Islami Andolon Bangladesh held a rally and planned a mass procession at the north gate of Baitul Mokarram National Mosque in the capital to mark July Mass Uprising Day. The gathering began at 11 a.m. on Wednesday and drew a large number of party leaders and activists from Dhaka and other areas.

The party’s ameer, Mufti Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim, addressed the rally. Central leaders of the party, along with leaders from the Dhaka North and Dhaka South metropolitan units, also spoke at the event. A significant presence of activists was observed at the venue.

According to party sources, the mass procession was scheduled to begin from the Baitul Mokarram north gate at 12:30 p.m. after the rally. The report did not provide details about the planned route, destination, or additional programme activities.

US President Donald Trump said Washington is holding “very good talks” with Iran, despite repeated denials by Iranian officials that such direct discussions are taking place. In an interview with Fox News reported on August 5, 2026, Trump said Iran did not want to acknowledge the contacts and described the situation as somewhat frustrating.

Trump said the only important matter was effective action and asserted that Iran wanted to make a deal. He added that it remained to be seen what would happen. His remarks came amid continuing tensions between Iran and the United States, while Iranian officials have previously rejected claims that direct talks with Washington are underway.

The report does not provide details about the format of the alleged discussions, their participants, or any specific meetings. Trump said failure to reach an agreement would be very bad, but did not outline the possible terms of a deal, a timetable, or any formal next steps.

State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj said Bangladesh can achieve economic sovereignty by developing the capacity to understand, adapt and innovate technology rather than merely buying and using it. Speaking as chief guest at the Artec General Exhibition 2026 in Osaka, Japan, on Wednesday, he said Bangladesh is committed to building STEM-based skills from primary education onward, drawing inspiration from Japan’s historical investment in education, technology, discipline and innovation.

Hajjaj said the government’s aim is not limited to teaching science and technology. It seeks to help children ask questions, think critically, understand ideas deeply, analyse problems and create practical solutions instead of relying on memorisation. He noted that Bangladesh has a workforce of more than 70 million, yet its economy remains heavily dependent on the ready-made garment sector. A diversified, knowledge-based and higher-value economy requires a strong STEM foundation from the primary level, he said.

He said the government is prioritising literacy, numeracy and basic skills, while planning to expand maths labs, science clubs and basic robotics education alongside teacher training. He described exhibition models as simple, modular, practical and affordable, saying they could be adapted for Bangladesh.

MP Nurunnisa Siddika has called for a universal commitment to implement the July Charter “at any cost,” describing the July mass uprising as an important chapter in Bangladesh’s history. In a statement issued on Wednesday, she said students and members of the public had expressed aspirations for justice, democracy, human dignity and a discrimination-free society through courage, sacrifice and selflessness two years earlier.

Siddika said more than about 1,500 people were martyred while taking part in the July mass uprising, while thousands of students and members of the public were injured. She said some lost hands, legs or their eyesight. She paid deep respect to those killed in the struggle for people’s rights, saying the nation remembers their sacrifices with respect. She also expressed sympathy for the injured and affected people and wished them a speedy recovery and welfare.

She said protecting the true dignity of the martyrs’ sacrifices requires sincere work to establish a just, accountable and humane state system. Siddika called for freedom of expression, human rights and justice for every citizen. She described government delay in implementing the public mandate for a discrimination-free state system as disappointing and urged unity, tolerance and mutual respect.

Former interim government chief adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus said the July Memory Museum has created new history by preserving the immediate past and shaping the future. He made the remarks at the formal inauguration of the July Mass Uprising Memorial Museum in the capital at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

Yunus said museums in different countries collect many objects from the past, but described this museum as entirely different. According to him, it does not hold collected items from a distant past. Instead, materials connected to events that had just occurred were gathered immediately.

He said he did not know whether a museum of this kind exists elsewhere. Whenever memories of July were found, they were brought to the museum, he said, adding that the process had created a new stage in history. The report did not provide specific details about the museum’s collected materials, other speakers at the inauguration, or subsequent plans.

Iraq exported more than 30 million barrels of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz between July 4 and August 4, according to an AFP report published on August 5, 2026. The volume was about 29 percent of Iraq’s average monthly exports before the war. Iraq’s state oil marketing company SOMO said an estimated 35.5 million to 37 million barrels were transported through the strait in July.

Before the war, Iraq exported an average of 105 million barrels of oil each month through the Strait of Hormuz. Most of those supplies came from oil terminals in the southern Basra area. SOMO chief Ali Nizar provided the July transport estimate cited in the report.

