Prime Minister’s Information and Broadcasting Adviser Dr. Jahed Ur Rahman said the government is trying to reduce load shedding with the highest priority despite the country facing various crises. He made the remarks at a regular press briefing in the Secretariat at about 11:15am on Tuesday, held to provide information on the government’s recent activities.

Ur Rahman said that in the past, electricity supply was ensured in Dhaka while rural areas experienced greater load shedding. The current government, however, has decided that the burden of the crisis should be shared by everyone.

He also said data would be released on the actual level of load shedding during periods when uninterrupted electricity supply was claimed under the previous Awami League government and the interim government. He said he was working on the data and hoped to provide it to journalists next week, including figures on how much load shedding occurred and its megawatt level.

The United States carried out attacks inside Iran on at least 15 separate dates or periods between April 8, when the first ceasefire took effect, and August 30, according to a report. The strikes targeted radar sites, air-defense systems, and facilities linked to drone and missile launches and production. The latest reported operation targeted two missile-launching installations or launchers on Iran’s Larak Island on August 30.

US Central Command said the military operations were conducted in response to potential threats or attacks from Iran. Although the two countries reached an understanding on a ceasefire framework on June 17, the arrangement effectively collapsed amid retaliatory attacks by both sides. US President Donald Trump later declared that understanding cancelled.

Tensions intensified in July, with repeated US military operations reported from July 11 through July 23 against Iranian military installations. Iran also launched retaliatory missile and drone attacks targeting US-linked military positions in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was disrupted during the same period, the report said.

Argentina’s national-team players shared emotional farewell messages on social media after Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international football. The tributes came from members of the Albiceleste squad, who described the World Cup-winning captain as an enduring source of inspiration, leadership and support for the team.

Midfielder Rodrigo De Paul thanked Messi for his unconditional love for Argentina, resilience, strength in confronting injustice, and humanity toward players joining the camp. Leandro Paredes said he felt fortunate to have shared the national-team journey with Messi, while Emiliano Martinez thanked him for making him a world champion and helping him reach an unimaginable level.

Defender Cristian Romero expressed love, deep respect and lasting gratitude toward Messi, calling him captain. Nicolas Tagliafico thanked him for memories that would last a lifetime. The players’ messages portrayed Messi as more than a teammate or captain, describing him as an inspiration and guardian figure within Argentina’s squad. The source says his retirement leaves an irreplaceable void in Argentine football.

More than 600 workers may be trapped inside mud-filled tunnels near Nepal’s Trishuli River after flooding struck hydropower projects, while rescuers race to reach possible survivors. On Monday, teams tried to access the Trishuli-3 hydropower project by blasting a route through a mountain slope and began pumping air into a tunnel. Nepal’s disaster management authority said the Nepal-Tibet border floods had killed 939 people, with 3,925 missing.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah said 279 people had been rescued from the projects. An international operation led by Chinese and Nepali military personnel includes specialists from India, South Korea and Australia. A rescue team entered a tunnel leading toward one hydropower project on Monday but found no one and withdrew. Relatives of missing workers said oxygen support should have begun sooner and urged faster action.

Australian engineer Arnold Dix said rescuers were struggling even to identify the tunnels’ locations after the devastation, describing the landscape as resembling the moon’s surface. At least 11 completed or under-construction hydropower projects were damaged. Authorities have identified only 4% of nearly 900 recovered bodies, while temporary burials and DNA collection are underway in Chitwan district.

BNP acting secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said the party’s central goal is to fulfil promises made to the public. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday morning after paying tribute at the graves of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman and former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, he said work was under way on development, production and public-welfare programmes after a government was formed through what he described as a free election.

Rizvi said the country’s progress could face challenges, conspiracies and plots, but efforts would continue to address them. He praised Khaleda Zia’s leadership of the country and party through repression, persecution, abuse and disorder, saying attempts had been made by domestic and international forces to weaken both her and the BNP.

