Captain Ibrahim Traore, the 38-year-old military officer who took power in Burkina Faso through a 2022 coup, faces growing scrutiny despite his popularity beyond the country. Supporters portray him as a symbol of national sovereignty and resistance to foreign influence, while questions persist over restrictions on political activity, an ongoing security crisis and the delivery of his national renewal promises. In April, Traore told Burkinabe people to “forget democracy,” arguing the country was in a revolutionary period rather than a democratic phase.

His government has withdrawn French troops, strengthened ties with Russia and prioritised local industry and agriculture. It says it has increased investment in rice and maize production, promoted local manufacturing and processing, and expanded state participation in infrastructure and strategic economic sectors. The government has also expanded the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland, a civilian force supporting the army.

Armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and IS continue to threaten the country, according to security expert Mustafa Bature Sallama. More than two million people have been displaced and millions need humanitarian assistance, he said. Independent verification of official security claims is difficult because journalists, researchers and humanitarian organisations face limited access. Authorities dissolved political parties and suspended political activities in January, while an extended military transition has delayed a return to civilian rule.

Bangladesh’s State Minister for Cultural Affairs Ali Newaz Mahmud Khaiyam called for removing vulgar and indecent practices from politics and culture at Jagannath University’s sixth Recitation Festival 2026. The daylong event was held on the university campus on August 3 and included an interdepartmental Nazrul recitation competition, honours, prize distribution, a discussion meeting and cultural performances. Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. Md. Reza Uddin inaugurated the programme.

The minister said crises in recent years had created institutional capacity gaps across politics, culture, the economy and other sectors. He said the current government was working to build a secular, non-discriminatory and democratic state regardless of nation, religion or group. He stressed maintaining civility in political culture and avoiding indecent language, warning that otherwise the country’s image and future could be harmed.

The minister pledged government support for Jagannath University’s overall development and cultural activities. Poet Abdul Hai Shikder and recitation artist Munshi Md. Rezaul Hossain Tito received honours. H M Fahim won the interdepartmental competition, while Khizir Fayaz received a prize as champion of the inter-university recitation competition.

Twenty-five US states have sued to challenge the legality of President Donald Trump’s decision to impose new additional tariffs on 60 trading partners. The case was filed Monday in the US Court of International Trade. The Trump administration imposed duties ranging from 10% to 12.5%, alleging that the targeted partners produce goods through forced labor or import such goods.

The plaintiff states include New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, with 17 other states joining the case. In July, the administration imposed the tariffs on 59 countries, including India, Canada, Japan, Norway, Taiwan and China, as well as the European Union. The measure was taken under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said imports from the 60 partners account for 99.4% of total US imports. Governor Kathy Hochul said the tariffs raise costs for consumers and small businesses. White House spokesperson Kush Desai defended the policy, saying action was needed to stop imports of goods made with forced labor and that Section 301 tariffs remain a legally effective tool.

A tense situation prevailed at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur on Tuesday as Chhatra Dal held a sit-in programme. University-unit Chhatra Dal members, along with leaders and activists from Rangpur metropolitan Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal, staged the programme at 4pm. Activists were seen positioned at several points on campus, while the university unit also held a protest march. Students reported anxiety amid fears of further clashes.

The programme followed repeated clashes on Monday night between Chhatra Dal and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists, in which five people were injured. Tensions have persisted across the campus since then. Chhatra Dal activists raised slogans referring to Chhatra Shibir. Chhatra Dal university president Yamin said the organisation would protest and resist anyone who mocked 1971 or diminished July.

Rangpur Metropolitan Police deployed additional personnel to prevent clashes. The university barred entry of all outsiders, including guests and visitors, until further notice, and also restricted several types of vehicles. Vice-Chancellor Md Shawkat Ali said the programme was organised by Rangpur metropolitan Chhatra Dal and was being held peacefully outside the campus. Police said the situation was calm and under control.

Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal has condemned and protested what it described as a planned attempt by Chhatra Shibir to create disorder and disrupt an official July uprising memorial programme at Jagannath University. In a statement sent to the media on Tuesday, the student organisation said the incident occurred during the event at the university’s central auditorium.

According to Chhatra Dal, 40 to 50 Chhatra Shibir leaders and activists forcibly entered the auditorium while the programme was underway and attempted to derail it. Chhatra Dal said its members intervened to protect the event from being disrupted and to maintain a peaceful campus environment. It alleged that Chhatra Shibir’s provocative conduct subsequently created an unwanted situation.

