Bangladesh’s Ministry of Education has issued the admission policy for Class XI in the current academic year. The Secondary and Higher Education Division published the policy on Monday. Applications will be accepted from September 2 until 8pm on September 10, while classes are scheduled to begin on September 23 after the admission process concludes.

No selection or admission test will be held. Students will be admitted solely on the basis of SSC and equivalent examination results. Ninety-three percent of seats will remain open to all applicants on merit, while 7 percent will be reserved under quotas: 5 percent for children of freedom fighters and martyred freedom fighters, and a proposed 2 percent for children of Education Ministry and affiliated office employees.

Students whose re-scrutiny or re-evaluation results are released between September 2 and 10 may apply from September 12 to 13, when preference changes will also be allowed. Selected students will be announced at 8pm on September 17 and must confirm admission by 8pm on September 19. Admissions will take place from September 20 to 22. The quota arrangement applies only to the 2026-27 academic year.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police said it arrested 440 people during operations across the capital over a 24-hour period and filed 46 cases at different police stations. The operations ran from 12am on Saturday night to 12am on Sunday night, according to a DMP press release issued on Monday, August 24, 2026.

The largest number of arrests was reported in the Mirpur division, with 127 people detained. Tejgaon recorded 67 arrests, while Wari and Uttara each recorded 50. Lalbagh reported 45 arrests, Motijheel 36, Gulshan 31, Ramna 29, and the Detective Branch five.

Police said the operations recovered a foreign pistol, a magazine, six rounds of ammunition, a sword, a knife and a grenade. They also seized a motorcycle, nine mobile phones, 12 kilograms and 500 grams of cannabis, 39,127 yaba tablets, 3.2 grams of powdered yaba and 3,000 stolen taka. The DMP said two victims were rescued during the operation.

Dutch public broadcaster AVROTROS has announced it will not take part in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, saying the event can “no longer be considered neutral” amid divisions linked to the war in Gaza. Director-General Taco Zimmerman said on Monday that international conflicts were increasingly affecting the contest and turning it into a platform for division.

The announcement follows recent boycotts over Israel’s participation. Eurovision organisers said earlier this month that countries involved in armed conflict would be barred from hosting, but AVROTROS said the changes did not offer enough confidence that the competition’s independent and neutral character had been restored. Israel placed second in both the 2025 and 2026 contests.

Next year’s contest is scheduled for May 15 in Burgas, Bulgaria, after Bulgarian singer Darina Yotova, known as Dara, won this year’s Vienna competition with “Bangaranga”. The event will be Bulgaria’s first time hosting Eurovision. This year’s contest drew 131 million viewers, 35 million fewer than the previous year, after five countries boycotted over Israel’s participation.

Fellows who recently participated in the National Defence College’s Capstone Course paid a courtesy call on newly appointed State Minister for Religious Affairs Shamim Kaiser Lincoln. The meeting took place on Monday night at the minister’s residence in Malibagh Jowardar Lane.

During the meeting, the Capstone fellows greeted Lincoln with flowers and congratulated him on receiving his new responsibility. The newly appointed state minister thanked the fellows for visiting and expressed deep gratitude for their goodwill.

Lincoln said he hoped the cordial relationship and mutual cooperation among the Capstone fellows would continue in the future. On behalf of the NDC Capstone fellows, participants also offered special thanks and appreciation to the state minister for giving them his valuable time.

A UK-supported climate adaptation project in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans region will close by September, two years before its planned 2028 end date, after British foreign aid reductions. British development organisation Practical Action launched the project in 2023 to protect local livelihoods through solar power, climate-resilient farming, fish cultivation, and early-warning systems for cyclones and heavy rainfall.

The project had aimed to support about 57,000 people by this year, but reduced funding means roughly 37,000 will receive assistance. Tamanna Rahman, Practical Action’s climate resilience officer in Bangladesh, said the abrupt decision has damaged trust built with local communities and long-term initiatives. She said limited time has also made it difficult to properly transfer project activities to local government.

Sea levels in areas adjoining the Sundarbans are rising by about three centimetres annually, worsening salinity, cyclones, storm surges and farmland damage. UK bilateral assistance to Bangladesh is set to fall from £66.7 million in 2025-26 to £31 million in 2026-27. The FCDO said it seeks more direct partnerships with developing-country governments while maintaining climate action efforts.

