Human Rights Support Society adviser Nur Khan Liton called for a strong law and independent investigations to ensure justice for enforced disappearances allegedly occurring under law-enforcement supervision. He spoke on Saturday, August 29, at a roundtable organised by HRSS at the National Press Club. He said a law or commission would be of little value without a clear opportunity to prosecute such cases.

Liton cited cases involving a victim who disappeared again after holding a press conference, missing person Miraj Sheikh, and Jubo Dal activist Robin. He alleged that information was provided by one force while another covered it up. Photographer and rights activist Shahidul Alam said judges should recuse themselves from cases involving allegations against their own institutions and that elected representatives must oversee law-enforcement agencies.

HRSS submitted 12 demands to the government, including locating all those missing during the previous Awami League administration, independent investigations, a roadmap for implementing the disappearance commission's final report, prosecution of past cases, and clarification of command responsibility. It also sought amendments to the Prevention and Remedy of Enforced Disappearance Act, 2026, full independence for the National Human Rights Commission, compensation, rehabilitation, protection for witnesses and complainants, and preservation of information on secret detention centres.

A Jubo Dal leader, Fazal Amin, died in East Soloshahar of Chattogram after he was allegedly shoved during an argument over vegetable vendors operating from vans on occupied footpaths. The incident occurred on Friday afternoon and became known on Saturday. Amin was the joint convener of the East Soloshahar ward Jubo Dal.

His son, Zobairul Haque Inan, alleged that Amin had long spoken against footpath occupation and extortion in the area. He claimed his father was shoved after opposing the collection of money from van-based vegetable sellers. Residents said vendors had operated on the footpaths for a long time, forcing pedestrians to use the road.

Chandgaon police investigation officer Md Sabuj said the actual cause of the incident and whether the shove was directly linked to Amin's death would be determined through an investigation. Amin's family has filed a case, he said. Chattogram metropolitan Jubo Dal president Mosharraf Hossain Dipti said the organization was seeking facts and had asked police to take action after establishing what happened.

Bangladesh identified 1,891 new HIV infections in one year, 453 more than the previous year, marking the country’s highest recorded infection level since 2000, according to a recently published study. During the same period, 254 people died from AIDS-related illnesses. Health authorities said testing has expanded, while limited access to services in many districts raises concern that the true number of infections may be higher than official figures.

HIV testing and diagnosis services are available in only 23 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, leaving 41 without sufficient testing opportunities. Jessore recorded the highest number of identified patients, followed by Natore, while infections were also found in the Sonamasjid area of Shibganj in border district Chapainawabganj. Officials said expanded HIV screening and blood cross-matching procedures have contributed to higher detection.

A July 2026 scientific review and national analysis said new infections are concentrated among key populations, including men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs and transgender people. A final report based on ongoing surveys and field inspections is scheduled for release on World AIDS Day, December 1.

National University has warned that a timetable circulating on social media for the postponed 2025 Honours first-year examination is false and baseless. The notice concerns the paper with code 212109, Introduction to Social Work, under the new syllabus. The university issued the warning in a press release sent to media on Saturday.

According to the university, no revised date for the postponed examination has yet been announced. It urged students and other concerned people not to be misled by any schedule being shared on social media.

National University said the new date will be published on its official website, www.nu.ac.bd, once it is determined. The institution did not provide a revised examination date in the press release.

Eighteen leaders of Jubo Dal’s Kushakhali union unit in Lakshmipur resigned on Saturday, shortly after a new 31-member committee was announced on Facebook on Friday. The resignations were submitted to senior leaders of Chandraganj police station Jubo Dal. Resigning leaders alleged that positions in the new committee were sold for money and that controversial people, including Awami League activists, had been included.

The new committee named Rafiq Ullah as convener and Masudur Rahman Masud as member secretary, with 12 joint conveners including Abdur Rashid. Chandraganj Jubo Dal convener Enayet Ullah, joint convener M Abdul Khaleq and member secretary Abdul Mukit Sohel approved it. Local activists said the repeated announcements, resignations and dissolution had created confusion among workers and supporters.

An earlier 31-member committee announced on July 26 was dissolved by the centre on July 28 after 16 leaders resigned over similar allegations. Enayet Ullah denied that posts were exchanged for money and attributed the dispute to conflict among BNP leaders ahead of union parishad elections. District Jubo Dal general secretary Syed Rashidul Hasan Lincoln said the claim that 18 people resigned was not true and described committee members as tested party workers.

