The Election Commission has rejected the appeal of Monira Sharmin, the National Citizens Party (NCP) candidate for a reserved women’s seat, upholding the earlier cancellation of her nomination. The decision came on Monday, April 27, 2026, around 11 a.m., following a lengthy hearing at the commission. Sharmin had filed her appeal the previous day, April 26, after her nomination was initially canceled during scrutiny on April 23.

According to the commission’s earlier decision, Sharmin’s nomination was invalidated because three years had not passed since her resignation from a government job. In her statement to reporters after submitting the appeal, she argued that the law used to cancel her nomination was being interpreted too rigidly and that it undermined the purpose of the reserved women’s seat system. She emphasized that as a junior bank officer with only two years of service, she had held no administrative authority or capacity to influence decisions.

On April 22, the returning officer had declared 12 out of 13 nominations valid from the 11-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami, excluding Sharmin’s candidacy.

Al-Jazari, a leading mechanical engineer of the Islamic Golden Age, created groundbreaking machines nearly 800 years ago that remain relevant today. His inventions, powered by water pressure and air, included automatic mechanical devices that demonstrated early principles of robotics and cybernetics. His seminal book, 'Kitab fi Ma'rifat al-Hiyal al-Handasiyya', described around 100 mechanical devices with detailed illustrations and construction methods, serving as a practical engineering guide.

Among his notable inventions were the crankshaft, segmental gear, and double-cylinder water-lifting pumps, which introduced mechanisms later fundamental to modern engines and automation. Al-Jazari also built automata such as humanoid robots, musical boats, and water clocks, showcasing advanced control and feedback systems centuries before similar European developments.

The article emphasizes that Al-Jazari’s work established the conceptual basis for modern robotics, hydraulics, and control engineering. His integration of balance, feedback, and hydro-mechanical control in devices anticipated many ideas central to today’s cybernetics and mechanical engineering.

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 has shown the arrest of Awami League’s publicity and publication secretary Md. Abdus Sobhan Golap in connection with the killings during the July uprising in Madaripur. He was produced before the tribunal on Monday afternoon, when the court recorded his arrest in the case and set May 4 for the next hearing. Police had earlier detained Golap on August 25, 2024, from a residence in West Nakhalpara.

Abdus Sobhan Golap was elected as a Member of Parliament from Madaripur-3 constituency in December 2018 on the Awami League ticket. In the party’s national council held last December, he was appointed as the central publicity and publication secretary, having previously served as the central office secretary.

The tribunal’s decision marks a new phase in the investigation into the July killings, with further proceedings scheduled for early May.

The scheduled testimony in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial was canceled at the last minute, according to Israeli media reports on April 27, 2026. The hearing was set to resume after a long break caused by the ongoing war, but it was suspended about an hour before it was due to begin. The cancellation reportedly followed a request from Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Haddad, citing security concerns.

The testimony was part of Netanyahu’s long-running criminal case involving multiple corruption charges, including bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. The trial has faced repeated delays due to the war situation and other interruptions.

Observers noted that this latest postponement adds further uncertainty to the timeline of the judicial process, which has already been disrupted several times.

Former Badarganj municipality mayor Uttam Kumar Saha has been accused of irregularities and forgery for allegedly issuing Bangladeshi birth certificates to two Indian nationals and a death certificate for their mother. The complaint, filed with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Rangpur, claims that the certificates were issued during Saha’s tenure. Despite multiple complaints since 2023, no effective action has reportedly been taken, leading to public frustration.

According to the complaint, the two brothers, Manoj Kumar Saha and Rajib Kumar Saha, are residents of Barrackpore in West Bengal, India, and hold Indian passports. Their mother, Arati Rani Saha, allegedly died in Kolkata, yet a Bangladeshi death certificate was issued in her name in 2019. Locals allege that the forged documents were used to secure ownership of valuable property in Badarganj with the help of influential figures.

Saha has denied the allegations, claiming the certificates were based on earlier records from 1995, though no such documentation has been found. The ACC has stated that an investigation is ongoing, but the lack of visible progress has caused local disappointment.

