NATO has told its members to be prepared to protect all allies following a report that Iran considered attacks on US military installations in Europe if President Donald Trump intensifies the war. The warning was issued by a NATO official on Wednesday, after a Financial Times report raised questions about possible Iranian retaliation against expanded US military activity.

The official said NATO would take all necessary measures to address any threat to a member of the alliance. The official also said that earlier this year, NATO air defences successfully intercepted ballistic missiles fired from Iran toward Turkey in four separate incidents, describing the result as evidence that the alliance’s deterrence and defence systems are strong and effective.

The United States has military bases and deployed personnel in several countries across Europe. The report said a potential Iranian attack on US military facilities in Europe could also affect the security of NATO member states. The source article attributed the report to Middle East Eye and cited the Financial Times regarding Iran’s potential response.

Former Chief Justice Khairul Haque was released from Keraniganj Special Prison on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, according to prison directorate sources. The source described him as a former Awami League-aligned chief justice. His release followed interim bail granted by the High Court in a Banani police station case involving attempted murder and the Explosives Control Act.

Haque received interim bail from the High Court on August 10. Before that, after securing bail in eight separate cases, the investigating officer applied to the court on July 2 to arrest him in the Banani case. He was shown arrested in that case on July 8.

A lower court rejected his bail request on July 27. Haque then filed a bail petition with the High Court on August 9. Following the hearing, the court granted him interim bail on August 10, and he was released from prison on Wednesday.

Former education minister Dipu Moni, imprisoned in cases including crimes against humanity, has been granted 12 hours of parole following the death of her husband, Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Toufiq Nawaz. The parole will run from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday. Munshiganj District Magistrate Syeda Nurmahal Ashrafi approved the request at about 3:10 p.m. on Wednesday.

Her family had sought four days of parole after Nawaz’s death, but the district administration approved only 12 hours. Dipu Moni’s daughter, Tani Dipabali Nawaz, met her mother at Munshiganj District Jail on Wednesday afternoon and later submitted the application to the deputy commissioner. Lawyer Gazi Faisal Islam said requests to allow Dipu Moni to meet her husband outside prison during his illness had not been granted.

Police will escort Dipu Moni from the prison and return her within the approved period, according to her lawyer. Nawaz’s body is scheduled to be taken to his Kalabagan residence in the morning, followed by prayers at Gulshan Azad Mosque after Zuhr and burial at Banani cemetery. He died Tuesday night at Continental Hospital at age 76 after long-term kidney and liver complications.

Members of Bangladesh’s parliament will vote in the presidential election in the Parliament Building’s chamber on August 20. Polling will run continuously from 2pm to 5pm, with 349 eligible voters. Lawmakers must enter the chamber during that period, collect their ballots and cast their votes according to the prescribed process.

Members must carry identification cards supplied by the Parliament Secretariat. After taking their seats, they will receive ballots printed with their names and division numbers from assisting officials. They must write their full names on the designated counterfoil, return it to the official, and write their full names in the specified blank space opposite their preferred candidate.

Completed ballots must be placed in designated ballot boxes in the chamber. Damaged ballots must be shown to the election officer before being deposited. Campaigning, speeches and statements are prohibited during the meeting. Counting will begin immediately after 5pm, and the candidate with the highest number of valid votes will be declared elected. The Election Commission will later publish the result in a gazette. The contest is described as the first directly competitive presidential vote in 35 years.

Shihab Hossain, 24, of Raghobpur village in Kalai, Joypurhat, alleged that he escaped from a private hospital in Pakistan after being taken there on the promise of overseas employment and prepared for kidney removal. He accused his parents, a broker named Tarek Haji and others of arranging the plan. Shihab said he travelled from Dhaka to Pakistan on July 22 and returned to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on July 31.

According to his written complaint, hospital staff told him that his parents had agreed to sell one of his kidneys for Tk600,000 and had received Tk300,000 in advance. He said he had not known of any such arrangement, objected after learning about it and was held while preparations were made for surgery. He alleged that he later escaped with another person's assistance.

Shihab said Kalai police did not accept his written complaint, while the station officer said nobody had come to report such an incident. His parents denied the allegation, saying they had contacted intermediaries to bring him home after he went missing and that he was making false claims. Joypurhat police superintendent Shahnaz Begum said the allegation would be examined and legal action is being taken against organ-trafficking brokers.

A Dhaka seminar on Bangladesh-India shared river water distribution called for renegotiating the 1996 Ganges Water Treaty, citing structural weaknesses and urging restoration of its “guarantee clause.” The event, titled “Ganges Water Treaty: Issues for Renegotiation,” was held Tuesday at the BILIA auditorium in Dhanmondi. Water Resources Minister Md Shahiduddin Chowdhury said the government aims to make the Padma Barrage project plan effective and visible by January-February next year.

