The International Crimes Tribunal has set August 24 to deliver its verdict on death references, appeals and jail appeals in the murder case of Feni madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi. The hearing concluded on August 20 before a High Court bench comprising Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty and Justice K M Rasheduzzaman Raja.

The chief justice formed the specific two-judge High Court bench on June 10 to hear death references, appeals and related matters under the নারী ও শিশু নির্যাতন দমন আইন on a priority basis. The bench began its proceedings on June 14. Senior lawyers S M Shahjahan, Mohammad Tajul Islam and Muhammad Shishir Monir argued for the accused, while Deputy Attorney General Syed Ejaz Kabir and Assistant Attorney General Mosammat Rohani Siddika represented the state.

Court records say Nusrat was allegedly sexually assaulted by then principal Siraj Ud Doula on March 27, 2019. She was set on fire on the madrasa roof on April 6 after refusing to withdraw the case, and died on April 10 while receiving treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital's burn unit. A Feni tribunal sentenced 16 people, including Siraj Ud Doula, to death on October 24, 2019.

Barishal City Corporation distributed 20,000 tree saplings for students at educational institutions across Barishal. The distribution programme was inaugurated on Thursday afternoon at the Barishal Auditorium by BCC Administrator Advocate Bilkis Akhtar Jahan Shirin. The initiative was described as part of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s announced plan to plant 250 million saplings nationwide over five years.

A total of 145 educational institutions received the saplings. The event was attended by Pirojpur District Council Administrator Principal Alamgir Hossain, Barishal Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board Chairman Professor Abu Taher Mohammad Rashedul Islam, and BCC Secretary Rumpa Shikdar.

Officials from the BCC forestry branch and teachers from colleges, secondary schools and higher secondary schools in Barishal city were also present. In her speech as chief guest, Shirin said the city corporation was actively working to implement the national plantation plan. She called on every educational institution and city resident to join the social forestry programme to maintain environmental balance and build a greener city. Representatives of educational institutions received fruit, forest and medicinal plant saplings after the event.

A 28-year-old homemaker, Rabeya Begum, died by suicide while speaking with her husband on a mobile video call in Charakhali, Galua Union of Rajapur upazila in Jhalakathi. The incident occurred at about 11am on Thursday, according to the report published on August 20, 2026. Relatives and neighbours took her to Rajapur উপজেলা Health Complex, where the attending doctor declared her dead.

Rabeya’s younger brother, Riazul Islam, said she had married Hridoy, a Malaysia-based expatriate, around a year earlier. He said the couple had first met through Facebook and later married with family approval. At the time of the incident, Rabeya was talking to her husband on a video call, he added.

Rajapur police station Officer-in-Charge Sujan Biswas said police recovered the body and sent it to the Jhalakathi morgue for post-mortem examination. An unnatural death case has been recorded at the police station, according to the officer.

Imu Akter, 20, a mother of a six-month-old child, died in a CNG-related road accident in Tangail’s Sakhipur on Thursday afternoon. The crash occurred in the Sholapratima area on the Sakhipur-Gorai road, according to the report. She was travelling from Nalua toward Sakhipur in a CNG vehicle when the incident happened.

Eyewitnesses said the CNG had reached the northern side of Boali Bazar when Akter put her head outside the vehicle to spit. A speeding truck approaching from the opposite direction struck her, and she died at the scene. Akter was the daughter of rural medical practitioner Ilim Uddin of Ratanpur village in the upazila.

Sakhipur police station Officer-in-Charge Md Murad Hossain said the victim’s family took the body home after the accident. He said police had been sent to bring the body to the police station. Legal procedures would be completed after the body arrived at the station.

Authorities in Pirganj, Rangpur, temporarily shut all operations at the Nagar Maternity Center on Thursday after a pregnant woman and her unborn child died. Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mahmudul Hasan announced the closure following allegations surrounding the treatment of Shraboni, 19, daughter of rickshaw driver Motiur Rahman from Prajapara. Her relatives said she was admitted on Tuesday evening after labor pains began and later died along with her unborn child.

Family members alleged that Shraboni walked to the nearby center with her mother and aunt, underwent tests, and that Tk10,500 was paid in cash for a caesarean section. They said she was taken to the operating theatre, kept waiting for about two hours, and then sent to Rangpur by ambulance. Her father said he was sent elsewhere to buy medicines and, on returning, found her being placed in an ambulance with her face covered.

