Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has warned the public against unauthorized lending activities conducted through mobile apps, online platforms and social media-based digital channels. In a Bangladesh Bank press release issued Thursday, the agency said some individuals and institutions are offering fast loans on easy terms without approval, despite lending being a regulated financial activity in Bangladesh.

BFIU said these platforms collect users’ personal and sensitive information, including contact data stored on mobile phones and photographs. It said borrowers have faced undue pressure, intimidation, threats to disclose personal information, harassment and excessive collections in the name of loan recovery. The agency said such activity creates risks of data misuse, unauthorized financial transactions, fraud, financial crime and money laundering.

The agency said it has identified information on 31 unauthorized mobile apps, including Sathi Loan, Popcash, Fincash, Quick Loan, Quick Taka, Dhaka Fin and Loanvibe. It urged people not to borrow from unfamiliar apps or platforms, share personal, identity or bank information, or pay advance, registration or processing fees. BFIU requested complaints and information about suspected operators.

International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Thursday showed dismissed Major General Ziaul Ahsan arrested and sent him to jail in a crimes against humanity case over the alleged disappearance of current Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed during the Awami League administration. The three-member judicial panel, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, also set 27 October for submission of the investigation report.

Prosecutor Gazi M H Tamim asked the tribunal to show Ziaul arrested in the case, send him to jail and allow two months for filing the investigation report. After a hearing, the tribunal granted the application. Prosecutors Shaikh Mahdi, Tasmiarul Islam and others were also present for the prosecution.

The tribunal had issued a production warrant for Ziaul Ahsan on 10 August following a prosecution application and fixed Thursday for his appearance. On 3 June 2025, Salahuddin filed a complaint with the chief prosecutor’s office against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and six others over his alleged disappearance.

A 45-year-old man, Mamunur Rashid Mamun, has been accused of killing his mother, Anwara Begum, 58, in Baje Durgapur village of Jessore Sadar on Thursday at about 5:30pm. Local residents said Mamun used a sharp boti to sever her head from her body after an argument at their home. He fled after nearby people responded to screams, leaving the weapon behind.

Jessore Kotwali police station officer-in-charge Mamun Khan said investigators suspect Mamun held resentment toward his mother over the breakdown of his two marriages. Locals said he blamed her for the separations and had previously argued with and assaulted her. His two wives reportedly left following marital disputes.

Residents said Mamun had mental health problems and was admitted to Pabna Mental Hospital about three years ago, where he received treatment for two to three months. They also said he returned home on Thursday after living away for nearly five years. Police reached the scene and were preparing to send the body to Jessore General Hospital morgue, while efforts continued to detain the accused.

A mother and her one-year-old daughter were killed after a goods-laden truck collided with a CNG-run autorickshaw in Sakhipur, Tangail. The crash occurred around 6pm on বৃহস্পতিবার (27 August) in the Berbari Bottola Millpara area of the Nalua-Tangail road. The woman was identified as 22-year-old Israt Jahan Akhi.

Akhi was the wife of Shuvo Ahmed of Adabari village in Basail upazila. She had left her husband's home in Adabari with her daughter and was travelling by CNG-run autorickshaw to a relative's house in Paharkanchanpur, Sakhipur. Family members and eyewitnesses said the autorickshaw collided with an oncoming goods truck at Berbari Bottola Millpara.

The mother and daughter were thrown from the autorickshaw and crushed beneath the truck's wheels, dying at the scene. Sakhipur police went to the location after receiving information about the accident and recovered their bodies. Police said further legal action was being taken. The deaths have left the victims' relatives and family members in mourning.

Ramganj police arrested a 25-year-old woman, identified by police as Rahena Akter and allegedly using the name Fatema Akter, at 3:15am on Thursday. She had been staging a hunger strike since Sunday, August 23, outside the home of expatriate Imon Hossain in Purba Machimpur village of Chandipur Union, Lakshmipur, demanding marriage.

Residents said the woman had presented herself as Fatema Akter from Chhagalnaiya in Feni. Police said their investigation found that her real name was Rahena Akter, daughter of Nurul Alam, from Uttar Pajura village in Fatikchhari, Chattogram. Police alleged that she used different identities and addresses and targeted wealthy men to obtain large sums of money.

Ramganj police officer-in-charge Firoz Uddin Chowdhury confirmed the arrest. He said the woman had previously come to the same location twice and had earlier been detained and sent to a magistrate court, where she was released on her own custody. Police also alleged that at least 10 men had been victims of her alleged fraud and said she had previously married twice.