Bangladesh Coast Guard seized an Indian artisanal trawling boat and eight trawling nets during an operation in Char Fasson of Bhola district on Friday night. The raid was conducted at about 10pm in the Maya River area under Dularhat police station, following secret information, according to the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard outposts at Lalmohan and Char Manika carried out the special operation. Officials said the seized boat was later confirmed as Indian through the upazila fisheries officer. Authorities initially suspect that some dishonest Bangladeshi individuals had illegally brought the boat into Bangladesh and were preparing to use it for fishing.

No one was arrested because the fishermen aboard fled after noticing the Coast Guard presence during the operation. Legal procedures concerning the seized Indian artisanal trawling boat and nets are under way. Coast Guard media officer Lieutenant Commander Sabbir Alam Sujon confirmed the matter.

Kishoreganj-2 MP Advocate Md Jalal Uddin urged people to protest wrongdoing involving children rather than dismissing it as someone else’s problem. He made the remarks on Saturday morning as chief guest at the Medha Anneshan Scholarship-2026 award and reception programme at Shimulia Higher Secondary School field in Pakundia upazila, Kishoreganj.

The event was organised by the Md Junayet Bhuiyan Mohon Foundation, which distributed money and certificates to scholarship recipients and honoured meritorious students. Referring to social and cultural decline, Jalal Uddin said failing to stop children’s misconduct could eventually affect one’s own children. He said no wrongdoing should be supported, regardless of who is involved.

The MP said he wanted children to have opportunities to play in fields but return to their mothers before the Maghrib call to prayer. He also said gambling, drug gatherings and drug business should not be allowed on the field after evening, asking residents to guarantee this. School committee president Muhammad Baitullah chaired the programme, while foundation founder and chairman Md Junayet Bhuiyan Mohon delivered the welcome speech.

Maersk Line, a leading global shipping and logistics company, has expressed interest in direct investment in Bangladesh’s shipbuilding industry. The prospect was discussed at a meeting in Dhaka on Saturday at the residence of Commerce, Industries, and Textiles and Jute Minister Khandaker Abdul Muqtadir. The discussion also covered potential investment in the ship recycling sector.

Danish Ambassador to Bangladesh Christian Brix Moller said Maersk was interested in investing directly in shipbuilding. Rene Pile Pedersen, managing director of AP Moller Singapore Pte Ltd, attended the meeting alongside the ambassador. The minister invited Maersk to expand investment beyond shipbuilding into Bangladesh’s ship recycling industry.

Muqtadir said Bangladesh could become a promising hub both for constructing new vessels and for environmentally compliant, internationally standard recycling of Maersk’s older ships. Participants said Bangladesh has long-standing experience and potential in both sectors. They noted that large international investment could support industrialisation, blue-economy opportunities, employment, technology and skills transfer, and growth in related industries.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has ordered necessary action against unauthorized double-decker sleeper buses operating in the capital. At a Saturday meeting chaired by the prime minister at his Tejgaon office, authorities also adopted measures aimed at easing severe congestion, modernizing traffic management and restoring order in public transport.

The decisions include introducing Electronic Toll Collection at expressway and flyover toll plazas, supported by an app to be developed within four months. BUET was asked to review its earlier report on congestion around the Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover and submit a new report with recommendations within 15 days. City corporations and traffic police will coordinate implementation.

The Flowerbari bus terminal will be relocated to Keraniganj after land acquisition through the Local Government Ministry. An interim terminal will be built on 15 acres at the Jhilimili project within four months, while Gabtali terminal will be expanded. The Karwan Bazar kitchen market is to move to Gabtali, and parking options around the Secretariat, including at Osmani Memorial Hall, will be examined.

Two 19-year-old friends died in a road crash while returning home after buying a new motorcycle in Mirsarai, Chattogram, on Friday night. The accident occurred around 10:30pm on the Mirsarai National Special Economic Zone road, near the Boro Takia Gate area. The victims were identified as Talat Mahmud Shuvo and Abdullah Al Omar.

According to the report, the friends had purchased the motorcycle from Baraiyarhat Bazar and were travelling home when a truck struck them. Shuvo died at the scene. Omar was rescued in critical condition and died while being taken to Chattogram Medical College Hospital.

Shuvo was the son of the late Aminul Islam of Miyapara village, while Omar was the son of expatriate Sheikh Farid from Fakirpara. Relatives said the two were friends who worked at a laboratory in the local Abutorab Bazar alongside their studies. Mirsarai police officer-in-charge Farida Yasmin said police received information about Shuvo's death and sent teams to both areas.

Dhaka University Central Students’ Union Vice President Sadik Kayem said the struggle for an equitable and discrimination-free Bangladesh would continue, in a message for “Barudmakha Kothamala,” a collection of speeches by Shaheed Sharif Osman Bin Hadi. Kayem said Hadi had taught people how to fight for justice, oppose domination and aggression, and stand against mafia rule to establish justice-based governance.

