Iran’s domestically developed transport and cargo aircraft, Simorgh, is in the final stage of obtaining an operational certificate. Authorities hope to begin commercial operations in the next Iranian year, 1406, around 2027, after required standards and licensing procedures are completed. The report was published on July 28, 2026.

Shokri, secretary of the aerospace, transport and urban development headquarters at Iran’s Vice Presidency for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy, told Mehr News that the government continued full support for the project last year. He said coordination is progressing well among the implementing company, Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company, and the Civil Aviation Organization. He also expressed hope that the project would advance through obtaining an STC or TC certificate quickly.

Built on the Iran-140 platform, Simorgh is intended to develop domestic cargo transport capacity and strengthen Iran’s aircraft design, testing, quality-control and production capabilities. The project is viewed as strategic amid international sanctions and restrictions on parts supplies. Shokri said some unexpected disruptions last year could cause a slight delay, while the implementing company and Civil Aviation Organization will set the specific certification and commercial-operation timetable.

West Bengal’s BJP government may move to withdraw cases filed against protesters demonstrating over an examination question-paper leak, according to senior state secretariat sources cited on July 28. The possible move follows separate announcements by the Assam and Bihar governments that they would withdraw all cases against participants in Friday’s protest. West Bengal had not formally announced a decision, though sources said a notification could be issued on Monday.

Violence occurred during a protest at Esplanade in Kolkata last Friday, held with support from the Cockroach Janata Party after a call by a left-wing student organization. Protesters demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged paper leak. At a Delhi press conference, CJP said it would resume protests unless arrested students were released and FIRs withdrawn.

Seven cases were filed at Kolkata’s Hare Street and Entally police stations under the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Act, 2026. Police said 16 people were arrested over alleged vandalism and 70 were identified over alleged attacks on police and media workers.

More than 390 drones attempted to target the Moscow region overnight, according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. In a Telegram message on Tuesday, Sobyanin said the drones flew toward the region from 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. local time. The reported attacks came hours before a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, the report said.

Sobyanin said most of the drones were neutralized by air defenses before reaching the city. He added that 81 unmanned aerial vehicles described as belonging to the enemy were destroyed while approaching Moscow. AFP reported the information from Moscow.

Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov also reported damage from the drone attack. He said residential buildings in the city of Chekhov and the village of Vaulovo were damaged. The report provided no information on casualties, the extent of the damage, or responsibility for the attacks.

Jubo Dal leader NRB Mamun gave testimony as the second witness against former MP Shamim Osman and 11 other accused in a crimes-against-humanity case over the killing of 10 people in Narayanganj during the July uprising. His statement was recorded on Tuesday at International Crimes Tribunal-1. Mamun said he runs a tours and travel business and is involved in Jubo Dal politics.

Mamun said he joined the anti-quota movement from July 12, 2024. He alleged that on July 19 in Jalkuri, armed people including Shamim Osman, Ayon Osman and Azmeri Osman attacked protesters. He said he was hit by rubber bullets, while Adil and Yasin, who were beside him, were shot dead.

He also described alleged attacks near Ma Hospital on July 21 and at Chashara intersection on August 5. Mamun claimed that Swajan, a young man beside him, was injured by gunfire from Ayon Osman on August 5 and that he learned of Swajan's death the following day. He alleged that Narayanganj Victoria Hospital did not provide treatment to Swajan and demanded justice for those involved.

Construction of a road along the western side of the only playground at Burichong Ananda Pilot Government High School in Burichong municipality, Cumilla, has triggered controversy. In a report published on July 28, local residents alleged that the roughly 8-to-9-foot-wide road was built to ease access to Cumilla-5 lawmaker Haji Jasim Uddin’s home. They said part of the century-old field had been occupied in the name of field development and walkway construction, reducing its usable area.

School sources said the head teacher applied to the education secretary on June 11 seeking permission for a walkway and boundary wall, but no approval or written response had been received by the time of reporting. Head teacher Aminul Islam said the school was unaware of where the municipality was building boundary structures or walkways. Locals also alleged that the walkway reduced space by 15 feet around the field.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer Tanvir Hossain said a decision was made after a meeting with conscious citizens. Haji Jasim Uddin said the walkway was built for people to walk around the field and that no harm had been done to it. Locals called for an investigation into the road’s legality, the field’s actual boundaries and compliance with government rules.

Six Bangladeshis were reported dead after a fire broke out at a shop in South Africa, casting a pall of mourning over Fatulla in Narayanganj. According to the report published on July 28, the blaze began at about 3 a.m. the previous night. Several Bangladeshis inside the shop were unable to escape and suffered burns, with six deaths later reported at the scene.