The statement said Chhatra Dal and other progressive student organisations had led earlier demands to hand second-campus work to the army, while Chhatra Shibir had opposed that movement. It described Shibir’s recent activity, after the tender process had reached its final stage, as an effort to influence the development project and make the memorial event controversial. Chhatra Dal said it would remain firm against terrorism, provocation and disorder on campuses.

Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to face international media virtually from New Delhi on August 5, marking two years since she left Dhaka amid a student-public uprising. The South Asia Foreign Correspondents’ Club is organizing the event. Citing organizers, CNN-News18 reported that Hasina will join only through an audio connection from an undisclosed location in India, where she has remained since leaving Bangladesh in August 2024.

Organizers said Hasina may discuss her political future, plans to return to Bangladesh and the country’s current situation. She may also answer journalists’ questions during the event. The report described the appearance as her first direct interaction with journalists since losing power; previously, she had communicated through written statements or recorded messages.

Organizers said an audio-only format was chosen because of security and technical considerations. The report said she may address her wish to return to Bangladesh later this year and ongoing legal proceedings against her. It also said an arrest warrant was issued against her by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal and that she was sentenced to death in absentia. Hasina has denied the allegations and said she intends to fight them legally after returning.

Jamaat-e-Islami chief and opposition leader Dr Shafiqur Rahman said the public would again build resistance if there were any attempt to establish new fascism. He made the remarks on Tuesday at an award ceremony for the “July Awakening Documentary Competition 2026,” organised by Islami Chhatra Shibir at the National Museum auditorium in Shahbagh, Dhaka. He described the July movement, which took place two years earlier, as a unique chapter in Bangladesh’s history.

Speakers at the event stressed preserving memories of the July movement, the sacrifices of martyrs, and presenting its history to new generations. Rahman praised Shibir’s month-long initiative to preserve those memories and said children and young people should learn this history. Jamaat Secretary General Professor Mia Golam Parwar said people in Bangladesh do not accept autocratic or repressive rule and would resist another effort to establish fascism.

Shibir central president Nurul Islam said the competition aimed to gather documents, memories and information from across the country and present them through documentaries. “Gramer Chokhe July” by Mahmud H M of Noakhali won first place, receiving Tk 200,000, a crest and certificate. Other prizes ranged from Tk 150,000 for second place to Tk 30,000 for fifth place.

Singer Asif Akbar voiced anger over what he described as Bangladesh’s political, economic and social decline in a Facebook post published on Monday. He argued that reports of minor theft and irregularities receive extensive media and social-media attention, while the alleged anti-national activities of looting groups receive far less discussion. The article was published on August 4, 2026.

Akbar wrote that people and animals are beaten to death over allegations of stealing small amounts of food, while those who use politics to hollow out the country can later become public representatives. In his view, ordinary people fall into the trap of promises, follow such figures, and eventually suffer because of leaders they helped elevate. He described this as a continuing cycle within Bangladesh’s politics and social system.

He also criticised the leadership of SAFF football, the elected Bangladesh Football Federation and the sports ministry. Akbar said these were not isolated developments but parts of an older design linked by the same thread. In the post, he referred to the first Bengali sound film, “Mukh O Mukhosh,” released on August 3, 1956, and compared it with a political event from August 3, 2024 while presenting his views.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the Indian government has no involvement in an event in New Delhi where ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to deliver a virtual address. The position was reported on August 4, 2026, by Amar Desh Online.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that the event in New Delhi is being organized by a private institution and has no connection with the Indian government. Bangladesh had sought an explanation from New Delhi regarding the Indian government’s position on the planned event.

The South Asian Foreign Correspondents’ Club is scheduled to organize the programme on August 5 to mark the second anniversary of the student-public uprising. Sheikh Hasina is expected to speak virtually at the event. The report cited Reuters as its source.

Leaders of Jagannath University Central Students’ Union, or JAKSU, alleged that Chhatra Dal activists attacked injured Shibir and Chhatra Shakti leaders receiving treatment at Dhaka National Medical Institute Hospital in Johnson Road, Old Dhaka, on Tuesday afternoon. The allegation followed an earlier confrontation at Jagannath University over attempts to enter a UGC chairman’s event carrying placards outlining student demands. JAKSU leaders said no action was taken against Chhatra Dal despite the hospital attack occurring in front of administrators.

According to JAKSU representatives, the confrontation began Tuesday morning at the university’s central auditorium when they sought to present demands to the UGC chairman. The placards called for faster handover of second-campus work to the army, quicker implementation of temporary housing in Keraniganj, and improved medical-centre facilities and services. They alleged the placards were seized and torn up before an assault occurred.

