Police have recovered the body of senior journalist-columnist Bibhuranjan Sarkar from the Meghna River in Munshiganj. He had been reported missing since Thursday morning. Saleh Ahmed Pathan, chief of the Kalagachhia River Police outpost, said the remains of the 71-year-old were found floating in the river near Kalagachhia. Police matched it with the photograph of the missing journalist submitted by Ramna police and informed the station after confirming the identity.
The body of senior journalist and political analyst Bibhuranjan Sarkar, who had been missing since Thursday, August 21, 2025, was found in the Meghna River, police have confirmed. When he did not return by 9 PM, Rito contacted Ajker Patrika editor Kamrul Hasan and learned that Bibhuranjan had not reached the office. Background: Born in 1954, Bibhuranjan Sarkar began his journalism career in the late 1960s as a rural correspondent for Dainik Azad while still a school student. Currently employed at Ajker Patrika, Bibhuranjan was known for his incisive columns on political analysis, government critique, and human rights, published regularly in various media outlets. However, Ajker Patrika authorities stated that he had been on a seven-day leave since August 16, 2025.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) says it has identified eight luxury cars and two houses in the United States linked to Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, as part of a corruption and money laundering probe. The assets, worth more than Tk 600 million, were acquired beyond his known sources of income, according to the graftbusters. One of the cars is registered under the name of his former wife, Christina Wazed. The case, filed on Aug 14, 2024, accuses Joy of corruption, suspicious transactions and money laundering between 2000 and June 2024. The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit has meanwhile frozen Tk 63.5 billion across 124 bank accounts belonging to Hasina and her relatives.
A person walks outside a fireworks warehouse as smoke rises after an explosion, in Karachi, Pakistan August 21, 2025. REUTERSA person walks outside a fireworks warehouse as smoke rises after an explosion, in Karachi, Pakistan August 21, 2025. REUTERSAn explosion at a fireworks warehouse in the Pakistani city of Karachi killed four people and injured more than 30 on Thursday, police said. The warehouse and some nearby shops caught fire after the initial blast, which was followed by several smaller explosions, forcing residents to flee for safety. The impact of the blast was strong enough to shatter glass in neighbouring shops, peppering people in the street with shards of glass.
Source: CollectedVeteran journalist Bibhuranjan Sarkar has gone missing in Dhaka, prompting his family to file a general diary (GD) filed with Ramna Police Station. Bibhuranjan left his home in Siddheshwari on Thursday morning but has not been seen since, according to his family, reports bdnews24.com. His son Rit Sarkar filed the GD after he failed to return home. In the GD, he said his father had left their Siddheshwari home at around 10am on Thursday as usual to go to his office. Bibhuranjan`s younger brother Chiraranjan Sarkar wrote on Facebook that neither his office in Banasree nor any of his acquaintances had seen him on Thursday.
Source: CollectedThe father of Mahfuj Alam, an advisor to the interim government, has been elected general secretary of a local unit of the BNP in Lakshmipur. Azizur Rahman Bacchu won the post of general secretary of the Ichhapur Union BNP in Ramganj Upazila on Thursday, securing 266 votes under the "rooster" symbol, party officials said, reports bdnews24.com. In other results, Md Oli Ullah was elected president with 255 votes under the "umbrella" symbol, while Jahangir Alam Samrat became organising secretary with 241 votes under the "fish" symbol. BNP Joint Secretary General Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie attended as chief guest, alongside several senior party leaders. I stood by party workers even in difficult times, and they have elected me out of love.”
Child among 3 missing after trawler collides with ferry in KhulnaThree people, including a woman and a child, are missing after a passenger trawler collided with a ferry on the Bhairab River in Khulna. The accident took place around 11pm on Thursday between Jailkhana and Senerbazar jetties, according to Abu Bakkar, deputy assistant director of Khulna Fire Service. He said the trawler had just left Jailkhana when it struck the ferry mid-river, throwing three passengers into the water. River Police, Fire Service and Navy divers have been deployed to search for those missing. One of the missing persons is reportedly a resident of Rupsha Upazila's Aichghati Union, while the identities of the woman and child are yet to be confirmed.