Presenting the keynote paper, Dhaka University law professor and former interim government adviser Asif Nazrul said Bangladesh’s share had fallen by about 6.52 percent because the 1996 treaty lacks an assurance of minimum water availability. He said Bangladesh did not receive minimum flow in 15 of 27 critical periods between 2008 and 2016. His recommendations included access to information, restoring the guarantee clause, multilateral basin management involving Bangladesh, India and Nepal, and strengthening the Joint Rivers Commission.

The minister said the barrage concerns nearly seven crore people in 24 to 26 districts. He also expressed hope that the prime minister would present Bangladesh’s firm position on the treaty at the United Nations next month. State Minister Farhad Hossain Azad highlighted navigability problems in 54 rivers.

Iran is considering attacks on US military installations in Europe if its ongoing war with the United States expands further, the Financial Times reported, citing two Iranian government sources. Potential targets mentioned include US military facilities in Bulgaria and Cyprus. The report was published on August 19, 2026, as efforts to halt the war appeared to have broken down.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington was not currently holding talks with Tehran and had no plan to begin new negotiations. The United Arab Emirates said Wednesday it would suspend all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice. Trump has also used harsh language toward long-standing US allies accused of not supporting Middle East military operations.

Tensions are centered on the Strait of Hormuz, where Trump says shipping is operating normally under US control, while the source says vessel traffic remains very limited. One person was killed this week in an attack on a cargo vessel transiting the strait. Analysts cited in the report warned that a prolonged disruption could raise global oil prices.

Israel struck the Abu al-Duhur air base in Syria’s Idlib province on Tuesday, placing the attack about 70 kilometres from the Turkish border, according to the report published on August 19, 2026. US Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack warned that the incident could further raise tensions with Turkey. The strike came after a Turkish military delegation visited the base to inspect runway renovation work.

Barrack said Turkey had not been warned before the attack and could have mistakenly viewed it as an attack on itself, potentially sending aircraft in response. He expressed relief that there were no reported casualties and that the situation did not escalate into a larger conflict. Israel indicated the strike was linked to concerns over the possibility of Turkish troop deployment at Syrian air bases.

Barrack called for a coordination, or deconfliction, mechanism among Israel, Syria and Turkey to prevent future misunderstandings. He said the United States is working toward such an arrangement, including a permanent 24-hour communications centre staffed by officials fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, English and Turkish. He also said discussions could address Israeli concerns over Turkish military deployments and radar systems in Syria.

Chinese private space startup LandSpace achieved a major reusable-rocket milestone on Wednesday when the first stage of its Zhuque-3 commercial rocket returned and landed successfully on land after launch. The rocket lifted off at 7:35 a.m. local time from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone in northwest China. State news agency Xinhua described the mission as a complete success.

CCTV footage showed the first stage descending slowly toward a designated desert landing site. Its landing legs deployed shortly before touchdown, allowing it to land in a controlled manner. Zhuque-3’s second stage also successfully delivered the Honghu-03 satellite into its intended orbit, according to Xinhua.

Space experts said LandSpace was the first organization outside the United States to return an orbital-class rocket booster to land using its own landing legs. Astrophysicist Richard de Grijs said China had demonstrated two separate rocket-recovery technologies through state and private sectors within a month, following the July recovery of a Long March-10B first stage from a sea-based platform. He said such competition and experimentation could support lower-cost, more frequent launches.

Kolkata police have identified five Bangladeshi nationals among those killed in a hotel fire on Mirza Ghalib Street in Kolkata. The report was published on August 19, 2026. Police said the identified victims include Shornoshish Dutta, Afsana Shimmin, Debashish Dutta and Md Akram Ali, all residents of Kushtia district in Bangladesh.

A fifth identified victim, Ahmed Babu, was listed as being from Aminbazar in Savar. According to police information, three-year-old Shornoshish Dutta and his father Debashish Dutta were residents of the Aruapara, Mohini Mill area of Kushtia.

Kolkata police said efforts were continuing to establish the identities of the remaining victims. Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata Muhammad Khaled said on Wednesday afternoon that police and the FRRO had informed the deputy high commission after identifying at least five Bangladeshi citizens among the dead. The FRRO is a Home Ministry division that keeps records of data and movements of foreign nationals entering India.

