Bangladesh has made progress in healthcare since independence, but government health spending remains among the lowest in Asia, just over 3% of total operational expenditure. Shortages of doctors, nurses, and medical supplies, coupled with inefficiency and mismanagement, continue to undermine service quality. Despite budget allocations and recruitment drives, public hospitals and clinics struggle to meet demand. Experts emphasize the need for strategic planning, skilled personnel, technological upgrades, and increased funding to ensure accessible, high-quality healthcare for all citizens.

Gana Adhikar Parishad leader Rashed Khan rejected allegations that their activists attacked the Jatiya Party office yesterday. Instead, he accused police and army personnel of storming outside the Gana Adhikar office and attacking their leaders.

“Nur’s nose was broken, his eye injured, and his life remains at risk. This was a planned assassination attempt. Army members stomped on his chest with boots,” Rashed claimed, urging the Army Chief to take action against those involved.

He further alleged that “Awami League loyalists still remain in the army” and must be removed, accusing DGFI of colluding with Jatiya Party to present it as the opposition.

Kaptai Lake, one of Bangladesh and South Asia’s largest reservoirs, was created in 1960 with the construction of a dam on the Karnaphuli River for electricity generation. Spanning around 725 square kilometers, it supplies fish to meet local demand and supports approximately 26,500 fishermen in Rangamati and Khagrachhari. However, encroachment and illegal occupation are steadily shrinking this vital artificial lake, putting livelihoods at risk and threatening the ecological balance of the region. Immediate measures are needed to protect it.

China’s Haze Shipping Company is launching the China-Europe Arctic Express, a new container route linking Chinese ports including Ningbo-Zhoushan and Qingdao to major European ports such as Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Gdansk. The Arctic segment via Russia’s Northern Sea Route reduces transit time to just 18 days—less than half of the Suez Canal route. Initially seasonal, the service aims to speed deliveries, cut inventory costs, and meet Europe’s peak-season demand, with plans for year-round operation using ice-class vessels.

NCP’s southern region chief organizer Hasnat Abdullah has said that elections under the current constitution, used by Sheikh Hasina for “night voting,” are unacceptable. Speaking at a meeting in Debidwar, he urged the Chief Adviser to amend the rules and give the polls legal legitimacy. He criticized past elections, alleging dead voters, ballot stuffing, and bias from officials. Hasnat likened the system to a house with broken doors, stressing structural reforms before credible elections can take place.

Khelafat Majlis Amir Mawlana Mamunul Haque declared that no election will be allowed in Bangladesh without official recognition of the Shapla Square martyrs and implementation of the July Charter.

Rejecting the 1972 Constitution, he said, “Elections are not the immediate priority. First, Bangladesh must acknowledge the blood of Shapla’s martyrs. The July revolutionaries shed their blood to uproot imperialism. There can be no compromise between the July movement and the 1972 regime.”

Mamunul warned against attempts to return to the “Baksali system” of 1972 and criticized those who invoke Ziaur Rahman’s name while supporting such measures. He further vowed to resist the establishment of “statues disguised as sculptures” of dictators in Bangladesh and opposed the idea of building a statue of Zia.

National Congress Party (NCP) leader Hasnat Abdullah has declared that his party has no objection if elections are held as early as next month, provided that electoral rules are revised. However, he firmly rejected holding polls under the current constitution, which he claimed was used to justify “night-time voting in the name of day-time elections.”

Speaking at a yard meeting in Debidwar’s Mohammapur, Hasnat said, “During Sheikh Hasina’s rule, most people could not cast their votes. Those who could were allowed to stamp entire ballot papers. Even deceased individuals were shown in voter lists. Corrupt officials from the administration aided this rigging. The people of this country do not want to witness such elections again.”

Chaos erupted in front of the Jatiya Party’s central office in Kakrail during an anti-government rally by Gana Adhikar Parishad. Witnesses reported brickbats and an assault carried out by joint forces. Nurul Haque Nur sustained severe injuries in the incident.

Footage circulating online shows a young man in a red T-shirt repeatedly beating Nur after he had collapsed to the ground. The video sparked widespread outrage, prompting police to begin efforts to identify the attacker.

DMP official Mir Asaduzzaman confirmed that the man had initially been detained by security forces but was later released. “We are working to identify him quickly,” he said. Gana Adhikar leaders accused Jatiya Party workers of launching the attack, which was later followed by police baton charges on a torch procession held in protest.

Party leader Rashed Khan said, “The video clearly shows police and army personnel attacking us first. After Nur fell to the ground, the man in the red T-shirt began beating him mercilessly. This must be investigated, and those responsible must be held accountable under the law.”

A U.S. appellate court has ruled that the majority of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on various countries are illegal, stating that only Congress has the authority to impose such measures. The court’s decision, citing emergency economic powers, will take effect after October 14, when the Supreme Court will review the case. The ruling raises questions about existing trade agreements and highlights potential political and economic consequences, with Trump criticizing the decision as threatening the nation’s stability.

