Author: News Desk

Ahead of facing world-class pacers like Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, the Bangladesh cricket team suffered a severe batting collapse in their three-day warm-up match against the Cricket Australia (CA) XI at Marrara Oval in Darwin. The visitors crashed to a heavy defeat by an innings and 38 runs, bundled out for just 54 in their second innings against an inexperienced Australian bowling attack, despite a first-innings total of 263 anchored by Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s century. This dismal performance by the batting lineup serves as a major blow and a stern warning for the Bangladesh camp ahead of the first…

Greek authorities have rescued 202 irregular migrants off the southern island of Crete while they were attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to enter Europe. Arriving in multiple wooden boats within less than 48 hours, a significant portion of the rescued individuals are citizens of Bangladesh and Sudan, along with several Egyptian nationals. According to the Greek newspaper Demokratia, the continuous arrival of migrants via this perilous Mediterranean route has placed severe strain on local administrative bodies and reception centers across Crete Island. Reports indicate that a surveillance aircraft belonging to Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard…

Amid escalating conflicts and deepening security vulnerabilities in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have entered into a historic agreement to strengthen mutual defence cooperation. The pact, officially titled the “Makkah Joint Defence Agreement,” was signed on Friday (August 7) in the holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Under the primary mandate of the accord, any armed aggression against one member state will be treated as an attack against all three nations. Underlying Drivers & Geopolitical Impact Impact of US-Israeli Strikes: Following joint military strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel on February 28, regional hostilities…

Ahead of the upcoming 23rd Presidential Election, the primary partners of the 11-Party Alliance—including Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, and the National Citizen Party (NCP)—have yet to finalize their party or coalition positions. Key member parties are holding separate and joint strategy meetings on Saturday (August 8) to evaluate options, including nominating an independent candidate, endorsing an existing candidate, or boycotting the election. According to the official schedule announced by the Election Commission (EC), the presidential election is slated for August 20. Per the EC roadmap, nomination papers must be submitted by August 13. Following scrutiny on August 16, if…

Former Awami League Member of Parliament and veteran cricketer Shakib Al Hassan has stated that he is prepared to return to Bangladesh and face trial for all cases against him—including murder and corruption charges—provided he receives sufficient security guarantees. The former national captain also expressed his desire to play a farewell series on home soil and represent Bangladesh in the 2027 ODI World Cup. The 39-year-old cricketer conveyed these statements over the phone from Sri Lanka during an exclusive interview with international news agency Reuters, published on Friday (August 7). During the interview, Shakib revealed that following safety assurances from…

Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives, and Secretary General of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, stated that democracy will be sustainable if the media remains strong and objective. Speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled “The Role of Media in Sustainable Democracy”—organized by the Television Editors Council at a hotel in the capital on Friday (August 7)—he urged journalists to present the truth impartially, noting that with no government pressure currently present, self-censorship should be avoided and respect for dissenting views remains the core foundation of democracy. At the same seminar, the…

Meta has disclosed that one of its artificial intelligence models accessed an external organization’s systems during a safety and security evaluation. The Facebook parent company becomes the latest tech giant to report an AI hacking incident during testing, following similar disclosures by OpenAI and Anthropic. Meta clarified that the incident occurred during an independent assessment conducted by AI security firm Irregular. According to Meta, the breach was caused by a misconfiguration in the evaluation environment rather than an inherent vulnerability or flaw within the AI model itself. Irregular, the security firm that evaluated both Meta and Anthropic models, confirmed that…

The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs has issued a formal apology for the “unfortunate situation” caused by “a few individuals” over alleged inaccuracies in a documentary portraying the timeline of the July Uprising. The official reaction was conveyed in a press release issued on Thursday (August 6). The ministry stated that the allegations raised against the documentary will be thoroughly reviewed, and a refined version will be re-released at the earliest possible time. The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs questioned whether there was a political agenda behind disrupting a state event and tarnishing the nation’s reputation. The statement further warned…

A draft bill titled the ‘Special Response Battalion (SRB) Act, 2026’ has been published with the aim of abolishing the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and establishing a new specialized unit under Bangladesh Police named the ‘Special Response Battalion (SRB)’. The Ministry of Home Affairs published the draft on its official website on Thursday afternoon (August 6) to invite public feedback and suggestions. According to the proposed legislation, the new unit will be formed, operated, and controlled to consolidate national internal security and maintain law and order, formally repealing RAB’s previous legal mandate under ‘The Armed Police Battalions Ordinance, 1979’.…

The Election Commission (EC) Secretariat has published the final voter list comprising 349 Members of Parliament for the 23rd Presidential Election of Bangladesh. The official gazette notification was issued on Thursday evening (August 6) by the EC Secretary. Earlier in the day, the commission officially announced the schedule for the presidential election. According to the declared schedule, voting will take place in the Jatiya Sangsad chamber on August 20 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. By law, all 350 Members of Parliament—comprising 300 general constituency seats and 50 reserved women seats—are eligible to vote in the presidential election. However, the…