Opposition Leader and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami chief Dr Shafiqur Rahman held a discussion with editors of national daily newspapers at his official residence on Minto Road in the capital on Monday. The meeting began at around 12:15pm, according to the report published on August 24, 2026.

Participants included Jaijaidin editor and National Editors Council convener Shafik Rehman, Amar Desh editor and NEC joint convener Mahmudur Rahman, The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam, and Prothom Alo managing editor Sajjad Sharif. Editors and representatives from several other newspapers, including Inqilab, Naya Diganta, Bonik Barta, Protidiner Bangladesh, Ittefaq, Kalbela, Ajker Patrika and Dhaka Mail, also attended.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Dr Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Professor Mia Golam Porwar, and MP Shafiqul Islam Masud were present at the meeting. The source did not provide details of the discussions or any decisions reached.

Amnesty International says Indian police and paramilitary forces used pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas grenades, batons and electric shock devices against demonstrators during Gen Z protests in New Delhi on July 20. Thousands had blocked Parliament Street while demanding then-Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over examination-paper leaks and other alleged irregularities. More than 100 students were injured, according to the report, which cited verified videos, photographs, witness accounts and hospital records.

Amnesty’s Evidence Lab said it verified footage of a Rapid Action Force officer firing a shotgun toward crowds near Connaught Place and Parliament Street. The group said the use of birdshot was inherently inaccurate and dangerous, and alleged that police gave no public warning before firing pellet guns. It also said tear gas grenades were launched directly at protesters, and verified claims that lathis were used to beat demonstrators.

Delhi Police rejected reports of pellet injuries as false, while the Modi government said security forces acted with restraint. Amnesty said its evidence contradicted those denials, and an internal paramilitary inquiry reportedly found personnel fired at least seven rounds containing metal pellets. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi demanded Home Minister Amit Shah answer questions, while injured student Sahil Lochab filed a complaint after a sit-in by Gandhi.

Bangladesh’s government aims to cut road accidents and deaths by half by 2030, Road Transport, Rail and Shipping Minister Sheikh Rabiul Alam said at an inauguration event in Tejgaon, Dhaka, on Monday. About 5,000 people die in road crashes in the country each year, he said. The event, held under the Bangladesh Road Safety Project, inaugurated 60 basic life support ambulances, 40 motorcycle ambulances and 80 patrol motorcycles for highway police.

The minister said the road-safety drive prioritises driver training, vehicle fitness, speed control, pedestrian awareness and rapid medical care after crashes. He identified unfit vehicles, unskilled and unqualified drivers, uncontrolled speed, failure to use helmets and pedestrian unawareness as major causes of accidents.

The government plans to enact an integrated safe-road law by December 2027, Sheikh Rabiul Alam said. Other planned practical steps include relocating markets beside highways, creating necessary diversions at regional road intersections, and installing road signs and markings. He said enforcement and public-awareness efforts must proceed together, while the project includes driver training and physical fitness assessments.

Bangladesh’s High Court upheld death sentences for two of 16 defendants in the murder case of Feni madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi, while sentencing four others to life imprisonment and acquitting 10. The verdict was announced at about 1pm on Thursday by a bench of Justice Bhishmadev Chakraborty and Justice KM Rasheduzzaman Raja. The two condemned defendants are former Sonagazi Islamia Fazil Madrasa principal Siraj-ud-Doula and Shahadat Hossain Shamim.

Those given life terms are Umme Sultana Poppy alias Tuhin, madrasa student Nur Uddin, Javed Hossain alias Sakhawat Hossain Javed, and Saifur Rahman Mohammad Zubayer. Police strengthened security at Nusrat’s family home in North Charchandia, Sonagazi municipality, following the verdict. Her mother, Shirin Akhtar, said the family remained concerned about security and sought government help in ensuring justice and protecting the family.

A Feni tribunal sentenced all 16 accused to death on October 24, 2019, also imposing fines of Tk100,000 on each. Nusrat died on April 10, 2019, after being set on fire on a cyclone shelter roof at her madrasa on April 6, according to the case account. The High Court received the death reference records on October 29, 2019, alongside jail and criminal appeals filed by the defendants.

Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) has demanded that missing fisherman Miraj Sheikh of Joymoni in Mongla, Bagerhat, be located alive and in good health and produced before the court under a High Court order. HRSS made the demand at a Monday press conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka, jointly organised with the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust and Miraj’s family.