Nizar said Iraq also exported another 7 million barrels through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline via the port of Ceyhan during the same period. Iraq transported some crude through Syria by tanker trucks as well. Discussions are still under way on plans to build a pipeline to Syria’s port of Baniyas.

Bogura Sadar police arrested former NCP leader Gazhi Salauddin Tanvir in Dhaka on the night of August 5, according to the report. He was accused of making an objectionable Facebook post about Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. Police said a team had arrested him in Dhaka and was bringing him to Bogura.

The report said Tanvir made the allegedly offensive post on his own Facebook account on July 29. District Chhatra Dal staged a protest against him the following day. On August 3, Maftun Khan Rubel, president of the BNP at Bogura Sadar police station, filed a case against him at Bogura Sadar police station.

Officer-in-Charge Ibrahim Ali said Tanvir was arrested under the Cyber Security Act and that further details would be provided through a press briefing. Tanvir's ancestral home is in Sonatala upazila of Bogura. He had previously been expelled once from the NCP central committee following various allegations, and the party later relieved him after his remarks about the prime minister.

Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders told Amardesh that they had made advance plans to implement the August 5 “March to Dhaka” during the anti-discrimination student movement. The report says the programme was initially announced from the Central Shaheed Minar for August 6 and was later moved forward to August 5 through coordinator Asif Mahmud.

Former Shibir secretary general Zahidul Islam said organisers mapped eight important locations in Dhaka around Ganabhaban, assigned responsibilities and formed separate coordination teams by division. Sources named coordinators for areas including Shahbagh, Science Lab, Uttara, Mirpur, Rampura and Tantibazar. He said the plan was for marches from different locations to converge at predetermined times and break the curfew.

According to the report, preparations to take the movement to a final stage intensified after July 15, and the programme date was advanced after violence on August 4. Leaders said activists were instructed to avoid arrest and reach Dhaka by motorcycle, CNG, rickshaw or on foot. Jamaat leaders also described arranging treatment for injured people, accommodation for activists and continued coordination through their network during internet shutdowns and curfews.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has called an emergency executive meeting amid intense dissatisfaction and instability within world football’s governing body over disputed decisions and commercial plans. The report, published on August 5, 2026, says the special meeting of senior FIFA officials was convened to address the emerging crisis.

Infantino had proposed selling and opening investment in FIFA’s commercial operations and the management rights for football events to the private sector. The stated aim was to multiply FIFA’s revenue. However, football executives and member associations view the initiative as a threat to football’s core identity and autonomy. Critics also allege that decisions were taken unilaterally while disregarding the views of key groups.

The plan to include private investors in tournament and broadcasting rights has prompted opposition, with several senior officials and advisers already resigning. The executive meeting may take a policy decision on whether the proposal will be withdrawn entirely or revised. The report describes the dispute as one of the biggest political and administrative crises of Infantino’s current term, saying major changes to his business plans would be needed to retain the confidence of FIFA’s governing board and regional bodies.

CNN has reported that the United States has used nearly 80 percent of its pre-war stockpile of THAAD missile-defense interceptors in the ongoing war with Iran. Published on August 5, 2026, the report cited two sources familiar with the matter and said roughly half of Patriot missile-defense interceptors had also been used during the conflict.

Reuters and CBS News had previously reported that the United States used almost all of its global inventory of long-range precision missiles in the war against Iran. CNN said President Donald Trump decided to cancel a planned major attack on Iranian infrastructure after considering declining weapons stocks and the possibility of Iranian retaliatory attacks against US allies in the Middle East.

The Pentagon and White House disputed concerns over an ammunition shortage. Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said the US military has everything needed to conduct operations wherever and whenever the president directs. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the military has sufficient weapons, munitions and stockpiles to meet Trump’s strategic objectives, adding that its capability exceeds what is required.

A report published on August 5, 2026 said 31 people were killed in Savar and Ashulia during the final moments and victory procession of the July Revolution. It said gunfire by law-enforcement personnel and cadres of the then-ruling Awami League caused the deaths, while more than 200 people were injured. The figure of 31 was compiled from information from Savar Enam Medical College Hospital and several treatment centres in Ashulia.

Witnesses said an anti-discrimination student movement long march travelled from Jahangirnagar University toward Dhaka on the Dhaka-Aricha highway. Police opened fire after the procession reached Savar bus stand, the report said. Later clashes near Savar police station also involved gunfire, with at least 15 to 16 people killed, according to the report. Ashulia residents said at least 10 to 11 people were killed there.