Prime Minister’s political adviser and BNP standing committee member Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said Bangladesh seeks friendly relations with all countries based on equality, mutual respect and sovereignty. He made the remarks on Wednesday, August 19, in the capital’s Zia Udyan after paying tribute at the graves of former president Ziaur Rahman and former prime minister Khaleda Zia on the 46th founding anniversary of the Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebak Dal.

Rizvi said Bangladesh is an independent and sovereign state and that friendship cannot be built on conditions. He said international relations must be developed by respecting every country’s independence and sovereignty, while the government would pursue ties founded on mutual dignity and equality. Bangladesh would invite other countries and accept their invitations, he said, but would not accept secret or unilateral conditions.

Addressing relations with India, Rizvi said Bangladesh would welcome friendly engagement without conditions tied to particular interests. He said any relationship with India must rest on equal status and mutual respect, and that a BNP government would not accept proposals outside those principles. He also expressed hope that Swechchhasebak Dal activists would publicize government welfare initiatives linked to the BNP election manifesto.

Bangladesh’s Department of Environment has fined Ferdous Steel Ship Recycling Industries Tk 500,000 for cutting the ship MT Rasi without renewing its environmental clearance. The order was issued after a hearing at the Department of Environment’s Chattogram regional office on Wednesday. The yard, located on H Akbar Ali Road in Bhatiari, Sitakunda, was also instructed to halt all cutting work on MT Rasi until the clearance is renewed.

Department officials said an on-site inspection and review of documents by the Chattogram district office found that cutting was underway despite the expired clearance. At the hearing, the violation was established, and compensation was set under Section 7 of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995, as amended in 2010, using the approved environmental damage assessment method.

The company must deposit the amount in the government treasury through the designated challan within seven working days. The order said failure to pay or implement it could lead to legal action, including a criminal case. A yard official said the vessel’s clearance had expired only two days earlier and could not be renewed in time.

Russia has directly rejected allegations that it is trying to interfere in France’s 2027 presidential election, saying Moscow does not intervene in the internal affairs of sovereign states. In comments to Anadolu, the Russian Embassy in Paris said Western policies against Russia, justified by what it called a “Russian threat,” would ultimately fail. France’s presidential election is scheduled for April 18, 2027, with a second round set for May 2 if no candidate wins a majority in the first round.

The embassy said Western countries repeatedly make unfounded accusations against Russia and use the idea of a Russian threat to pursue anti-Russian policies and raise military spending. It also argued that increased military expenditure would harm socially important sectors, expand budget deficits and public debt, and leave future generations with the burden.

French officials and political leaders have accused Russia of intervening in domestic politics in recent months. France’s foreign digital interference monitoring agency, Viginum, alleged that two pro-Russian networks, Matryoshka and Storm-1516, spread misleading information during the summer. French authorities said the campaigns targeted Gabriel Attal, Edouard Philippe and European Parliament member Raphael Glucksmann.

Claims that Brazilian football legend Roberto Carlos has converted to Islam spread widely on social media, according to a report published by Amar Desh Online on August 19, 2026. Turkish outlet Daily Sabah said various sources were making the claim, which was amplified by Ali Sahin, an AK Party member of parliament from Gaziantep, after a visit to Brazil.

Sahin said he learned of the alleged conversion directly from Sheikh Jihad Hammadeh, described as a prominent senior Islamic figure in Brazil. He said Carlos and Hammadeh had maintained positive contact for some time and met privately in Sao Paulo about four weeks earlier. According to Sahin, Carlos recited the shahada in Hammadeh’s presence during that meeting.

The report said Carlos has not issued any public video, social-media statement or formal announcement confirming the claim. As a result, the information cannot be presented as confirmed, and doubts about its reliability remain. Carlos, a 2002 World Cup winner with Brazil and former Real Madrid player, has prompted extensive online discussion, with many Muslim fans offering congratulations.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has expressed deep sorrow over the deaths of 10 Bangladeshi citizens in two separate incidents in Kolkata, India, and East London, United Kingdom. In a statement sent to the media on Wednesday, party Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar said at least nine Bangladeshis, including a child, died in a fire at a residential hotel on Free School Street in Kolkata’s New Market area around 2am the previous night.

Parwar said several others were burned and injured in the hotel fire. He described the deaths of Bangladeshis who had travelled to India for medical treatment and other needs as heartbreaking and painful. Separately, he said a Bangladeshi man, Mashum Mia, 40, was shot dead by miscreants in East London on August 17.

The Jamaat leader prayed for the forgiveness of those killed and conveyed condolences to the families of the dead and injured. He also wished a speedy recovery for those burned or seriously injured. Parwar urged the Bangladesh mission in India and relevant authorities to arrange the swift and dignified return of the bodies to Bangladesh and ensure proper treatment for the injured.