In blatant disregard of a High Court directive, the hills of Cox’s Bazar continue to be stripped bare and the soil sold off by the truckload to brick kilns and construction sites.

The government yesterday appointed journalist Kamal Uddin Shabuj as the managing director and chief editor of state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has sought the backing of UN Secretary-General António Guterres for a deferral of Bangladesh’s graduation from the least-developed country (LDC) category, as the issue moves through the multilateral system.

Parliament yesterday passed 14 bills, including the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which makes it mandatory to inform the family within 12 hours of arresting a person.

The long queues at filling stations across the country do not seem to be abating, with the lines getting longer in some places, even though the fuel stock became slightly healthier compared with last week’s.

Foreign minister meets India’s national security adviser with speculation over security and political issues

Chief adviser of the immediate past interim government, Prof Muhammad Yunus had travelled to London to hand over the “trophy” of the 2024 July–August movement to Tarique Rahman and return with an election date, State Minister for LGRD Mir Shahe Alam said yesterday.

Brahmanbaria-2 MP Rumeen Farhana yesterday strongly criticised the government for appointing party-linked figures to key positions, including the governor of Bangladesh Bank and vice chancellors of several public universities.

International Crimes Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam yesterday termed the ordinance on enforced disappearance as “unnecessary”, saying the offence was already more effectively covered under the tribunal’s existing law.

The number of children hospitalised with measles symptoms is rising sharply across the Khulna division, putting pressure on already strained health facilities.

“My brother had just brought three bags of blood for my son, but doctors then told us blood was no longer needed. My son had died.”

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) set new benchmarks for inquiries, case filings, and convictions in 2025, though experts warn that numerical growth alone does not guarantee institutional effectiveness.

Train services on the Dhaka–Noakhali route were disrupted early yesterday as a Nor’wester swept through Noakhali, uprooting trees and snapping branches onto the tracks.

A man accused of abducting, torturing and raping a student of Jahangirnagar University has allegedly been threatening her and her family to withdraw the case filed against him.

Commercial cultivation of passion fruit, native to South America, has begun in Maheshpur upazila in Jhenaidah, with a local entrepreneur expanding production and attracting interest from other farmers.

At the Tengragiri Crocodile Breeding Centre in Taltali upazila of Barguna, not a single hatchling survived in the past 13 years of breeding efforts, with each dying soon after being hatched under unclear circumstances.

A group of youths beat a man to death over suspicion of stealing an easy-bike in Abhaynagar upazila of Jashore yesterday afternoon.

Police yesterday recovered the body of an auto-rickshaw driver from a cornfield in Islampur upazila of Jamalpur.

The Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance has announced weeklong programmes demanding the government convene a session of the Constitutional Reform Council for implementing the referendum verdict and preventing “the return of fascism”.

Foreign minister expected to visit Beijing towards the end of this month