The Bangladesh Bridge Authority has approved a proposal to lease 120 acres at the Jamuna Bridge site for a 55-megawatt solar power plant. The decision was taken at the authority’s 117th board meeting, held Thursday afternoon in the conference room of Setu Bhaban. Under the decision, the land will be leased to Northwest Power Generation Company Limited for construction of the solar facility.

The authority said the proposed plant would support environmentally friendly and sustainable energy production. The board also approved a proposal to prepare an integrated master plan that includes installing solar panels across the Bridge Authority’s operational area. The initiative is being viewed as part of the government’s green employment and renewable-energy efforts.

The meeting additionally decided to revise the existing policy for allocating flats in rehabilitation villages to families affected by construction of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway. It approved establishment of the Center for Bridge Research and Training to support professional knowledge, skills development, research, construction and maintenance of major infrastructure. Board chairman Sheikh Rabiul Alam directed relevant officials and authorities to implement all decisions quickly and transparently.

The Sreemangal Upazila administration in Moulvibazar returned Tk 12,290,301 in unspent funds to the state treasury after the Aliachhara canal re-excavation project in Bhunabir Union was not completed on time. The project had a total allocation of Tk 12,878,537, of which Tk 500,000 was spent. Moulvibazar-4 lawmaker Alhaj Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury inaugurated the project on April 17, and work began the following day.

The plan included re-excavating 2,750 metres of canal, reinforcing both banks, planting trees and installing RCC ring pipes. The work was scheduled to finish by June 30, but adverse weather and heavy rainfall allowed completion of only 640 metres, or 23.27 percent, within the deadline. The expenditure included Tk 58,824 in VAT and Tk 29,412 in income tax, along with costs for clearing vegetation, labour, excavator use and transport.

Local farmers said the canal has remained filled for about 40 years, leaving roughly 4,000 acres of farmland in five mouzas uncultivated because of waterlogging. PIO Plabon Pal said similar projects are planned for the dry season in the future. UNO Md Ziaur Rahman said the unused funds were returned to ensure transparent and accountable use of public money.

Residents of Panishwar union in Sarail, Brahmanbaria, say recurring Meghna River erosion has destroyed homes, rice mills, mosques, businesses and farmland for more than three decades without a permanent riverbank protection embankment. The report, published July 30, said erosion is continuing along roughly three kilometres in Palpara, Sakhaiti, Dewbaria and Layarhati, with hundreds of people facing renewed losses during each monsoon.

Local residents said the river takes more land every year and warned that remaining villages could disappear without durable protection. Acting union chairman Md Touhid Mia said several hundred families in Palpara, Sakhaiti, Sholabari and Dewbaria are directly at risk. He said about 20 rice mills and more than 100 homes have already been lost to the river.

Bangladesh Water Development Board official Mohsin Kabir Shihab said a proposal for 1,350 metres of riverbank protection work in Panishwar has been sent to the Water Resources Ministry under an integrated water resources management project. Geobags have been placed at several locations as an emergency measure. Upazila Nirbahi Officer Saiful Islam said the situation is highly concerning and that alleged illegal sand extraction is being examined; legal action will follow if allegations are verified.

Authorities in Sataria, Manikganj, have returned Tk 12,202,156 in unspent funds to the state treasury after completing a 6.9-kilometre re-excavation of Chandrakhali Canal. The project ran from the source of the Gazikhali River to Baliati Khalilabad and had an allocation of Tk 28,327,623. The report, published on July 30, 2026, said the work was completed while maintaining the specified quality standards.

According to the upazila administration, the project covered the full planned length of the canal. It also included an initiative to plant various species of trees along both banks to protect water bodies and maintain environmental balance. Upazila Project Implementation Officer Md Khalilur Rahman said canal banks had to be repaired several times because of rain, and trees were planted on both sides.

Sujan Manikganj district general secretary Jahangir Alam Biswas described the return of unused funds as a positive step that ensured transparency in project implementation. Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Kazi Anik Islam said the canal had become nearly unusable after long-term encroachment and filling. He said varying widths along the canal allowed the work to be completed below the estimated cost.

Seven people were killed when a helicopter crashed in Argentina’s western San Juan province on Wednesday morning while conducting a training exercise ahead of a wildfire response mission. The aircraft went down in Ischigualasto Natural Park after it was preparing to assist efforts against fires that had been burning for several days in a neighboring province.