A young man named Muhammad Shahadat, aged 30, was killed in an attack by masked assailants in Satkania, South Chattogram. The incident occurred around 11 p.m. on Sunday at Satkania Rashtar Matha area. Shahadat, a resident of Maizpara in Uttar Dhemsa Union, was critically injured and later died early Monday while undergoing treatment at a private hospital.

According to local sources, Shahadat was sitting at a tea stall near the Satkania Model Mosque along the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar highway when 10 to 15 masked attackers arrived on motorcycles and a CNG autorickshaw and launched a sudden assault with local weapons. Witnesses said locals tried to intervene, but the attackers brandished weapons and fled the scene. Shahadat was first taken to a local hospital, then to Chattogram Medical College Hospital, and finally to a private facility where he succumbed to his injuries.

Satkania Police Station Officer-in-Charge Manjurul Haque stated that police have begun efforts to identify and arrest those involved. Shahadat’s brother demanded swift justice and exemplary punishment for the perpetrators.

Two former Israeli prime ministers, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, have announced a political alliance ahead of the national election scheduled for later this year. The new party, named 'Together', will be led by Bennett. The announcement was made in a joint televised statement, where both leaders emphasized unity and the need to overcome internal divisions to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to Al Jazeera, the alliance aims to consolidate Israel’s fragmented opposition, whose only common ground appears to be opposition to Netanyahu. Bennett described the move as a historic Zionist step, while Lapid praised Bennett as an honest right-wing politician with whom he shares mutual trust. Both leaders said their goal is to unite the opposition and focus all efforts on winning the upcoming election and leading Israel toward the future.

Bennett also pledged that, if elected, he would establish a national commission to investigate the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, an inquiry that the current Netanyahu government has rejected.

Two Bangladeshi students from the University of South Florida, Jamil Ahmed Limon and Nahida Sultana Brishti, have been linked to a tragic murder case that has shocked the Bangladeshi community in the United States. Limon’s body was recovered last Friday near the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa after he had been missing for about ten days. Investigators reported that he was killed with multiple stab wounds. Brishti remains missing, and officials suspect she was also murdered and her body concealed.

Police have arrested Limon’s roommate, American citizen Hisham Abugaribeh, on charges of two counts of premeditated murder. Court documents describe his actions as extremely violent and cruel, and prosecutors have requested that he remain in custody until trial, citing public safety concerns. Investigators also stated that blood samples found in the suspect’s home matched Brishti’s DNA.

Additional charges, including concealment of a body, destruction of evidence, unlawful confinement, and torture, have been added. The case has sparked deep grief and concern among Bangladeshi expatriates in the United States.

Palestinian election officials announced that President Mahmoud Abbas’s loyal political faction achieved a major victory in the recent municipal elections, which for the first time in nearly two decades included a city in Gaza. Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said the polls were held during an extremely sensitive and complex period. This was the first election in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian vote since the Israel-Palestine conflict reignited in October 2023.

The Palestinian Authority described the vote in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, as a pilot election, reaffirming Gaza as an integral part of a future Palestinian state. Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, did not field candidates and boycotted the West Bank vote. Preliminary results showed Abbas’s Fatah-backed list winning six of fifteen seats in Deir al-Balah, while Hamas-linked candidates won two. Independent and local groups took the remaining seats.

Voter turnout reached 23 percent in Gaza and 56 percent in the West Bank. Analysts attributed low Gaza turnout to ongoing war, displacement, and humanitarian crisis. Despite Israeli restrictions on election materials, the vote was viewed as a symbolic step toward Palestine’s political future.

A businessman was killed early Monday when an uprooted tree fell on his shop during a storm in Gabtali upazila of Bogura district. The incident occurred around 4:30 a.m. at Lathiganj Bazar in Sukhanpukur Union. The deceased was identified as Uma Chandra, 52, a resident of Chakradhika Paschim Para village.

According to local sources, a sudden storm hit the area at dawn, causing a large banyan tree near the market to collapse onto the businessman’s shop. He died on the spot. Fire service personnel arrived quickly, cut through the fallen tree, and recovered the body from the debris.

