Nepal has reversed its initial decision and will allow foreign rescue teams and specialists to work in selected areas after devastating flash floods. The decision came hours after the Foreign Ministry said on Friday afternoon that outside rescue assistance was not needed. A senior ministry official said the government changed course amid pressure from the international community.

The floods began on 26 August after a barrier lake on the Bhotekoshi River and its tributary, the Lehende River, burst. The disaster struck Nepal’s northern border district of Rasuwa and Gyirong district in Tibet, China. The released water carried mud, rocks and debris, covering wide areas in both districts.

According to figures from Kathmandu and Beijing, 1,924 people are missing in Nepal and another 558 in Tibet. Nearly 800 foreign nationals from 35 countries are among those missing, including citizens of India, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. India, South Korea, Australia and other countries had offered assistance, while Nepal had initially said its own rescue forces were sufficiently capable. The government now plans to admit a limited number of specialists into designated areas.

The Bangladesh Jewellers Association, known as BAJUS, lowered prices for all categories of gold and silver in the domestic market after local acid gold prices declined. The revised rates took effect at 10am on Saturday, August 29. Under the decision, 22-carat gold now costs Tk240,636 per bhori, down Tk7,109 from the previous price of Tk247,745.

BAJUS’s Standing Committee on Pricing and Price Monitoring set the new prices at a meeting on Saturday morning, considering declines in acid gold and silver prices. The new per-gram gold rates are Tk20,630 for 22-carat, Tk19,700 for 21-carat, Tk16,920 for 18-carat, and Tk13,820 for traditional-method gold.

Silver prices were also reduced. Per gram, 22-carat silver is now Tk455, 21-carat Tk435, 18-carat Tk375 and traditional-method silver Tk285. The 22-carat silver rate fell Tk15 per gram from Tk470. VAT is included in the fixed selling prices, though labour charges may be added depending on jewellery design. The rates will remain effective at jewellery outlets nationwide until further notice.

Malaysia’s Immigration Department detained 528 foreign nationals in a nationwide operation called Ops Sasar from August 25 to 27 over alleged immigration-law violations. The department said the campaign was conducted using public complaints, available information and intelligence surveillance. A total of 678 foreign nationals were questioned and checked during the three-day operation.

The Putrajaya Immigration Department also conducted raids at two locations: a construction site in Jalan Wangsamaju, Setapak, and a business establishment in Dato Keramat. Officials checked 83 foreign nationals at those sites and detained 73 for alleged immigration offences, including 30 Bangladeshis, 37 Indonesians and two Nepalis.

The detainees also included one national each from Togo, Burkina Faso, Myanmar and India. JIM said most of those arrested were working when the operation took place, and some attempted to flee after noticing law-enforcement personnel. Allegations include lacking identity cards or valid immigration documents, overstaying approved periods and working without valid permission. The department said action would be taken under relevant immigration-law provisions.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem has rejected an agreement described as a framework deal between Israel and Lebanon, saying his group opposes it and wants it to collapse. In a speech broadcast on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel, Qassem also said Hezbollah fighters would not surrender.

Qassem called the framework agreement illegal, unlawful and humiliating, and said it was destructive to Lebanon’s sovereignty. He pledged that Hezbollah would keep its head high and would not capitulate, according to the speech carried by the group’s television channel.

He said Hezbollah had supported implementation of a ceasefire in November 2024, which was intended to end the previous war with Israel. The source does not provide further details about the agreement, its terms, or any response from Israel or Lebanese authorities.

Aaron Sorkin is returning to cinemas with ‘The Social Reckoning,’ a sequel to his 2010 film ‘The Social Network.’ Rather than focusing on Facebook’s rise, the new film centers on crises, controversies and allegations surrounding the company and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Jeremy Strong plays Zuckerberg, while the film is scheduled for worldwide release on October 9.

A recently released trailer shows Jeremy Allen White as Wall Street Journal journalist Jeff Horwitz, who investigates Facebook’s influence on modern life and its negative consequences. Mikey Madison plays Frances Haugen, whose character brings internal Facebook documents and the company’s disputed actions into the story. The trailer portrays Zuckerberg as tougher, harsher and more aggressive than in the earlier film.

Sorkin said he had long struggled to find a suitable story for a sequel, despite suggestions that he write about Brexit, Cambridge Analytica and other Facebook-related controversies. He said a film must offer more than relevance or importance; it also needs a compelling narrative that holds audiences from beginning to end. ‘The Social Network’ was released on October 1, 2010, nearly 16 years before this follow-up.