Contact between the helicopter and the control room was lost at about 10:30 a.m. local time. San Juan Governor Marcelo Orrego said in a post on X that seven people had died in the provincial helicopter accident. He said the victims included firefighters, police officers and Civil Protection Department personnel.

Emergency services said the cause of the crash was under investigation and rescue teams had been deployed to the site. The San Juan provincial government declared three days of mourning. Since the start of the week, multiple wildfires have spread through mountainous areas of La Rioja, where local firefighters reported that hundreds of hectares of forest had burned in only three days.

Housing and Public Works Minister Zakaria Taher said the government is committed to planned urbanisation and creating housing opportunities for low-income people. He made the remarks as chief guest at a workshop at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in the capital on Wednesday.

Taher said green buildings and climate-resilient infrastructure are necessary for Bangladesh, which faces climate-change risks. He said environmentally friendly building materials, energy-saving technologies and low-carbon designs would reduce carbon emissions and strengthen the country’s ability to confront climate-related disasters.

The minister said urban residents will outnumber the rural population by 2037, while more than 56 percent of the country’s people will live in cities by 2050. He cited the HBRI DESH Sustainable Building Labelling Framework as a future guideline for green construction. State Minister Ahmad Sohel Monzur said relevant stakeholders would coordinate to implement needed policies and action plans based on the workshop’s recommendations.

At least 13 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck Japan’s southwestern Kyushu island on Tuesday, with many others believed trapped beneath rubble. More than 100 aftershocks were recorded through Wednesday. The Japan Meteorological Agency measured the quake at magnitude 7.1, while the US Geological Survey put it at 6.8. Its epicentre was 20 kilometres south of Kumamoto city at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said more than 20 hours after the earthquake, people were still waiting for help and rescuing those trapped was a race against time. More than 4,600 personnel, including military members, have been deployed. At the Aeon Mall in the Kashima area, an explosion about an hour after the quake caused part of the second floor to collapse, killing three people and leaving three workers missing.

Two people were found unconscious at a paper factory in Yatsushiro, where nine more workers were missing. Thousands of homes lost power and thousands of people moved to shelters. With temperatures at 35 degrees Celsius, 300 air-conditioning units were being sent to affected centres in Kumamoto. Authorities warned of stronger aftershocks over the coming week, especially within two to three days.

Heavy rainfall in India’s capital Delhi caused waterlogging across several areas after sustained rain on Monday, with water entering buses operated by the Delhi Transport Corporation. Videos shared on social media showed knee-deep water on bus floors, forcing passengers to move with difficulty. In some buses, the water level was reported to have risen as high as the seats.

The footage spread widely online, prompting users to question Delhi’s transport services and the city’s management during the monsoon season. Social media users criticised the efficiency of the Delhi Transport Corporation and pointed to perceived shortcomings in urban planning for seasonal rainfall.

The report said Delhi faces waterlogging problems every year during monsoon rains. However, water entering the interiors of buses is not commonly seen, and many observers said the incident highlighted a lack of adequate preparedness by transport authorities for the rainy season.

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives State Minister Mir Shahe Alam said building a clean and green Dhaka is among the current government’s priorities, calling for visible progress in field-level work. He made the remarks on 29 July at a review meeting in the Local Government Division conference room at the Secretariat, covering tree planting, beautification, waste removal and bin replacement in areas under Dhaka North and Dhaka South city corporations.

Presentations at the meeting outlined the two city corporations’ overall progress, ongoing programmes and future work plans. Officials said non-governmental organisations and volunteer groups were being involved in a coordinated approach to urban cleanliness and greening. The minister said work should be planned so residents can experience the results of each initiative, and directed officials to accelerate ongoing activities.

He said pilot projects should be evaluated before new large projects are undertaken, with successful initiatives expanded gradually. He also ordered updated records of locations for tree planting, beautification, cleaning activities and waste-bin installation, with specific information preserved and submitted to the ministry. The minister stressed regular supervision and effective field monitoring to maintain continuity in the clean-city initiative.

State Minister for Housing and Public Works Ahmad Sohel Monjur visited Gulshan Lake in the capital and the RAJUK URP building area in Mohakhali on Wednesday morning. He reviewed progress on installing a sewage treatment plant, or STP, at the lake. RAJUK Chairman Engineer Md Riazul Islam and senior officials from relevant offices were present during the visit.