A farmer, Azahar Mondal, 50, died after being electrocuted while connecting electricity to an irrigation pump in Madarganj upazila of Jamalpur on Thursday morning. The incident occurred in the Charshubhagachha area of Balijuri union. Mondal, the son of Tofil Mondal, had gone to irrigate his aman paddy field near his home using an electric pump.

He was seriously injured after accidentally coming into contact with electricity, according to the account of the incident. Local residents rescued him and took him to Madarganj Upazila Health Complex. As his condition worsened, the attending doctors referred him to Jamalpur General Hospital for advanced treatment.

Dr Shamim Iftekhar, resident medical officer at Jamalpur General Hospital, said Mondal had died before he was brought to the hospital and was declared dead after examination. Balijuri union parishad member Habibur Rahman Mister confirmed the incident and said the death had brought grief to the family and local area. Madarganj Model Police Station officer-in-charge Snehasish Ray said police were sent to the scene and legal action is under process.

Pakistan’s security forces said 11 people were killed in separate counterterrorism operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Two militants were killed in an operation in the Bannu area, while five were killed in Ladha, South Waziristan. Security forces also recovered weapons and ammunition during the operations.

In Balochistan, four more militants were killed during an operation in the Sasul area of Khuzdar district that used a quadcopter. Authorities claimed those killed were members of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and Balochistan-based armed groups.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi praised the security forces for the operations. Zardari said security forces’ activities to eliminate terrorism would continue. Earlier, on August 21, the military’s media wing had reported that 49 militants were killed in separate operations.

Police in Raiganj, Sirajganj, have arrested the main suspect, Titon, about one and a half months after the killing of HSC examinee Abdur Rahman. Raiganj police detained him during an operation in Gazipur on Wednesday. Rahman was a student of Raiganj Business Management and Technical College.

Police said an argument began on the night of July 14 after Rahman objected to drug use. Titon allegedly became enraged and attacked Rahman and his elder brother, Hasan, with a Burmese knife and a machete. Both brothers were indiscriminately hacked and injured in the attack.

Local residents rescued the injured brothers and admitted them to hospital. Abdur Rahman died while receiving treatment on July 17. Additional Superintendent of Police Saiful Islam Khan of the Raiganj Circle said Titon, identified as the main accused in the killing, had been arrested from Gazipur. Police said the incident is under investigation and necessary legal action is being taken.

A series of killings and domestic violence incidents in Egypt during August has heightened public concern, with dozens of people reported killed in a single month. Victims included spouses, parents, children and other close relatives. In Alexandria’s El-Agami area, a 27-year-old woman named Renia was killed by a beach worker after a dispute over seating; she had been vacationing with her husband and two children.

Other reported cases included the stabbing deaths of three people, including a wife, in Sohag Governorate over suspected infidelity. In 15 May City south of Cairo, an engineer allegedly shot dead four people, including his daughter, during a reconciliation meeting with his former wife’s family. Police cases cited in the report also involved disputes over loans, family conflicts and alleged killings of parents and children.

The Idrak Foundation for Development and Equality recorded 598 violent crimes against women and girls in the first six months of 2026, up from 495 a year earlier, a 20.81% rise. About 41% were domestic violence cases. Experts cited economic pressure, rising prices, inequality, weakened family ties, drug addiction and social tension, urging swift justice, counseling, social support and early identification of at-risk families.

Ten former ministers, lawmakers and officials of the Awami League government were brought before the International Crimes Tribunal in a case over alleged crimes against humanity linked to killings during the July uprising. They were transported from prison to the tribunal in prison vans under tight security on Thursday.

Those presented included former textile and jute minister Golam Dastagir Gazi, former industries minister Amir Hossain Amu, former agriculture minister Abdur Razzaque, former shipping minister Shajahan Khan and former social welfare minister Dipu Moni. Former lawmaker Faruk Khan, former justice A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik, former home secretary Jahangir Alam and former lawmaker Solaiman Selim were also brought to the tribunal.

The group also included Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, former adviser on power, energy and mineral resources to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The prosecution said Thursday had been set for submission of the investigation report in the case. The 10 accused, who are in custody, were produced before the tribunal in connection with that scheduled proceeding.

Police have confirmed that a skeleton recovered from a sugarcane field near Jitarpur intersection in Joypurhat Sadar belonged to missing e-rickshaw driver Farid Hossain, 41. Rapid Action Battalion and police arrested the main accused, Sagar Hossain, from the Atrai railway station area of Naogaon on Wednesday afternoon. He is due to be sent to court after questioning on Thursday.

