A severe LNG-related gas shortage has shut all five filling stations in Brahmanbaria for the past three days, disrupting CNG-powered transport and affecting commercial and residential consumers. Gas supply to the stations was fully halted after 11 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the report. The closures have reduced the number of CNG autorickshaws operating on roads and highways, leaving passengers facing long waits and higher fares.

Before the shutdown, Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Limited supplied the five stations with 50,000 cubic metres of gas daily, although demand was nearly twice that amount. For more than two weeks, gas pressure had remained at 3 to 4 PSI rather than the usual 15 PSI. Supplies were first restricted and then stopped completely as the shortage intensified.

Some autorickshaw drivers have switched to LPG cylinders, increasing operating costs and passenger fares. One passenger paid Tk70 for a trip normally priced at Tk40, while a driver said his fare rose from Tk50 to Tk90 after using LPG. A filling-station manager said supply might resume Sunday or Monday, but Bakhrabad Gas official Md Shafiqul Haque said no definite timeline was available.

Oil has spilled from the tanker Caroline Bezengi after it became stranded near Al-Kibliyah Island, about 50 kilometres off southern Oman’s coast, raising concerns over long-term environmental damage in the Gulf. The vessel, carrying more than 800,000 barrels of oil, was hit by an explosion near Yemen’s coast on June 8 before grounding in late June. Oil has begun reaching beaches along Oman’s mainland “Turtle Coast.”

Al-Kibliyah is part of Oman’s Halaniyat Islands nature reserve, home to wildlife including Socotra cormorants and humpback whales. Oman’s National Committee for Emergency Management said it was monitoring the incident and its effects. The government estimated that the oil spill covered about 400 square kilometres. The article also cited research estimating that the first 14 days of the Iran war produced more than 5 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions.

UK-based maritime risk management firm Ambrey has been hired to salvage the tanker and address the spill. It said an international operation involving rescue vessels, aircraft, specialists and more than 100 tonnes of equipment was under way. With support from the Royal Air Force of Oman, experts have boarded the tanker to assess conditions and stabilize the vessel and cargo. Ambrey said khareef-season weather was complicating operations.

State Minister for Public Administration and Food Abdul Bari called for extensive tree planting to address the effects of climate change and ensure a livable environment for future generations. He made the remarks on Friday afternoon, August 14, while inaugurating a programme to plant 5,000 saplings of different species in the Biler Ghat area of Khetlal upazila in Joypurhat.

Bari said trees could be planted in a planned manner beside government facilities, roads and river embankments. Such planting, he said, could protect the environment while also increasing public awareness. He stressed the need for a planned approach to confront the impacts of climate change.

The state minister said planting saplings alone would not be sufficient, and regular care and preservation of planted trees must be ensured. He also emphasized continuing such tree-planting programmes. The inauguration event involved a programme for planting a total of 5,000 saplings of various species in the Biler Ghat area.

At least eight people have died in flooding caused by record rainfall across broad areas east of Tokyo, Japan’s public broadcaster reported Friday. Heavy rain and severe storms struck Chiba Prefecture from Thursday through Friday. The Japan Meteorological Agency said Chiba City, the prefectural capital, recorded about 350 millimetres of rain in just 12 hours.

Chiba’s governor said at a Friday news conference that the rainfall was nearly three times the average precipitation for the entire month of August. It was the highest 12-hour rainfall recorded in the area since records began in 1976. From Thursday night until Friday morning, the weather agency issued its highest Level 5 heavy-rain warning for 22 municipalities in the prefecture.

The agency warned residents of unprecedented heavy rainfall and urged them to move quickly to safe locations. It was Japan’s first Level 5 warning since the warning system was revised earlier this year for greater clarity. Although the alert level was lowered Friday afternoon, rainfall was expected to continue. The downpour caused major disruption to electricity supplies and severely affected transport in several areas.

Unit 1 of the coal-fired Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant in Parbatipur, Dinajpur, has again shut down because of a mechanical fault. The problem emerged around 11 a.m. on Friday, halting generation from the unit at the plant, which has a total generation capacity of 525 megawatts.

Chief Engineer Abu Bakar Siddiq confirmed the shutdown and said work was under way to repair the mechanical fault and restart the unit quickly. Before it stopped, Unit 1 was supplying 50 megawatts of electricity to the national grid each day.

The same unit had previously stopped generating on July 31 because of a mechanical fault and was restarted on August 2 after repairs. At present, the plant’s Unit 3 is supplying 170 megawatts to the national grid. Unit 2 has remained shut since 2020.