Addressing energy and electricity shortages, Rizvi said the government was taking initiatives to ensure fuel supplies and resolve obstacles. He alleged that bombs had struck more than one ship carrying fuel to Bangladesh. He also said substantial spending beyond the allocated energy and power budget was being used to address gas shortages, while technical faults at a terminal in Maheshkhali were being addressed.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner has described US President Donald Trump’s war against Iran as a “complete failure,” six months after it began. In a post on social media platform X, Warner renewed his criticism of what he called a deliberately chosen war and said there was still no sign that it was ending.

Warner said attacks between the United States and Iran were escalating again while oil prices were rising rapidly. He also said US service members and military assets remained under pressure amid the continuing conflict.

The senator further claimed that Tehran’s government had become more hardline and that Iran still possessed enriched uranium, missiles and drones. Warner said the president’s war had failed completely and argued that no end to it was yet in sight.

A South Asia Monitor analysis published on August 30, 2026 says European countries are increasingly reluctant to follow Washington’s Iran strategy, despite continuing to value US security cooperation. The article argues that differences over Iran signal a broader shift in the transatlantic relationship, with Europe seeking a more independent foreign policy based on its own interests.

The analysis cites Europe’s experience after the United States left the 2015 Iran nuclear deal during Donald Trump’s first term. US secondary sanctions forced European companies to choose between trade with Iran and access to the US market, while the European INSTEX mechanism failed to become an effective trade channel and closed in 2023.

Europe’s priorities include limiting Iran’s nuclear programme, keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, reducing regional tensions and pursuing negotiations. The article says Europe does not oppose pressure on Iran, but rejects US unilateral control over its scale, methods and ultimate objectives. European governments also fear that severing commercial and diplomatic ties could weaken their future ability to engage Tehran if Washington returns to negotiations.

Four Palestinians are unable to leave their homes in Qusra village near Nablus in the West Bank because an Israeli military checkpoint is blocking them, according to the report. Family members cannot bring them food, essential supplies or medicine, while residents of an Israeli settlement in the same area are moving freely. One of those confined is Palestinian-American Louis Abu Ridi.

Abu Ridi told Al Jazeera that relatives must coordinate in advance with Israeli forces to visit their home, a process that can take several days. He said speaking with soldiers had not changed the situation. The soldiers describe the area as a “closed military area,” he said, although settlers can move without restriction. He said the latest attack occurred only 300 yards from his home.

After an attack on the village on August 29, the number of trapped residents rose from three to four. The report says violence by Israeli settlers in Qusra has increased over the past month, and three homes have been under blockade since August. Abu Ridi’s 83-year-old mother is nearly out of medicine, while his sister, brother and neighbours face disruptions to school and work.

Yemen’s military said it carried out drone strikes on positions of the Iran-backed Houthis across several fronts in the country. The army’s media center announced the operation and released footage of an attack in the Bakam district of northern Saada governorate. The video showed bombs being dropped from drones on Houthi positions.

The military media center said the strikes targeted Houthi locations in different areas of Yemen. The source did not provide details on casualties, damage, or the timing of the strikes beyond the announcement by the army’s media center.

Separately, Yemen’s navy said it destroyed four Houthi drone boats in the Red Sea. It said the vessels were destroyed near the Hanish and Zakar island groups. The report did not provide further details on the operation or the condition of the boats.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested 442 people in regular operations across the capital over the past 24 hours. Police also filed 19 cases during the same period, according to the report. The operations covered several policing divisions in Dhaka.

Among those arrested, Mirpur recorded the highest number with 133. Tejgaon arrested 59 people, Motijheel 56, Wari and Uttara 50 each, Lalbagh 36, Ramna 32, Gulshan 23, and the Detective Branch five.

During the operations, police recovered one locally made revolver, four rounds of ammunition, 6,324 yaba tablets, 33 packets of cannabis, and Tk 3,400. Legal action against those arrested is under process.

Former US national security adviser John Bolton described US sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports as a major success and said they should remain in force. In an interview with the US television network NewsNation, he said the restrictions had been highly effective in preventing Iran from exporting oil and other goods and were having a significant effect on Iran’s economy.

Bolton identified China as the biggest challenge to US pressure on Iran. He said China has long been among the principal buyers of Iranian oil and claimed that Iran has been able to move financial resources through China’s banking system. He argued that Washington should focus primarily on countries helping Iran sustain itself.