The report said JAKSU Vice President Md Riazul Islam, General Secretary Abdul Alim Arif, Assistant General Secretary Masud Rana, law affairs secretary Faruk, and Chhatra Shakti leaders Shahin Mia and Ferdous Sheikh were seriously injured. Sutrapur police station officer-in-charge Matiur Rahman said police were trying to calm the situation after chase and counter-chase incidents at the hospital.

Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan, spokesperson for the National Citizen Party and a former adviser to the interim government, alleged that Chhatra Dal has resumed “terror politics” on public university campuses. In a post on his verified Facebook account on Tuesday, he drew the prime minister’s attention to the matter and urged action.

Mahmud said in the post that alleged attacks by Chhatra Dal activists at Jagannath University seriously injured Shahin Mia, president of Jatiya Chhatra Shakti’s university unit, general secretary Ferdous Sheikh, and Jabir Khan. Addressing Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, he said the alleged perpetrators should be stopped.

Separately, an attack and clash took place at Dhaka College at 2pm on Tuesday between activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir and Chhatra Dal over putting up posters marking the second anniversary of the July uprising. The report did not provide further details on injuries or damage from that incident.

Madaripur-3 lawmaker and central BNP co-assistant education affairs secretary Anisur Rahman Khokon Talukdar warned people he said were trying to question the July movement. Speaking as chief guest on Tuesday morning at the inauguration of Ariyal Khan riverbank protection work in the Saheberampur Notun Underchar area of Kalkini, Madaripur, he said they should watch their words or would be unable to protect themselves.

He said the July movement belonged to all people of Bangladesh. Khokon said there are mothers who lost two children, while victims of enforced disappearance and killing and their families have suffered greatly. He also said those affected families have love for the country.

The BNP leader said his side wanted to stand beside these families, including families of July martyrs and all families affected by disappearances and killings over the past 17 years. He said they wanted to bring some peace to their minds through care and support. Water Development Board Executive Engineer Sanaul Kader Khan and BNP leaders and activists were among those present.

Dhaka College Chhatra Shibir office secretary Abdul Malek was hospitalized in serious condition after an alleged attack by college unit Chhatra Dal activists, according to the report. The incident occurred around 12:30pm on August 4. Malek, who reportedly sustained a head injury, was admitted to Popular Hospital in Dhanmondi, where treatment was ongoing.

Dhaka College Chhatra Shibir finance secretary Mohammad Mamun said Malek was leading decoration work for five or six galleries ahead of a reception and discussion for martyrs' families marking the anniversary of the July mass uprising. Mamun alleged that 20 to 25 Chhatra Dal activists, led by convening committee member Parvez Mosharraf, arrived and assaulted Malek and others.

Chhatra Dal activists later held a procession on campus at 1:30pm. Dhaka College principal A K M Ilyas said regular classes and examinations had been underway since morning, while some tension surrounded a Chhatra Dal procession. He said he had not received reports of a major clash, but noted an allegation that an Islami Chhatra Andolon student was beaten after being suspected of being affiliated with Chhatra League.

Sarjis Alam, northern region chief organiser of the National Citizen Party (NCP), said Chhatra Dal would face a fate worse than Chhatra League. He made the comment in a Facebook post on Tuesday, according to a report published on August 4, 2026, at 16:38.

In his post, Sarjis wrote that the sooner Chhatra Dal becomes like Chhatra League, the sooner its outcome would become worse than that of Chhatra League. The report did not provide further explanation from him about the basis for the statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Shibir members clashed on the Jagannath University campus. The incident occurred during an event at the university's central auditorium in the presence of the UGC chairman. The report did not state the cause of the clash, whether there were casualties, or any subsequent action.

Rapid Action Battalion, or RAB, has tightened security across Bangladesh, including Dhaka, ahead of July Uprising Day 2026 on August 5. In a press release issued by its law and media wing on August 4, the force said intelligence surveillance, patrols and cyber patrolling had been strengthened to prevent sabotage or any untoward situation linked to the observance.

RAB said the measures are intended to stop extremist groups, banned organisations and what it described as anti-state and anti-government conspiratorial groups from causing violence or disruption. The force said it carries out regular operations and preventive activities based on specific intelligence information to bring organised criminals under the law and to help prevent violence.

Security has been reinforced in coordination with other law-enforcement agencies, intelligence bodies and local administration. Each battalion has reviewed risks in its own area and adopted a separate security plan, while intelligence gathering has been increased. Special security arrangements began on the night of August 4 at event venues, designated road march and procession routes, and July memorial monuments. RAB personnel in uniform and plain clothes will conduct surveillance in assigned areas.