National University has launched an effort to make its second-year undergraduate Applied ICT course more current, student-friendly and employment-oriented through improved resource materials and online content. Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr ASM Amanullah highlighted the initiative on 14 August 2026 at BRAC CDM in Savar, during the opening of a three-day “Resource Materials Finalization” workshop organized with technical support from UNICEF Bangladesh.

Amanullah said information and communication technology is closely connected to education, employment, research, innovation and daily life. He said students should receive learning they can use beyond the classroom. He called for final materials to reflect students’ diverse educational and technological capacities and realities across regions, using simple, fluent and accessible language to support inclusive learning opportunities.

On the workshop’s first day, participants reviewed the accuracy and student suitability of each resource-book chapter and topic, pedagogical approaches, practical application, and alignment with online content. Experts recommended revisions and refinements to make the material clearer and more practical. The resource book and online content are scheduled to be finalized over the following two days based on those views.

Scientists at Peking University in China report that melting Antarctic ice is continuously releasing toxic mercury into the ocean. The study, led by environmental scientist Chengzhen Zhou, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers identified the concern while analysing sediment samples from the Antarctic Peninsula, an area they describe as among the fastest-melting parts of Antarctica due to environmental pollution.

Mercury is listed among the World Health Organization's 10 chemicals of major public-health concern and is toxic even at low levels. Scientists say fossil-fuel burning for industry and mining have sharply increased environmental mercury. Antarctic ice has long acted as a mercury sink, absorbing pollution from the environment, but greenhouse gases from the same industries are accelerating ice melt and releasing stored mercury. Mercury accumulation in the peninsula increased by 160 percent after the Industrial Revolution, the researchers said.

The study said melting ice increased mercury release onto land by 550 percent and atmosphere-to-ocean mercury exchange by 350 percent. Mercury discharge from the peninsula into open waters through currents rose by 400 percent. Researchers also observed rising mercury levels in Southern Ocean animals, often exceeding previous records.

US Central Command, or CENTCOM, has announced the formation of its first multinational, multi-domain attack-drone task force, named Task Force Falcon Strike. The announcement was reported on August 14, 2026, and concerns a new unit involving US forces and military personnel from regional partner countries.

CENTCOM said the task force will deploy one-way attack drones across several operational environments: on the sea surface, underwater and on land. The command described the unit as multinational and multi-domain, with participation by military members from the United States alongside regional partners.

The announcement comes nine months after the establishment of Task Force Scorpion Strike, described as the first specialized US one-way attack-drone squadron in the Middle East. CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said Falcon Strike would expand on Scorpion Strike’s success amid innovation among regional allies and partners. He added that integrating and deploying new capabilities would allow emerging possibilities to be implemented rapidly.

Date workers in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province say extreme heat is making harvesting and boiling dates increasingly difficult during the season that began in July. In Khairpur district, where more than half of Pakistan’s dates are produced, workers collect fruit from trees, transport it by trolley, boil it over fires and dry it in the sun. Temperatures regularly reach 40 degrees Celsius, and were at 42 degrees when AFP spoke to worker Idris on August 14.

Workers begin before sunrise and divide their day into short shifts, but say the heat quickly overwhelms them. Some start in date orchards at about 2 a.m. to avoid the hottest part of the day, take breaks and continue until evening. Several workers told AFP they often suffer heatstroke, fainting and fever. Idris, who has harvested dates for more than a decade, said the heat has become unbearable and that workers seek medical treatment before returning to work.

Thousands of farmers and seasonal workers depend on Khairpur’s date sector. Idris said he earns about 1,200 Pakistani rupees a day. Grower Shah Nawaz Phulpoto said heavier seasonal rainfall linked to changing weather has disrupted yields and caused financial losses, while heat is the immediate main challenge.

At least six people have died in unprecedented heavy rain in eastern Japan, disrupting roads and rail services and stranding thousands at Narita Airport. The report, published on August 14, said continuous heavy rain on Thursday night prompted landslide warnings. Weather authorities issued their highest-level heavy-rain alert for the Chiba region for the first time. About 26,000 households in Chiba were without electricity as of Friday morning, according to the disaster management office.

Chiba Prefecture's disaster management office said one victim, a man in his 60s or 70s, was found floating in floodwater on a road. A 66-year-old woman died after becoming trapped inside a submerged vehicle. A total of 45 homes were flooded in cities including Ichikawa, Kashiwa and Sakura, while water entered beneath the floors of another 39 homes.