Police from Gabtali Model Station confirmed that legal procedures related to the incident are underway.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported 17,000 cases of infections among displaced Palestinians in Gaza during the first three months of the year. The infections, spread by rats and bedbugs, have primarily affected those forced to live in unhygienic conditions after their homes were destroyed. The WHO released this information in a report published on Friday.

According to the same report, Israel’s ongoing military actions have caused an estimated 1.4 billion dollars in damage to Gaza’s health sector, with more than 1,800 hospitals and healthcare facilities either completely destroyed or partially damaged. Despite a ceasefire declared in October last year, Israeli forces have continued attacks, including recent strikes that killed at least five Palestinians, among them a child.

The Palestinian Health Ministry stated that in the past 24 hours, two people were killed and 11 injured in Israeli attacks. Since the start of the aggression more than two years ago, 72,587 people have been killed and 172,381 injured in Gaza.

State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Yasser Khan Chowdhury has urged all not to engage in disputes over the number of July martyrs. Speaking in the National Parliament on Sunday during the discussion on the President’s address, he said that while debates continue over the figures of 3 million and 300,000 martyrs from 1971, the government does not want similar controversies about July. He emphasized that no one should create disputes that could persist for decades.

The minister called for unity in working for the country’s future, warning that division could bring harmful consequences. He urged the opposition not to oppose merely for the sake of opposition. Referring to the fate of the Awami League, he cautioned that such outcomes should not be repeated. Opposition members expressed support by banging on their desks during his remarks.

He further reminded opposition lawmakers to be mindful of their own political future, noting that they too should avoid repeating similar mistakes.

Following the Vietnam War, the United States enacted the War Powers Resolution, which limits a president’s ability to engage in military action without congressional approval to 60 days. Under this law, the president must notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying armed forces and seek authorization to continue operations beyond the initial period. The resolution also allows an additional 30 days for safe troop withdrawal if necessary.

In the ongoing Iran conflict, President Donald Trump reportedly initiated military action without prior congressional approval, formally notifying Congress only after launching attacks on February 28. The 60-day limit is set to expire around May 1, by which time Congress must authorize the operation for it to continue. Debate persists over whether the countdown began on the day of the attack or the day Congress was notified.

Some Republican lawmakers argue that any cease-fire period should not count toward the 60-day limit, while certain Democrats believe such pauses complicate the timeline. Despite the law’s existence, no U.S. military operation has ever been halted under it, and past presidents have questioned its constitutional validity.

A Chinese national, Chen Bao Ming, visiting Bheramara in Kushtia, Bangladesh, has faced repeated power outages during his stay. Chen, from Hebei province, arrived on April 20 to meet and marry Taslima Khatun, a 19-year-old resident of Paschim Behula village in Bheramara. The couple, who met online a year earlier, completed their court marriage in Kushtia and are now living at Taslima’s family home, where frequent load-shedding has caused discomfort amid intense summer heat.

Local residents said electricity cuts occur several times a day, leaving them without power for hours. The situation has been particularly embarrassing for the family hosting a foreign guest. Ironically, Bheramara is home to key national power infrastructure, including the 410-megawatt combined cycle power plant and facilities linked to the Bangladesh-India Maitree Super Thermal Power Project.

The contrast between Bheramara’s role as a power generation hub and its residents’ struggle with electricity shortages highlights broader questions about energy distribution and planning in Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief in Bangladesh has initiated a Tk 9.5 crore software project titled Integrated Disaster Management System (IDMS) to enhance transparency and accountability in disaster response. The system will operate through mobile and web applications and a website, aiming to verify beneficiary data, ensure fair distribution of relief allowances, and prevent duplicate benefits. Reliable ministry sources confirmed that the project is part of the government’s broader digital transformation in disaster management.

According to project details, about Tk 5 crore will be spent on software development, while the rest will cover training, piloting, and related activities. The system will be linked to the national ID database to verify information, with a memorandum of understanding planned between two agencies. Pilot implementation will begin in 18 upazilas, including Shyamnagar, Koyra, and Sharankhola, with user training provided. Officials said third-party testing will assess the software’s effectiveness.

While proponents see IDMS as a step toward reducing waste and improving transparency, some senior officials expressed concern over its high cost and implementation challenges, warning that it could invite controversy if not executed properly.