The health official said repeated verbal instructions to halt the project’s services had not been implemented. The UNO said a doctor reported that Shraboni had eclampsia, seizures and high blood pressure, while the exact cause of death would be confirmed after a civil surgeon’s investigation. Relatives and local residents besieged the center Thursday, demanding punishment for those involved.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ordered the transfer of former prime minister Imran Khan, 73, to Shifa International Hospital for medical treatment, according to the source published on August 20, 2026. The court also said Khan’s personal physician should be included on a medical board and that he should be allowed regular contact with his family. The report frames the ruling as significant in a context where basic prisoner rights are presented as exceptional concessions.

The source says the government attempted to challenge part of the ruling. It argues that Khan’s imprisonment, alongside political cases and restrictions on his political activity, was intended to diminish him and weaken his party. Instead, the article contends that detention has increased his symbolic political importance and created a difficult situation for Pakistan’s power structure.

The article says Khan’s release could return him to public politics with greater symbolic strength, while his death in custody could create a broader political crisis. It also criticizes the roles of the Sharif and Bhutto-Zardari families in the political system, presenting the court order as an intervention concerning medical care and family access.

Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union vice president Mostakur Rahman Jahid has rejected media allegations that RAKSU withdrew Tk 12.9 million for 42 programmes and failed to submit vouchers for Tk 6.1 million. In a Facebook post published after the report, he said RAKSU’s accounts had not yet been formally closed and accused critics of trying to make the student union controversial using incomplete information.

Jahid called the reported Tk 12.9 million withdrawal figure false. He said every withdrawal requires signatures at several stages, including from the RAKSU president and treasurer, and said documents containing those signatures were available. He also said elected RAKSU representatives receive no personal remuneration and work voluntarily.

He said a government audit would be conducted after the student union’s term and its report would be presented to students and journalists. Jahid said any spending found by the audit to be outside RAKSU’s authority would have to be repaid. He added that his Tk 500,000 office-expense allocation resulted in withdrawals of Tk 350,000, while no RAKSU funds were used for a Tk 1.2 million iftar programme.

Joe Kent, former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, criticized President Donald Trump’s hawkish policy and said a war with Iran would not serve US national security interests. In an interview with Fox News, Kent said Iran had not posed an imminent or immediate threat to the United States, and argued that the president has sufficient political authority to declare an end to the war.

Kent also criticized Israel’s role in what he described as the start of unjustified aggression against Iran. He said Israel’s influence within the Trump administration and Tel Aviv’s pressure on Washington to join the conflict were important factors behind US involvement. He further said the United States should not support parties involved in espionage and influence operations against Washington.

Referring to Iranian missile and drone attacks on US military bases in the region, Kent said Iran had demonstrated an ability to strike such facilities with ballistic missiles and drones. He said these attacks had forced the United States to evacuate several military bases, while its regional military presence leaves troops and installations vulnerable to potential Iranian targeting.

Bangladesh Bank has issued a policy to enlist mediation institutions for resolving disputes involving defaulted loans of banks and financial institutions. The Banking Regulation and Policy Department-2 issued the policy on Thursday, aiming to strengthen loan recovery and reduce the number of related cases pending before courts. Under the alternative dispute resolution, or ADR, framework, lenders and borrowers may choose any institution enlisted by the central bank before filing a case or while a case is ongoing.

Applicants must be registered under specified laws, hold an updated trade licence and tax identification number, and have at least three years of business or professional experience. They must also submit three years of audited financial statements and conduct all financial transactions through one or more separate bank accounts. Institutions, board members, or chief executives linked to bankruptcy, loan default, fraud, corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, or serious criminal convictions are ineligible.

Each enlisted institution must maintain one or more mediation panels with at least five mediators, including an accountant and a legal expert. Mediators need at least 10 years of relevant experience, while politically influential persons are barred. Enlistment will last three years, subject to renewal, monitoring, annual reporting, and possible suspension or cancellation for violations.

The Parbatya Chattogram Nagorik Parishad held a protest and human chain in Bandarban on Thursday morning, demanding an end to alleged extortion, abductions, disappearances and indiscriminate killings by active armed groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The group also called for overall law and order and public security in the hill region to be ensured. The programme was held in front of Bandarban Press Club.

Kazi Mujibur Rahman, chairman of the organisation's central committee, attended as chief guest. He said residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts had long faced various forms of harassment, extortion and insecurity. According to him, extortion and terrorist activities by armed groups were disrupting the normal lives of people in the hills.