About 7,000 people were stranded overnight at Narita, one of Tokyo's two main airports. Many trains to and from the airport were cancelled until Friday afternoon, while hundreds were also stranded at Chiba Station. Hundreds of people spent the night in shelters in different areas. Social media users said airport authorities provided stranded passengers with free water, food and sleeping bags.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green declared a state of emergency as Tropical Storm Lala strengthened in the Pacific, with forecasters warning it could bring strong winds, flooding and landslides over the weekend. The National Weather Service said the storm could become a hurricane as it approaches the Big Island. The report was published on August 14, 2026.

Lala currently has winds of about 50 mph, or 80 kph, with stronger gusts. Weather officials said some areas of the Big Island could receive up to 25 inches, or 63.5 centimeters, of rainfall. The emergency declaration enables faster deployment of funding, equipment and personnel if needed to respond to damage.

Green called the storm a serious threat, particularly for Hawaii Island, and urged residents to secure their homes, gather essential supplies, review family emergency plans and follow updates from reliable official sources. About 210,000 people live on Hawaii Island. The storm's exact path remains uncertain, although forecasts indicate it may remain offshore near the coast. It could be the first tropical storm to make a direct hit on the Hawaiian Islands since 2018.

A 30-metre earthen section of the Hasnapara Spur collapsed into the Jamuna River in Hatserpur Union of Sariakandi upazila, Bogura, early Thursday. Strong river currents and a vortex caused the damage at the spur, according to the Bangladesh Water Development Board. The river level at the Sariakandi point has remained close to the danger mark for the past several days.

The Water Development Board said a newly emerged char upstream of Hasnapara No. 2 Spur, on the riverside, altered the water flow toward the country side. The redirected current struck the spur and created a vortex, leading to the collapse of its earthen base. Residents living in the area are reported to be worried by the erosion.

Sub-divisional engineer Sohel Rana said the shifted flow was hitting the spur's soil foundation because of the upstream char formation. To contain the erosion, authorities are placing sand-filled geobags and geotubes at the affected location.

Gas supply from the cargo at Summit LNG’s terminal has stopped because of rough seas, and the cargo at the terminal has also been moved away. Energy Division sources confirmed that the terminal supplied gas from Thursday afternoon before the supply was later halted. The August 14, 2026 report said the shutdown has further reduced overall gas deliveries to Bangladesh’s national grid.

Accelerate Energy’s LNG terminal is currently supplying about 190 million cubic feet of gas to the national grid. According to people concerned, the reduced supply is already affecting multiple sectors. Lower gas pressure in Dhaka and other parts of the country is increasing cooking difficulties for households, with stoves remaining off for much of the day in many areas and pressure too low for normal cooking elsewhere.

The lower pressure could also disrupt industrial production, as factories may lose production capacity without adequate gas. Power generation could be affected as well, with average load-shedding of about 3,000 megawatts during peak hours. Pressure on the national gas grid is expected to persist until Summit’s LNG supply returns to normal.

Bangladesh’s Meteorological Department on Friday morning asked four seaports to display local caution signal No. 3 as a land depression could bring squally winds to coastal areas. The system, previously over West Bengal and nearby areas, has moved west-northwest and is now located over India’s Jharkhand and adjoining Gangetic West Bengal. The warning applies to Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Mongla and Payra seaports.

A notice signed by meteorologist Dr Md Omar Faruk said the depression may move further west-northwest before gradually weakening. The department said squally winds may pass over the northern Bay of Bengal and adjacent coastal areas of Bangladesh because of the system.

Squally weather is also possible around the seaports, according to the notice. Fishing boats and trawlers operating in the northern Bay of Bengal have been advised to remain close to the coast and move cautiously until further instructions are issued.

Saudi Arabia’s oil exports through the Red Sea are facing fresh uncertainty amid fears of possible attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Oil tankers linked to the kingdom are switching off their Automatic Identification System, or AIS, signals to avoid exposing their locations, leaving shipping data related to oil exports unavailable. The report was published on August 14, 2026.

The Houthis declared a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia on July 20 and subsequently claimed attacks on Saudi-linked oil tankers, the Yanbu oil facilities and the Jazan refinery. Analysts said nearly all tankers leaving Yanbu recently travelled with tracking signals disabled. Since July 23, continuous AIS data has been unavailable for about 70 percent of ships departing Saudi Arabia’s west coast.

The missing tracking data has complicated efforts to determine Saudi Arabia’s actual oil export volumes, producing major differences among ship-monitoring firms. Shipping through the Bab al-Mandab Strait has also declined. Saudi Arabia is exporting more oil through the Suez Canal and Egypt’s SUMED pipeline, while exports from Egypt’s Sidi Kerir port have reached record levels, much of them Saudi crude.