Ali Mia, father of victim Apon Ahmed from Alirtek Union, said his son and several others had died in the fire, adding that he did not yet know his son's condition clearly. Alirtek Union Parishad member Rowshan Ali said the victims were all relatives of one another and that the news had created an atmosphere of grief across the area.

Narayanganj Deputy Commissioner Md Rayhan Kabir said reports and informal sources indicated that several Narayanganj residents had been killed, but authorities had not received an official list or confirmed information. Sadar Upazila Executive Officer SM Foyez Uddin said the foreign ministry had not sent an official message and no affected family had contacted the administration. Officials said necessary measures would follow once official information is received.

The administration in Indian-controlled Kashmir has ordered simultaneous inspections and a comprehensive audit of books and digital archives in all government libraries and educational institutions. The July 28, 2026 report said the measure aims to identify and confiscate material deemed anti-state or as inciting terrorism. Authorities instructed institutions to review complete inventories of books, journals, reference works and digital materials.

The directive says material opposing India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity, or encouraging separatism, violence or extremism, cannot be collected, distributed or kept. The audit followed objections from BJP leaders to two books distributed recently to about 250 schools under the government-funded Samagra Shiksha project. BJP opposition leader Sunil Sharma alleged the books used the phrase “Indian-occupied Kashmir.”

Administrative chief Manoj Sinha suspended eight School Education Department officials and ordered an investigation into the matter and the authors. The publishers of the two disputed books were blacklisted, with instructions to withdraw their other books from the market. Local teachers, researchers and residents criticized the action as a threat to academic freedom and Kashmir’s history. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said banning books would not erase memories of Kashmiris’ history and struggle.

Police in Ishwardi, Pabna, have arrested Akbar Khan, 30, described as the alleged ringleader in a robbery in which assailants posed as Detective Branch police and took money from a fish trader. Officers raided a residential hotel in Shahzadpur Bazar, Sirajganj, at about 4am on Tuesday, July 28. Acting on Khan's information, police recovered Tk90,000 from the stolen Tk426,180.

According to the case statement, fish trader Md Shahin Ali of Gurudaspur, Natore, was returning home after selling fish in Bhanga, Faridpur, on July 25. At Mir Kamari Chand Ali intersection in Ishwardi, two men on a black motorcycle allegedly identified themselves as DB officers and claimed the truck carried drugs. They took Shahin's assistant, Anichur Rahman, away on the motorcycle with the bag containing the sales proceeds.

Anichur later told Shahin that the men threatened him with a sharp weapon near a silk garden beside Harukhali field and seized the bag before fleeing toward Dashuria. Police recovered the money during a raid at the home of Khan's father-in-law in Singa village, Pabna Sadar. Operations continue to arrest other suspects and recover the remaining money.

The government borrowed a net Tk9,209 crore from the banking sector in the first 13 days of the current fiscal year, as expenditure exceeded revenue income, according to a report published on July 28. The government’s outstanding borrowing from banks now stands at Tk6,94,684 crore.

Of the new borrowing, Tk5,414 crore came from Bangladesh Bank and Tk3,795 crore from commercial banks. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, the government’s borrowing position with the central bank was negative Tk4,608 crore, while it had borrowed Tk6,112 crore from commercial banks. Its outstanding borrowing is now Tk99,467 crore at the central bank and Tk5,95,219 crore at commercial banks.

Former Bangladesh Bank chief economist Dr Mustafa K Mujeri said budget expenditure is set against revenue targets, but actual collection often falls well short, requiring additional bank borrowing. In the previous fiscal year, the government borrowed Tk1,34,571 crore from banks, above its revised target of Tk1,18,000 crore. The current fiscal year’s budget sets a Tk1,12,000 crore bank-borrowing target.

Johnson & Johnson has proposed a $5.5 billion settlement to resolve thousands of US lawsuits alleging that its talc powder caused ovarian cancer. The pharmaceutical company made the formal announcement on Monday, according to a report published July 28. If implemented, the agreement would resolve about 69,000 pending cases in US federal and state courts.

The company said those cases represent roughly 99.75 percent of outstanding talc-related litigation in the United States. The settlement must receive approval from at least 95 percent of plaintiffs who filed cases in state or federal courts before it can be finalized. In 2024, the World Health Organization added talc to its list of substances that may cause cancer in humans.

Johnson & Johnson has maintained that there is no scientific evidence that talc causes cancer. It nevertheless stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the United States in 2020 and globally in 2023. Lawyers representing plaintiffs welcomed the proposed deal after a decade of legal battles. The agreement does not apply to UK claims, where more than 7,000 potential plaintiffs are awaiting proceedings in a High Court case filed in October 2025.