Rahman called for effective steps to stop such activities quickly and ensure the safety of people and their property. He also said the constitutional and legitimate rights of all hill residents must be guaranteed, and law enforcement agencies should take a stricter and more effective role against armed terrorist activities. District president Maulana Abul Kalam Azad chaired the gathering, attended by several local and central leaders.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said no country should be allowed to obstruct freedom of navigation, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea. He made the remarks at a press conference in Al-Alamein on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera. Abdelatty described threats to maritime navigation as a direct threat to regional and international security.

He said disruptions to shipping are harming global supply systems. He stressed that freedom of navigation through all strategically important straits must be maintained in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The article said vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has declined significantly. It also reported renewed concern about security in the Red Sea and surrounding important sea routes. Abdelatty's comments placed the issue of uninterrupted maritime transit within the broader context of regional security and global supply-chain disruption.

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani called for navigation in the Strait of Hormuz to return to conditions before the United States-Israel war against Iran. Speaking after a high-level meeting in Al-Alamein, Egypt, on Thursday, he said no party to the conflict should be able to “blackmail” another through the strategic waterway.

The Qatari minister said the consequences of the war had been severe not only for the Gulf region but also for other parts of the world. He said Qatar wanted the situation restored to its previous state and condemned all forms of threats and obstruction affecting the strait.

Oman said durable security in the Strait of Hormuz requires lasting peace in the region and rejected further escalation or conflict. Its foreign minister conveyed that position to his Japanese counterpart on Thursday. Iran, meanwhile, said an agreement with Oman on creating new shipping routes through the strait was nearing finalization.

Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) in Kishoreganj says it has solved the killing of 65-year-old Mosa Halima in Karimganj more than three and a half years after the crime. PBI arrested Halima’s daughter, Champa, 48, who was also the complainant in the murder case. Additional Superintendent of Police Abdullah Al Masud disclosed the findings at a news conference on Thursday. PBI said Champa gave a confessional statement before a court under Section 164 on August 18.

Halima was found dead in a fallow plot about 300 yards from her home in Sindripur village on the morning of March 14, 2023. Her head was buried in soil, with bloody injuries to her nose and mouth and a white rope around her neck. Champa had filed a case naming five people, including neighbour Billal, and four or five unidentified suspects.

PBI alleges Champa planned the killing with associates to retaliate over a land dispute and frame opponents in the murder case to obtain homestead land. Investigators said Halima had claimed to have bought three and a half decimals of land around 30 years earlier, but had no deed. The investigation remains under way to present evidence against all those involved.

Bangladesh’s government plans to raise farmers’ awareness and provide training to control pesticide use, Agriculture and Fisheries and Livestock Minister Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid said on Thursday. Speaking at the sixth meeting of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council governing body, he said excessive pesticide use is increasing risks of cancer and other serious health and physical complications among farmers.

The minister said proper use of natural or organic fertiliser could help keep soil, the environment, water and fish safe. He also called for research into whether groundwater, fertilisers or pesticides are contributing to rising heavy-metal levels in soil. Soil acidity was described as a concern, with pH levels between 4.5 and 5 in many areas, while a level above 6.5 was said to be needed for good crop production.

He said the Agriculture Ministry is working on improving soil pH and stressed regular follow-up on decisions made at the meeting. He also urged wider use of the Khmari mobile app to bring crop-related services and advice to farmers and other beneficiaries. Co-chair Abdul Awal Mintu praised public research institutions and said private-sector innovations should also be considered for national benefit.

A Chittagong divisional special court sentenced a father and son from Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar, over allegations of acquiring illicit assets, concealing asset information and attempting to legalise unlawful wealth through collusion. On Thursday, Judge Mizanur Rahman sentenced Mohammad Abdullah to four years in prison and his father, Abul Bashar, to three years. The court delivered the verdict within seven working days.

According to Anti-Corruption Commission prosecutor Mokarram Hossain, Abdullah was also fined Tk84 lakh 45 thousand 858 for illicit asset acquisition and concealing asset information. The ACC had issued him a notice on April 27, 2019, requiring an asset statement, but he did not submit one within the stipulated period or seek an extension.

The ACC inquiry found assets worth Tk1 crore 10 lakh 23 thousand 65 in Abdullah’s name, against a stated lawful income source of Tk10 lakh. Investigators found Tk1 crore 23 thousand 65 to be inconsistent with known income. Abul Bashar bought land for Tk20 lakh and gifted it to Abdullah within three months. Neither convict was present for the verdict, and arrest warrants were issued.