The collection was edited by DUCSU literature and cultural affairs secretary Musaddik Ali Ibn Mohammad. Kayem said those who killed Osman Hadi had believed that killing him would permanently halt young people’s struggle against hegemonic forces and their domestic fascist allies. He said that expectation would not be fulfilled.

Kayem said the movement would continue until a justice-based Bangladesh able to stand tall in the world is established. Calling Osman Bin Hadi a beacon of inspiration for the country’s people, he said Hadi’s ideals and thoughts had spread across Bangladesh’s 56,000 square miles and would endure among future generations through his work. He thanked those involved in publishing the book and prayed for Hadi’s forgiveness and the collection’s success.

Chittagong University’s Islami Chhatra Shibir unit held a reception for students newly admitted in the 2025–26 academic year on Saturday at the Faculty of Social Sciences auditorium. Organizers said nearly 3,000 students joined the event in two sessions, which cost about Tk 2.8 million. The first session included students from science, biological sciences, engineering, marine sciences and business administration, while the second involved social sciences, arts and humanities students.

Students registered online to attend, organizers said. Participants received copies of the Quran, pads, notebooks, pens, various books, T-shirts and framed photographs of the university’s central library. Branch president and Chaksu vice-president Ibrahim Hossain Rony chaired the programme, while branch finance secretary Ishaq Bhuiyan conducted it. Central Islami Chhatra Shibir president Nurul Islam Saddam attended as chief guest.

Speakers stressed improving campus education, resolving student housing shortages and creating a student-friendly environment. Saddam called for ensuring housing at existing universities before establishing new ones and said students should leave halls after completing honours and master’s degrees. Guests also urged new students to focus on studies and develop morality, patriotism and leadership qualities.

Food Minister Afrooza Khanam Rita said no one would be spared if irregularities are found at any food warehouse in Bangladesh. Speaking Saturday after visiting a free medical camp and attending a public reception at Dhankora Girish Chandra High School in Saturia, Manikganj, she said food warehouses in every district would be inspected in phases and those involved in wrongdoing would face immediate legal action.

The minister said the government considers food security and safe food among its major priorities, warning that unsafe food can harm public health. She said storage and management of food grains at warehouses would be closely monitored. An irregularity has already been identified at a food warehouse in Ghior upazila of Manikganj, and necessary legal action has been taken against those concerned.

Rita said the country has adequate food stocks to address disasters or crises, while authorities are also paying special attention to supply systems. She said there is no fertilizer shortage, although distribution coordination gaps may exist in some places, and farmers should not face fertilizer supply problems during the current transplanted aman season. She also said preliminary work, including a feasibility study, has begun for a second Padma Bridge project.

The government has decided to relocate Fulbaria Bus Terminal to Keraniganj as part of a broader plan to ease severe traffic congestion in Dhaka, modernise traffic management and restore order in public transport. The decisions were made at a Saturday meeting at the prime minister’s Tejgaon office, chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. The plan also includes electronic toll collection at expressway and flyover toll plazas, expansion of Gabtali Bus Terminal and moving Karwan Bazar’s kitchen market to Gabtali.

Because construction of the permanent Keraniganj terminal is a long-term project, an interim bus terminal will be built within four months on 15 acres at the Jhilmil project site. The meeting said moving Fulbaria would reduce pressure from buses and inter-district vehicles in central Dhaka. Necessary land will be acquired through the Local Government Ministry for the permanent project.

Authorities were directed to develop an electronic toll collection app and complete the system within four months. BUET was asked to submit, within 15 days, a new report with recommendations on easing congestion around the Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover. The meeting also called for parking options near the Secretariat, a separate policy for autorickshaws and action against unauthorised double-decker sleeper buses.

International Crimes Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam urged law students to develop deep knowledge of relevant laws, case facts, investigations and evidence to become effective lawyers. He made the remarks on Saturday as chief guest at a criminal trial advocacy workshop titled “The Art of Cross Examination,” organised by the Law Club of Manarat International University at its permanent campus in Ashulia Model Town.

Islam said there is no single fixed formula for effective cross-examination. He stressed that trial lawyers must identify what occurred during each stage of an investigation, locate errors and assess inconsistencies or gaps in evidence. He also advised students to build reasoning, curiosity, professional competence and ethical values, and to observe real court proceedings regularly alongside academic study.

Islam and Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Mohammad Abdur Rob jointly inaugurated the university’s newly built moot court. Students later took part in a mock trial, after which the chief prosecutor reviewed their legal arguments, witness questioning and trial management. The event also recognised students who passed a preparatory class examination for the Bangladesh Judicial Service, while workshop participants received certificates.