Miraj, 30, fishes in the Sundarbans and also drives a rented motorcycle. He has been missing since April 10, when several people identifying themselves as Coast Guard members allegedly forcibly took him away. His wife, Mukta Khatun, said plainclothes personnel put him on a boat before a speedboat bearing Bangladesh Coast Guard markings arrived with uniformed members.

HRSS said the High Court on July 12 ordered Miraj’s production within 15 working days, but he remains untraced while Coast Guard authorities have denied detaining him. The group called for an independent investigation, accountability for those responsible, security for the family and witnesses, and action under existing law if allegations exist against Miraj. HRSS said it is trying to preserve digital evidence and will seek to speak with the Coast Guard.

Singapore’s government is launching a new SG Child Support Package to ease the financial burden of raising children and provide long-term assistance to families. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that support for each child from birth to age 17 will total nearly S$70,000, according to the report published on August 24, 2026.

The government values the new package at S$62,000. When combined with an existing S$5,000 medical grant for newborns and annual education contributions at primary and secondary levels, total state support for a child is expected to reach about S$70,000 by age 17.

Under the current system, children receive between S$27,500 and S$56,500 in government assistance depending on birth order. The new arrangement will remove differences based on birth order, placing all children under the same type of support. The report cited The Japan Times, The Straits Times and Reuters as sources.

US Ambassador to Bangladesh Brent T. Christensen assured cooperation in Bangladesh’s infrastructure and renewable energy sectors during a courtesy meeting at the Secretariat on Monday with newly appointed Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Dr Abdul Moin Khan. The discussion also covered prospects for US investment in these areas, according to State Minister Mir Shahe Alam.

Shahe Alam said Bangladesh proposed investment in several specific sectors under a public-private partnership model. Water supply and improved water management were among the priorities for which US cooperation was sought. The two sides also discussed opportunities for investment and cooperation in urban waste collection and management.

Renewable energy discussions placed particular emphasis on waste-to-energy projects, including the potential for investment in generating electricity from waste. Shahe Alam said the ambassador expressed satisfaction with several public welfare policies of the current government. Both sides agreed to deepen existing Bangladesh-US relations and advance them further, while the US representative welcomed the new cabinet and pledged that the two countries would work together.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Monday a worldwide economic pressure campaign against Iran, dubbed Operation Economic Outcast. He said the United States would seek to target Tehran’s revenue sources, including oil, and deter countries and companies from conducting business with Iran through the threat of secondary penalties.

Bessent described the initiative as “economic D-day” and said its objective was to sever economic support for Iran until Tehran is isolated. He warned countries and entities involved in transactions that turn Iranian oil into money that they could be targeted, saying no one was beyond the reach of US sanctions. He also said President Donald Trump had called world leaders with requests to end interaction with Iran.

The sanctions push comes nearly six months into a war involving Iran, the United States and Israel, according to the source. It said attacks and diplomacy have not resolved the crisis, while Tehran has responded with regional missile and drone attacks and asserted control over the Strait of Hormuz. US officials said the new measures would target digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping.

Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary asked West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to open all gates of the Farakka Barrage as Ganges water levels rise and flooding affects Bihar. Choudhary said he made the request during a telephone conversation with Adhikari on Sunday, according to a post on X.

Choudhary said opening the barrage gates would help normalize the Ganges flow and assist efforts to control Bihar’s flood situation. He said Adhikari assured him that prompt action would be taken, adding that Bihar’s safety was the state government’s highest priority.

Separately, JDU MP Sanjay Jha called for Bihar’s interests to be considered before renewal of the 1996 India-Bangladesh Ganges water-sharing treaty, which he said completes 30 years in December. The treaty governs dry-season water distribution at Farakka. India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, while negotiations over Teesta water sharing have yet to produce an agreement.

Two brothers and members of their families fought over inherited land while their father’s body remained at their home in Sannyasgacha village of Keshabpur, Jashore, on Monday afternoon. The dispute left the two brothers and their wives injured, and all four were admitted to Keshabpur উপজেলা Health Complex.

Family sources said Abdul Khaleq, 75, died of old age on Monday morning. Before his burial, his sons Mahbubur Rahman, 52, and Achhabur, 45, became involved in an argument over the division of land left by their father. The confrontation escalated into a clash involving machetes and bamboo sticks.

Local residents and relatives intervened to settle the dispute, after which the situation calmed down. With assistance from people in the neighborhood, Khaleq was buried in the family graveyard. Keshabpur police station officer-in-charge Reksona Khatun said police went to the scene after receiving reports of the fight and later found the situation under control. A video of the incident circulated on social media.