In the Kalachandpur area, the state minister sought updates on cleaning activities at Gulshan Lake and on the progress of the STP installation. He provided necessary directions and later inspected the lake area adjacent to Road No. 18 in Gulshan-2. He stressed the need for effective measures to keep the lakes free from pollution and environmentally friendly.

Monjur instructed all concerned to work in a coordinated manner. As part of the programme, he also visited the RAJUK URP building in Mohakhali and exchanged views with officials and employees. He directed them to work with responsibility, transparency and a people-friendly attitude, saying improved service quality and accountability are essential to building a planned and sustainable city.

More than 9,000 people were staying in emergency shelters by early Wednesday after a powerful earthquake struck southwestern Japan, the government said. At least 13 people were killed in the quake, according to the report published on July 29.

Government spokesperson Minoru Kihara said authorities had received reports of seven people seriously injured and 29 others with minor injuries. He provided the figures while outlining the situation after the earthquake.

As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, 9,186 people had taken shelter at 506 facilities across five prefectures, including Kumamoto and Fukuoka, Kihara said. The reported shelter figures reflect the scale of displacement following the quake.

Water Resources Minister Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie said the government is working to introduce environmentally friendly, low-cost technology for industrial waste management. He made the remarks on Wednesday at a Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry seminar on canal excavation, revitalising circular waterways and expanding inland water trade in Bangladesh.

The minister said chemical waste harms canals and rivers when industrial establishments do not install effluent treatment plants, or ETPs. He said conventional ETPs are too expensive for many small and medium-sized industries, making lower-cost but effective treatment technology necessary. As an example, he said an industry valued at Tk20 crore could struggle to survive if installation of an ETP alone costs Tk10 crore.

During a recent visit to China, the minister discussed the issue with relevant people and received technical ideas for low-cost waste treatment. Such technology could potentially be implemented privately for Tk10 lakh to Tk20 lakh, though the government will decide only after assessing its effectiveness. He also said canal recovery programmes have begun in several districts and stressed continued dialogue with businesspeople, experts and other stakeholders.

Flood conditions have worsened in Assam, India, with the death toll rising to 75, according to a report published on July 29. Thousands of people have taken shelter in relief camps after their homes were inundated. The flooding has caused extensive damage to homes, roads, bridges and agricultural land.

Assam’s disaster management department said more than 332,000 people in 622 villages are enduring severe hardship. About 45,341 hectares of farmland remain under water. Sivasagar district has recorded the greatest damage this year and also the highest number of deaths, the report said.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced financial assistance in response to the situation. One-time support for families of people killed in the floods has been raised to 900,000 rupees. More than 100,000 of the worst-affected families will also receive immediate cash assistance of 15,000 rupees each to buy food, clothing and daily necessities.

Fisheries and Livestock State Minister Sultan Salahuddin Tuku called for greater public awareness and a conservation mindset among younger generations to protect tigers. Speaking after a World Tiger Day rally at Bangladesh National Zoo on Wednesday, he described tigers as among the world’s most important wild animals and an essential part of biodiversity.

Tuku said the global tiger population was about 100,000 roughly a century ago but is now about 5,000, a decline he said shows the species faces an existential threat. He warned that tigers could face an even deeper crisis unless effective steps are taken immediately and people are made more aware of conservation.

The minister said the Sundarbans currently has 124 tigers, while Bangladesh National Zoo has about 15 and zoos across the country have about 50 in total. Responding to a question on tiger-counting funds and transparency, he said the matter falls under the Forest Department, not his ministry, and that the department runs the process through its own procedures. He later inaugurated the zoo’s souvenir shop.

A 40-year-old farmer, Shafiqul Islam, died after being struck by lightning while planting rice in his field in Pakundia upazila of Kishoreganj. The incident occurred at about 3:30pm on Wednesday in Charpalash Purba Para village of Sukhia union. Shafiqul was the son of Abdul Razzak and worked as a farmer.

Local sources said Shafiqul was planting rice on his own land when lightning struck amid light rain. He died at the scene from the lightning strike.

Sukhia Union Parishad chairman Abdul Hamid Titu confirmed the death of the farmer. The report did not provide information about medical assistance, rescue efforts, or any administrative action following the incident.