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 has published the full verdict sentencing six people, including former MP Muhammad Saiful Islam, to death in a case over the killings. Seven others received life imprisonment, two received seven years of rigorous imprisonment, and one approver was pardoned. Of 16 accused, eight are in jail and eight remain fugitives. Victims' families, including Sajjad Hossain Sojol's mother Shahina Begum, called for the sentences to be carried out quickly.

At least seven people have died in landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy rain in central Sri Lanka, according to an Al Jazeera report published Tuesday. Several others were injured, while schools in the country’s central highland areas were ordered closed because of the conditions. Heavy rainfall caused extensive damage in the tea-producing mountainous region.

Pradeep Kodippili, a spokesperson for the government’s Disaster Management Centre, said five people died after two houses were buried by landslides in the central region. Two other people drowned in floodwaters. The rain and flooding damaged 129 homes, and about 3,500 people were moved to safer locations.

Sri Lanka’s navy and army were deployed to rescue people stranded by floodwaters. Footage aired by local broadcaster Hiru TV showed soldiers walking along submerged roads to evacuate trapped families. Nuwara Eliya and Badulla districts are mountainous and difficult to access, with slopes long vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season. Officials have not announced when schools in affected districts will reopen, saying the decision will depend on weather conditions in the coming days.

Families of five journalists killed while reporting during the July uprising say they are still waiting for justice two years later. They allege there has been no visible progress in murder investigations, with many accused people remaining beyond reach. The families also claim some suspects are in hiding while trying to exert influence, and that witnesses have faced intimidation. The report says five journalists were killed by gunfire during the uprising and more than 300 others were injured.

Shakil Hossain Parvez, a Manarat University student and journalist, was shot dead while gathering news in Uttara on July 18, 2024. Dhaka Times senior reporter Hasan Mehdi was shot in Jatrabari the same day; witnesses said gunfire came from a police APC, and doctors later declared him dead. His wife, Farhana Islam Popy, said she submitted complaints to the International Crimes Tribunal and elsewhere.

Journalist Tahir Zaman Priyo was shot in the Science Lab area on July 19, and his body was identified the following day. Naya Diganta Sylhet bureau chief ATM Turab was also shot dead while on duty at Court Point in Sylhet on July 19. Daily Lokaloy staff reporter Sohel Akhanji was killed in Baniachong, Habiganj, on August 5. Relatives seek swift exemplary trials, accountability for those who ordered and carried out the killings, administrative reform, and security for their children’s futures.

BNP leaders say marches entered Dhaka from eight major entry points on the morning of August 5, 2026, including Jatrabari, Shonir Akhra, Sayedabad, Postogola, Abdullahpur, Uttara, Ashulia and Gabtoli. They said the separate processions converged within hours into crowds moving toward Ganabhaban. According to the party, the mobilization followed organizational preparations beginning on July 20, when activists from around the country were instructed to remain at approaches to the capital rather than inside Dhaka.

Party leaders said their strategy changed after shootings and deaths involving students and members of the public on July 16. They argued that staying inside the capital created a high risk of arrest, so activists were directed to positions around Dhaka. Leaders from metropolitan BNP and affiliated organizations arranged accommodation in relatives’ homes, messes, student hostels and rented rooms for arrivals from multiple districts.

BNP leaders said then acting chairman Tarique Rahman coordinated politically from London through regular online communication. After a one-point demand was announced on August 3, organizers asked more activists to move urgently toward Dhaka’s entry points in anticipation of a possible March to Dhaka program. North city Chhatra Dal president Mehdi Hasan said a procession reaching Abdullahpur on August 5 grew as local activists and members of the public joined.

California authorities arrested a 38-year-old man, Jinin John Tylee, near Trump National Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes, Los Angeles, after he was seen behaving suspiciously around the site. The arrest occurred Sunday afternoon on allegations of carrying a concealed firearm and possessing prohibited ammunition. President Donald Trump was scheduled to attend a fundraising dinner at the course, which he owns.

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office said Tylee had been seen moving around different areas of the course, taking photographs and videos, and observing security operations. Plainclothes federal agents alerted local authorities about a suspicious person after noon on Sunday, and police subsequently detained him. Authorities recovered a pistol and illegal ammunition from him.

Police said Tylee was also being sought in connection with an alleged robbery case involving the El Segundo Police Department. A search of his home, conducted because of a potential security concern, found an AR-platform rifle, a .45-caliber pistol, body armor, high-capacity magazines, large quantities of pistol and rifle ammunition, and notebooks containing concerning statements. The investigation remains under way, and officials said additional charges may be filed.