Border Guard Bangladesh said it prevented at least 25 attempted push-ins over the past two months along 1,200 kilometres from Mymensingh to Cumilla in the Sarail region. The latest case involved four people who were sent back after allegedly attempting to enter through the Salda River border in Cumilla. Sarail region commander Brigadier General Mohammad Saiful Islam Chowdhury gave the information on July 28 while answering journalists’ questions at an event in Cumilla.

Chowdhury said cooperation from the public and other forces was needed to prevent push-ins from India. He was the chief guest at a narcotics destruction programme arranged by Cumilla’s BGB 10 Battalion. Cumilla sector commander Colonel Rakibul Islam, Deputy Commissioner Rozi Akter, commanders of the two battalions and representatives of several agencies attended.

BGB said Cumilla 10 Battalion and Sultanpur 60 Battalion conducted 20,200 operations over three years, seizing narcotics worth about Tk52 crore and arresting 526 people with drugs. The force reported seizures including Indian Phensedyl, cough syrup, beer, whisky, cannabis and yaba tablets. It said the seized narcotics were being publicly destroyed to highlight the harmful effects of drugs and raise public awareness.

Bangladesh’s High Court has ordered an investigation into reports that 26 toothpastes sold in the domestic market contain “harmful” microplastics. On Tuesday afternoon, a High Court bench comprising Justice Khizir Ahmed Choudhury and Justice Md Ziaul Hoque ordered the formation of a three-member expert committee to conduct the inquiry.

The court directed the committee to submit its investigation report within 15 days. Supreme Court lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun had earlier filed a writ petition over the matter, leading to the court’s order for an investigation.

On July 26, SDO presented a research report at its headquarters in Lalmatia, Dhaka, covering 34 toothpastes from 19 brands sold in the country’s market. The organization conducted the nationwide integrated study from July 2025 through June 2026.

Prime Minister’s Information Adviser Dr Zahid Ur Rahman said there is no legal obstacle to trying resigned President Md Shahabuddin for earlier offences. He made the remarks at a news conference at the Department of Information in the Secretariat in the capital on Tuesday afternoon. Chief Information Officer Syed Abdal Ahmed was also present.

Rahman said courts would independently decide any matter concerning the former president’s trial, and that the government had no scope to comment on the issue. He described the courts as fully independent and said every citizen has a constitutional right to obtain justice. The government respects that right, he added.

At the same briefing, Rahman addressed possible attendance by the prime minister at the BRICS summit in India. He said no decision had yet been made on the prime minister’s travel. Bangladesh is not a BRICS member, he said, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to attend this year’s summit in India.

Bangladesh Police said 39,267 people were arrested in a continuing nationwide special operation between May 1 and July 27, 2026. A further 102,722 people were arrested in other cases and operations, bringing the combined total to 141,989 arrests, according to police figures reported on July 28.

Police said they recovered 325 firearms, 2,802 rounds of ammunition and cartridges, 103 magazines, 46 crude bombs, and more than two kilograms of gunpowder during the period. The reported seizures also included 638 locally made weapons, 18 weapon parts, 17 items of equipment for making weapons and bombs, and 10,300 chocolate bombs.

The firearms listed included 101 pistols, 92 guns, 38 LGs, 35 shooter guns, 19 revolvers, 15 pipe guns, seven shotguns, three rifles, two SMGs, 12 airguns and one pen gun. Police also reported seizing 9,122,996 yaba tablets, heroin, phensedyl, foreign and local liquor, cannabis and other narcotics. Authorities filed 17,066 cases over the drug recoveries and arrested 24,821 people in connection with them.

The government says it will act in the public interest over the presence of microplastics in most toothpaste products used in the country. Prime Minister’s Information and Broadcasting Adviser Zahed Ur Rahman made the statement on Tuesday at the government’s regular press conference in the Information Department conference room at the Secretariat, responding to a question about whether authorities would take action.

Rahman said the government considers public safety a serious matter, but described microplastics as a wider problem that extends beyond toothpaste. He said particles are being generated from different sources and spreading into food and water. He said a coordinated response is needed, arguing that action focused only on toothpaste or another single area would not be sufficient.

The adviser said relevant government agencies would take steps because microplastics had been found in such quantities. He also said public health awareness is increasing and the issue is being widely discussed on social media. Environmental and Social Development Organization, or ESDO, tested 34 toothpaste samples from 19 brands and found microplastics in 26 samples, or about 76.5 percent. Some toothpaste products marketed for children also contained the small plastic particles.