The United States is set to impose a visa ban on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other PA and PLO officials, raising doubts over Abbas’s attendance at the UN General Assembly in September. The move comes as several countries, including France, Canada, and Australia, prepare to recognize Palestine as an independent state. The U.S. State Department said the ban aims to pressure Palestinian leaders to reject terrorism and halt unilateral efforts toward statehood, calling such actions unproductive.

A coalition of 101 organizations has issued a joint statement condemning the violent attack on July Revolution activists, vowing nationwide resistance if state-backed forces continue to be unleashed against peaceful protesters.

The statement read:

“One year after the people’s uprising, the promised reform of the armed forces has yet to materialize. Instead, the people continue to suffer. The indiscriminate bloodshed against July warriors is a direct betrayal of the July Spirit. Anyone who betrays that spirit will meet the same fate as the killer Hasina.”

The organizations accused state forces of reviving fascist tactics:

“The inhuman mob attacks by army and police members remind the nation of the darkest days of fascism. Such attacks are deplorable, unacceptable, and must never be repeated. Assaulting democratic activists is the same as assaulting the people themselves.”

They demanded exemplary punishment for those responsible and warned against military intervention in politics:

“We believe fascism will not be allowed to return in the new Bangladesh. If the armed forces are deployed as political mobs, the people will be compelled to build resistance. This culture of military mobs in the name of the state must end immediately.”

Targeting the Jatiya Party, the groups declared:

“The Jatiya Party, a long-standing collaborator of Awami fascism, has always stood against the people. Today, in front of their office, Nur and his comrades were left bloodied for protesting. We call for the Jatiya Party to be brought under political trial without delay. And if peaceful protests are once again crushed by military mobs, we will launch a nationwide resistance movement.”

BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman has vowed to end enforced disappearances in Bangladesh, calling it an international crime and a grave human rights violation. In a statement marking International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, he accused Sheikh Hasina’s rule of unprecedented disappearances, citing reports of over 700 cases since 2009. He pledged that if BNP comes to power, it will enact laws aligned with the UN convention and ensure justice for victims. He also welcomed the interim government’s draft law on prevention.

Islamic scholar and political leader Mamunul Haque has strongly condemned the attack on Nurul Haque Nur and his associates, calling it a premeditated assassination attempt.

Speaking to reporters after visiting Nur in hospital, Mamunul said:

“The attack on Nurul Haque Nur and his colleagues was nothing short of a planned attempt at murder. In front of the national media and journalists, army personnel assaulted one of the country’s most prominent political leaders. This is unthinkable and has disgraced the army—the last institution of trust for the people of Bangladesh.”

Mamunul warned that the assault highlighted a grave threat to political life:

“The way this attack was carried out proves that our lives are at stake politically. It shows the character of the police has not changed, and now even army personnel can launch such attacks openly before the media. This is unimaginable in any civilized world.”

He further accused defeated forces of seeking revenge against the “July Revolutionaries”:

“The barbaric attack on VP Nurul Haque Nur, Rashed Khan, and others—leaving them bloodied and hospitalized—is a test case. If they get away with this, no participant of the July Revolution will be safe. Today we must decide: will the July Revolution succeed, or will it fail?”

He urged all patriotic, political, and social forces—along with students and citizens nationwide—to remain vigilant and united.

NCP leader Hasnat Abdullah has accused India of directly backing a political maneuver to reinstate the Awami League through the Jatiya Party.

In a statement, Abdullah wrote:

“It began with the so-called ‘Refined Awami League’ plan, which I exposed on March 11. That attempt at rehabilitation collapsed, but they didn’t stop. The same clique has now chosen the Jatiya Party as the vehicle to bring back the Awami League.”

He alleged that the recent attack on political leader Nurul Haque Nur was part of this strategy:

“In this India-backed game to bring back the Awami League through the Jatiya Party, our brother Nur has shed the first blood. If we fail to protest this heinous attack and fail to resist this attempt to reimpose fascism through the Jatiya Party, Bangladesh itself will once again be drenched in blood, just like our brother Nur.”

Abdullah vowed resistance, declaring:

“We will not let Nurul Haque Nur’s sacrifice go in vain. We will not allow Awami League’s return at the cost of revolutionaries’ blood, scripted by India.”

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has expressed deep concern and condemnation over the attack on Nurul Haque Nur and more than 50 GOP activists in Bijoynagar, allegedly carried out by Jatiya Party “terrorists.” Party Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar described the assault as “shameful, unwanted, and reminiscent of fascist rule,” urging authorities to immediately arrest those responsible and ensure exemplary punishment. He called the attack a grave blow to the nation’s democratic journey.