documentary collection and letter-of-credit systems through approved trade corridors. A separate framework has been included for alternative trade finance, including supply chain finance. For the first time, the instructions contain a dedicated chapter on foreign-exchange transactions for freelancers and individual service exporters, which the central bank says will help them bring export earnings earned through digital payment channels into the country more quickly and easily.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Hossain said medicines alone cannot protect a nation from disease and urged greater focus on prevention alongside treatment. He made the remarks on Thursday at the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine in Mohakhali, Dhaka, during an event releasing results of research activities funded under the 2025-26 revenue budget. He called for innovative preventive measures beginning from birth.

Addressing doctors, the minister said a physician’s smile and compassionate conduct can help patients recover, adding that care involves more than tablets or medicines. He said kind words and appropriate advice are also important for patients. He expressed concern over what he described as a sharp increase in kidney and cancer patients in the country and noted the severe suffering faced by people with those illnesses.

The minister said the government has pledged to ensure healthcare for all and that no citizen should remain outside health services. He urged research and awareness work focused on rural health. Prime Minister’s health affairs special assistant Dr. M. M. Ziauddin Haider advised researchers to visit upazila hospitals and consult staff before presenting data, so actual problems and areas of conflict can be identified and addressed.

The United States has returned 23 more Bangladeshi nationals to Bangladesh, according to the report. They arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka early Thursday on a special Omni Air flight. The report was published on July 30, 2026. After completing immigration and other required formalities, the returnees left the airport at 1:30 pm.

Sources said the returnees had left Bangladesh at different times in 2014 on work-permit visas in search of better employment. They later stayed in countries including Dubai, Qatar, South Africa, Brazil and Peru before entering the United States illegally by crossing borders in stages. Although they worked at various institutions there, they reportedly failed to meet legal immigration requirements.

US immigration authorities took legal action against them over alleged violations of US immigration law, and they were sent back after required legal procedures were completed. At the airport, the non-governmental organization BRAC provided each deported passenger with Tk5,000 in financial assistance and light refreshments. The report said returns of Bangladeshi nationals from different countries over alleged immigration-law violations have continued recently, while experts stressed legal migration routes and compliance with destination-country immigration laws.

Chattogram district police said alleged criminal Mobarak Hossain, also known as David Imon, was planning to flee to India and remain in hiding. Police said he and his associates were detained in the Jhumjhumpur area of Jashore while attempting to enter India through the border. Officers said an Indian Aadhaar card was recovered from Imon, using the name “Azhar Khan.”

Superintendent of Police Masud Alam said the group left Chattogram for Dhaka, where they changed clothes, the vehicle they had been using and the driver. They then travelled through Khulna toward the Jashore border. Police said checkpoints had already been placed on possible routes, leading to their detention in Jhumjhumpur.

According to police, the recovered card contains a photograph, date of birth and identification number in the format of an Indian citizen identity document. Investigators are examining whether the card is genuine, fake or fraudulently created. Police said preliminary information indicated that Boro Sazzad gave Imon the card as part of preparations to live safely in India. Authorities are also investigating the card’s source, possible accomplices and the wider border-crossing network.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said renewed US airstrikes on Iran appear driven by retaliation rather than a clear strategy. In an interview with Al Jazeera cited in a report published on July 30, he said the strikes do not appear to be bringing Tehran back to the negotiating table. Parsi described restarting the war in Iran as a major mistake.

Parsi questioned what Trump ultimately seeks to achieve through the airstrikes, saying no purpose beyond retaliation is currently apparent. He said Trump’s military options are extremely weak and expressed surprise that the conflict was renewed without developing better alternatives. After 13 consecutive days of bombing, Parsi said, it has become apparent that there was no strong strategy behind the campaign.

According to Parsi, Iran’s own retaliatory response or escalation is a calculated strategy aimed at protecting itself. He said Iranians have concluded, whether rightly or wrongly, that Trump will not be serious about diplomacy until he fully recognizes that he has no military option. Parsi said the path to peace is therefore not proceeding directly through negotiations, but through removing the idea of a military option from Trump’s thinking.

Pakistan said Thursday it is making its utmost effort to bring the United States and Iran back to negotiations under a memorandum of understanding signed to stop the war between the two countries. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi made the statement to journalists in Islamabad, according to an AFP report.

Andrabi said Islamabad was trying to return all parties to talks within the framework of the MOU. The report described Pakistan as a mediator in the effort involving the United States and Iran.

Pakistan is also encouraging the countries concerned to fully honor their commitment to organize discussions at the strategic level under the agreement, Andrabi said. His remarks indicated that Islamabad’s stated focus is on restoring the negotiating process and securing participation by all parties under the memorandum.