He suggested that the United States could impose sanctions on Chinese banks and state institutions involved in purchasing Iranian oil. Bolton also supported applying additional financial pressure on Iran, but said maintaining the oil blockade was the most important measure. He said keeping the restrictions in place would represent major progress and would have a substantial economic impact on Iran.

An opinion article argues that textbooks should serve as blueprints for nation-building rather than political documents. It says classroom materials strongly shape children’s confidence, identity and social understanding, and warns that content reflecting inequality, narrowness or irrational social ideas can cause long-term harm. The writer calls for Bangladesh to rethink how curricula and textbooks are developed.

The article says curriculum discussions often begin after books have been printed, while research and consultation should occur before writing starts. It argues that teachers, students, parents and researchers are often excluded from national-level policymaking, leaving centrally designed curricula poorly matched to classroom realities, particularly in remote areas. It also urges textbooks to treat cooking and household responsibilities as life skills for all children, alongside finance, technology and leadership.

The writer proposes consulting experienced teachers from urban and rural model institutions, specialists in child development and subject experts. Draft curricula should be opened for public feedback, then piloted for at least a year with a national online feedback platform for registered teachers. Examples from Finland, Singapore, Australia and the United Kingdom are cited to support participatory development, research, piloting and sustained evaluation.

A 35-year-old man, Shamim Hossain, was allegedly beaten overnight and killed after the tendons in his leg were cut in Barpur, Bogura. The incident occurred at about 4:30am on Tuesday. His body was taken to the morgue at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogura.

Relatives alleged that ABM Shafi, a ward 5 member of Nishindara Union Parishad and a Union Awami League leader, his son Nazmul Hossain Kayum, described as a Chhatra Dal leader, and several others were directly involved. Shamim’s mother-in-law, Chhobeda Begum, said he had gone to Barpur to attend the burial of a close relative.

She said Shamim was detained while walking in the area at night, severely beaten and left in an abandoned place after his leg tendons were cut. Village police rescued him and took him to hospital, where he died during treatment. Bogura Sadar police station officer-in-charge Ibrahim Ali visited the scene. Residents blocked a road following the incident, according to the report.

The article argues that an active opposition is essential to parliamentary democracy and says Bangladesh’s 13th National Parliament has gained a more vocal opposition following the July uprising of 2024 and the fall of fascism. It cites recent tensions over the home minister’s remarks, including opposition protests, a walkout and the speaker’s concern, as signs that parliamentary questioning and dissent have returned.

It contrasts this with the author’s assessment of parliamentary politics during the previous one-and-a-half decades of Awami rule. The article says parliaments formed after the 2014, 2018 and 2024 elections lacked a meaningful opposition, describing the legislature as a rubber-stamp body. It refers to the British model of a loyal opposition, shadow cabinet and prime ministerial questioning, and to US checks and balances, as examples of accountability.

The article cautions that vigorous debate must not become disorder. It says both government and opposition should show restraint, notes that the home minister withdrew his statement, and credits the speaker with handling the situation. It urges lawmakers to focus on economic fragility, gas and power shortages, and law-and-order instability while strengthening democratic institutions.

Washington is reviewing the future of its military bases in the Middle East after Iranian attacks damaged at least 15 US bases and facilities, according to the report. The reassessment comes amid rising US-Iran tensions, a fragile ceasefire and stalled talks. The Pentagon is considering deploying fewer troops or moving forces westward, though no formal decision has been announced.

The United States has about 50,000 personnel at at least 20 bases in and around the Gulf, including facilities in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Reported damage included radar and early-warning systems at Al Udeid in Qatar, naval headquarters, warehouses and communications infrastructure in Bahrain, and aircraft, logistics and support centres in Kuwait.

Analysts said any reduction could affect Gulf states’ confidence in US security commitments and encourage them to reconsider relations with Iran. Gulf countries are strengthening joint defence arrangements and diversifying arms suppliers, but analysts said these steps cannot quickly replace US intelligence, logistics, naval and air capabilities. One proposed alternative is a decentralised access model using rotating deployments, pre-positioned equipment, shared facilities and stronger integrated air and missile defence.