Local residents and members of affected families held a human chain outside the National Press Club in Dhaka on Saturday, demanding an impartial investigation into allegations of land grabbing, extortion, assault, drug dealing, harassment through cases and illegal sand filling on agricultural land in Kaliganj, Gazipur. Speakers sought protection for complainants and victims and called for legal action if allegations are proven.

Participants raised allegations involving Kaliganj upazila BNP member secretary Khalekuzzaman Bablu, his brothers Anisur Rahman Ripon and Sohel, and several others. They alleged that political identity and local influence were being used to control markets, land, sand filling and construction work. They also claimed that people who protested or filed complaints faced cases and other forms of harassment.

The demonstrators cited Dubai expatriate Alamgir Kabir’s claim that nearly four bighas of his land had been occupied, while the family of Bayezid Hasan Shibli alleged he was beaten and handed to police after yaba was placed in his pocket. Their six demands included recovering occupied land, investigating the allegations, stopping illegal sand filling, examining claimed political influence and ensuring victims’ safety.

Bangladeshi film actor Apu Biswas has returned safely to Dhaka with the full shooting team of the film “Shikar” after facing severe flood and landslide conditions in Nepal. Speaking to journalists on Friday after returning, she described frightening moments near Kathmandu and said the team had narrowly avoided a major danger.

Biswas said the group had been scheduled to travel back to Kathmandu by the same route on August 27, one day after the disaster struck nearby. She said the road has been declared completely closed to traffic for the next 15 to 20 days because of the scale of the calamity. Her fans had been concerned after reports of flooding and landslides in Nepal.

The team decided to suspend filming in Nepal, saying continuing work amid the humanitarian crisis would have been inappropriate. Biswas said filming romantic-song scenes while local residents were suffering would have felt discourteous and uncomfortable. She had been in Nepal for several days with co-artists for “Shikar,” in which Kolkata actor Kharaj Mukherjee appears opposite her. Mukherjee had earlier said he was safe.

Agriculture and Fisheries and Livestock Minister Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid said Bangladesh faces no fertiliser shortage and warned that action will be taken against retailers found creating an artificial scarcity or charging higher prices. He made the remarks on Saturday as chief guest at a meeting with onion and jute growers in Faridpur district at the Faridpur Sadar উপজেলা পরিষদ auditorium.

The minister said the country imports about 1.5 million tonnes more fertiliser than total demand and also maintains an equivalent security stock, leaving no scope for a national shortage. He alleged that some wrongdoers and conspirators were deliberately attempting to keep fertiliser prices high. Some retailers, he said, claim fertiliser is unavailable but supply it when customers pay extra.

Rashid said the government is working to reduce agricultural import dependence, including by developing domestic sources of jute and onion seeds. He said the wider goal is to meet demand through local output and eventually export agricultural products rather than import them. The government is also pursuing self-sufficiency in essentials including green chillies, ginger and garlic.

Ronjina Parvin, 55, head teacher of Bagbari Girls Government Primary School in Bogura, died after falling from a rickshaw during an alleged bag snatching near the South Plaza of Bangladesh’s Parliament Building in Dhaka. The incident occurred at about 6:30am on Saturday while she was travelling toward an eye hospital in the Farmgate area.

Hospital and family sources said Parvin had arrived at Gabtali Bus Terminal at dawn after travelling overnight from Bogura to see a doctor at Islamia Eye Hospital. As her rickshaw reached the South Plaza, alleged snatchers on a motorcycle came from behind and pulled her bag. She fell from the rickshaw and sustained a head injury.

She was rescued from the scene and taken to Suhrawardy Hospital, where the duty doctor declared her dead. Tejgaon zone Deputy Commissioner of Police Ibn Mizan said police were working to identify the motorcycle and those involved in the incident.

Ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on August 30, rights organisation Odhikar said the Sheikh Hasina-led government used enforced disappearances as a tool of state repression during its roughly 15-and-a-half years in power. It said opposition activists, dissenters and ordinary citizens faced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations. The Hasina government fell on August 5, 2024, amid a student-public uprising.

Bangladesh ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance on August 29 after the interim government assumed office on August 8, 2024. Odhikar said ratification created an obligation to enact domestic legislation. The cabinet approved the Prevention and Remedies of Enforced Disappearance Act, 2026 on August 3, and an amended draft was introduced in parliament on August 27.

Odhikar objected to provisions allowing investigations by security forces other than the accused force, saying such probes could be biased. It also criticised a provision allowing up to five years’ rigorous imprisonment if a court finds a complaint false. The group demanded investigations be assigned to an independent National Human Rights Commission, protections for families’ property and bank-account access, and withdrawal of alleged false cases against returned victims.