Farid left his home in Hopirhat village of Khetlal upazila with his e-rickshaw at 10am on August 20 and did not return. His father, Abdul Quddus, filed a general diary the following day. Using information technology, police recovered Farid's e-rickshaw from a garage in the Pakar Matha area on Monday and arrested two people, Robiul and Jakir Hossain.

Farid's father then filed a murder case naming Sagar as the main accused and three or four unidentified people. Locals found the skeleton after jackals dragged human bones onto a road from the sugarcane field. Relatives identified Farid through clothing found with the remains. Police collected DNA samples, and the family buried the remains Tuesday night.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said it thwarted an attempt to push six men into Bangladesh through the Ramdaspur border in Gomastapur, Chapainawabganj, early Thursday. The incident occurred near border pillar 216/MP in the Ramdaspur BOP area under Naogaon Battalion 16, according to Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Ariful Islam Masum.

BGB said members of the Shamshernagar BSF camp of the 12 BSF Battalion attempted to push the six men into Bangladesh at dawn. After receiving information, a patrol from Ramdaspur BOP reached the site and identified the six men while they were inside the zero line on the Indian side of the border.

BGB personnel prevented the men from entering Bangladeshi territory, the force said. Efforts were under way to send the six men back into Indian territory. BGB said it had lodged a protest with the BSF over the incident and strengthened border patrols and surveillance. The force said it remained alert to prevent illegal entry and any attempt at push-ins.

Cumilla district detective police arrested Shawon, identified as the main suspect in an attack on journalists, after he allegedly fled the area. Police said the arrest was made around 3am in Bijoypur of Sadar South Upazila, roughly 12 hours after Wednesday’s incident. Shawon, son of Selim Mia from Srimantapur, was handed over to Sadar South Police Station.

The attack occurred in the Mistripukur Par area of North Rampur in Sadar South Upazila, involving journalists Rafiqul Islam Chowdhury Khokon, Tanvir Dipu and Abdullah Al Maruf. Tanvir Dipu said they were travelling to Lalmai for news gathering when they encountered congestion caused by vehicles trapped at a locally erected iron barricade.

Dipu said he helped vehicles pass and then argued with a local youth named Shawon, who objected to efforts to clear the traffic. He alleged that the youth later returned with a rod and attacked them from behind, leaving Maruf unconscious. Detective police officer-in-charge Shamsul Alam Shah said Shawon would be sent to court. Cumilla Press Club general secretary Imtiaz Ahmed Jitu thanked police for the arrest.

A case has been filed in Kendua, Netrokona, accusing five named people, including BNP leader Rafiqul Islam Bhuiyan Bakul, of blackmailing and gang-raping a Class 10 schoolgirl over an extended period. The victim’s father filed the case at Kendua police station on Tuesday night under the নারী ও শিশু নির্যাতন দমন আইন and the Pornography Control Act, also naming several unidentified suspects.

According to the case statement and the victim’s family, Bakul allegedly raped the girl on November 20, 2022, when she was in Class 6, after taking her to a house on the pretext of seeing a doctor. He allegedly recorded a video and later used threats of releasing it on social media to blackmail and repeatedly assault her.

Kendua municipal BNP removed Bakul from its primary membership and all party posts on Wednesday night, citing conduct contrary to party discipline and ethics. Police arrested the second accused, Abu Mia, 36, shortly after the case was filed and sent him to jail through a court on Wednesday. Operations to arrest Bakul and other accused are continuing.

A lineman at the Mohanganj Palli Bidyut Samity zonal office in Netrokona has been accused of taking money from customers for meter replacement, connection section changes and shifting connections between poles. The accused, Dipak Chandra Das, allegedly collected thousands of taka while promising services outside official procedures, but in some cases neither completed the work nor returned the money. Kaziyati resident Ratan Mia submitted a written complaint to the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board chairman on August 19.

Ratan said his home’s electric meter was damaged in a storm on June 3. He alleged that Dipak took Tk2,000 at a tea stall the following day, citing an application and compensation, and promised a replacement meter. After Ratan raised the matter with Deputy General Manager Md Emdadul Haque, a new meter was installed, but he said the Tk2,000 has not been returned.

Other customers made similar claims. Priya Akhtar alleged Dipak took Tk7,500 for five damaged meters, while Ujjwal Mia said he paid Tk12,000 to Tk14,000 to move a fisheries connection to another pole. The general manager said an REB letter had been received and an investigation committee would be formed.