Deprived leaders and activists of Jubo Dal in Dumki upazila of Patuakhali held a press conference on Saturday at 12pm, demanding cancellation of the party’s newly announced committee. The event took place at Zamzam Restaurant, following the committee’s announcement on social media on 26 August.

Former Jubo Dal convener Md Jasim Uddin alleged that the committee was formed by excluding dedicated and tested activists while including non-political and controversial individuals. He described it as a “pocket committee” and claimed its formation violated the party constitution. He said activists who had long remained active on the streets had been severely overlooked.

Speakers also alleged that the new committee president had remained outside politics for a long time and had not previously been active in party activities. They further raised allegations against the general secretary and several other office-bearers. The participants sought swift intervention from central leaders and warned that they would announce tougher programmes if their demand was not met.

Patiya lawmaker Enamul Haque Enam called on people to remain alert to propaganda and rumors allegedly spread by secret and banned organizations. Speaking as chief guest at a free seed and fertilizer distribution event in Patiya, Chattogram, on Saturday afternoon, he said such groups were using social media to spread misinformation about fertilizer, gas and electricity.

Enam said some members of banned organizations were attempting to provoke people by circulating rumors. He urged the public not to maintain any form of connection with those spreading such propaganda, adding that those who incite others would not be spared.

At the event, organized by the Mabila and Syed Foundation, 250 farmers received seeds of tomato, radish, pumpkin, red amaranth and chili, along with two kilograms of fertilizer each. Enam also said the prime minister was providing farmer cards for marginal farmers in villages and that people without land could cultivate vegetables on vacant roadside areas and uncultivated land, with government support available.

Barishal entrepreneur Jannatul Ferdous has developed natural food colors using extracts from local fruits, vegetables, tree bark and flowers, drawing praise as an alternative to chemical-based food coloring. Her products have been used to make items including pitha, laddoo, cakes and candy. The Barishal divisional Department of Agricultural Marketing supported the initiative, and officials discussed it with Divisional Commissioner Khalil Ahmed.

Ferdous, president of the Barishal district branch of a women entrepreneurs’ development organization, began block-batik work after Youth Development Department training in 2006. She later trained in food processing at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute in Gazipur in 2024. In 2025, she opened a women’s training centre and established J Tasty Nest in Barishal’s Kaunia area, producing colors from ingredients such as dragon fruit, butterfly pea flowers, carrots, hibiscus, beetroot, spinach and Malabar spinach.

Her natural colors currently have a maximum shelf life of 10 days, after which their quality deteriorates. Ferdous said technology and research assistance are needed to extend preservation. Commissioner Ahmed promised administrative support, while agricultural marketing officials said local natural colors could support safer food and reduce spending on imported artificial colors.

A college in the remote Shambhupur Union of Tajumuddin upazila in Bhola has launched its own bus service to make travel easier and safer for more than 450 students. The institution, established in 2013 near Khaser Hat Bazar, said the initiative is intended to improve access to education for students travelling from distant areas.

Students previously depended on hired autorickshaws and other transport, often facing difficulty reaching the college on time and returning home safely. Twelfth-grade students Sravanti and Ikra said transport shortages had sometimes made them late for classes. They said the dedicated bus would help them attend lessons punctually and travel home more safely.

Lecturers Mizanur Rahman and Khaled Saifullah said the service could ease students’ longstanding travel difficulties, raise classroom attendance and encourage greater interest in higher education. Principal Md Muinuddin Howlader said the bus was provided by the Mohammad Shahe Alam Foundation and would reduce travel fatigue, allowing students to focus more on their studies.

Alliance Française de Dhaka will open “Untold Story,” a group art exhibition curated by artist Fariha Jeba, on Tuesday, 1 September, at La Galerie in Dhaka. The exhibition explores intimate and often unspoken human experiences through artists’ books and contemporary artworks.

Frederic Inza, deputy head of mission at the Embassy of France in Bangladesh, and Tanvir Ahmed, managing director of Sheltech Group and Envoy Legacy, will attend the opening as guests of honour. The works use painting, drawing, collage, stitching, textiles, collected materials and experimental book forms to address memory, identity, heritage, loss, desire and lived experience.

Participating artists are Esha Ahmed, Fauzia Mahin Chowdhury, Kazmin Samia, Sulekha Chowdhury, Sumona Akter and Surabhi Akter. Guest artists include Alia Kamal, Arpita Singh, Mahmuda Siddika, Rafia Mahzabin, Rituparna Saha and Venisa Kaiser. Seven group artists worked on the theme through artists’ books for a year, while guest artists explored it in their own visual languages over a shorter period.