Five more deaths from dengue were reported in the 24 hours leading up to Thursday morning, bringing this year's death toll from the mosquito-borne disease in Bangladesh to 110. This year, the highest number of dengue deaths, 41, was recorded in July. DGHS data shows that new cases were distributed as follows: 82 in Barisal division, 37 in Chittagong division, 42 in Dhaka division (outside the capital), 51 in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), 61 in DSCC, 15 in Khulna division, two in Mymensingh division, and 21 in Rajshahi division. Currently, 1,293 dengue patients are undergoing treatment in hospitals across the country. Last year, dengue claimed 575 lives in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has recorded five deaths from dengue fever in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities this year to 110.A total of 311 new patients have also been admitted to hospitals with the Aedes mosquito-borne disease, raising the total number of hospitalisations this year to 27,782.According to the bulletin of the Directorate General of Health Services on Thursday, two of the dead were undergoing treatment at Dhaka's Mitford Hospital, two at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, and one at Mugda Medical College Hospital.Three of them were children-one under the age of five and two under 15. The other two were aged between 21 and 25, and 31 and 35.Of the five dead, three were female and two were male.The highest number of dengue deaths this year, 41, was recorded in July. The DGHS reported 27 deaths this month until now.In addition, 19 people died in June, 10 in January, three in February, seven in April, and three in May.July saw the highest number of dengue hospitalisations this year, with 10,684 admissions. Another 6,802 patients were admitted this month.Moreover, 1,161 patients were admitted to the hospital in January, 374 in February, 336 in March, 701 in April, and 1,773 in May.Of the new patients admitted in the past 24 hours, 112 were from the two city corporations of Dhaka.Additionally, 42 patients were admitted in the Dhaka Division, two in Mymensingh, 37 in Chattogram, 15 in Khulna, 21 in Rajshahi, 82 in Barishal, and four in Sylhet.Currently, 1,293 patients are undergoing treatment in different hospitals nationwide with dengue.Of them, 440 are admitted to hospitals in Dhaka, and 853 are in hospitals outside Dhaka.Bangladesh saw 101,211 hospitalisations from dengue in 2024, with 575 deaths, which is the third-highest annual caseload and the second-highest death toll on record.�"bdnews24.com
Bangladesh is taking steps to revitalise the long-dormant Joint Economic Commission (JEC) with Pakistan, aimed at enhancing trade and investment cooperation, according to Commerce Advisor Sheikh Bashir Uddin. He shared the update after a meeting with Pakistani Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan at the Secretariat in Dhaka on Thursday afternoon. “We had very intensive talks with the Pakistani commerce minister,” Bashir said. The new Trade and Investment Commission will evaluate opportunities to boost bilateral trade in these categories, he added. “We explored agricultural and food trade, including fruit imports and exports,” Bashir said.
A female constable at South Keraniganj Police Station has accused a male colleague of raping her repeatedly over a period of five months inside the station barracks, prompting Police Headquarters to launch an investigation. A media statement issued on behalf of the Dhaka police superintendent on Thursday said the allegation against the male constable has been brought to the attention of the Dhaka District Police and is being reviewed. On Aug 19, the female constable filed a complaint with the chief of South Keraniganj Police Station, claiming that the male constable had been sexually assaulting her under the pretext of marriage for the past five months. The female constable alleged that after her transfer from Ashulia Police Station to South Keraniganj in February, Constable Safiur Rahman entered her room in the barracks one night after Eid-ul-Fitr and raped her. She also accused him of filming the assault on his phone and using the video to intimidate her into “repeated rape” inside the barracks.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looks on as she attends the "master of the art of Italian cuisine award" ceremony at Palazzo Chigi, in Rome, Italy, Apr 2, 2025. REUTERS/Remo CasilliItalian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looks on as she attends the "master of the art of Italian cuisine award" ceremony at Palazzo Chigi, in Rome, Italy, Apr 2, 2025. REUTERS/Remo CasilliItalian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has postponed her planned official visit to Bangladesh, along with four other Asian nations, as she remains engaged in international discussions on the war in Ukraine. Talks are under way to fix new dates for the visit, and diplomatic communication with Rome is ongoing, they added. The Bangladesh government had already declared Giorgia Meloni a Very Very Important Person (VVIP) for her Aug 10-31 visit through an official gazette.
Hasina will be listed as ‘mass murderer’ in major overhaul to textbooks next year, says Advisor Asif MahmudFrom next year, school textbooks will undergo significant revisions, with the name of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina to be included as a “mass murderer”, according to Advisor Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain. The new editions have featured the July–August uprising in chapters on Bangladesh’s mass movements. The same chapters also mention both Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s and Ziaur Rahman’s declarations of independence in the context of the Liberation War. The updated textbooks also feature “Shahider Birattogatha”, a narrative written in memory of those killed during the student-led movement that brought down the Awami League’s 15 and a half years rule. Content removed from the new editions includes quotes and photographs of Hasina, who fled the country amid public anger during the Uprising.
Fakhrul warns of ‘conspiracy’ to wipe out memory of 1971 Liberation WarSenior BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has alleged that a “conspiracy is under way to erase the memory of 1971”, urging Bangladeshis to unite in defending the legacy of the Liberation War. In a Janmashthami programme on Thursday, Fakhrul said the Liberation War gave the people of Bangladesh an “independent identity”. “I want to repeatedly remember the martyrs of 1971… Because of it, I exist today. Our party founder, the martyred president Ziaur Rahman.”Turning to extremism, Fakhrul said: “A new conspiracy is surfacing, that extremism is rising in Bangladesh. If it rises, the soul of our nation will not survive.”He urged political unity saying, “No one should practise divisive politics anymore.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky but all issues must be worked through first and there's a question about Zelensky's authority to sign a peace deal, Putin's foreign minister said on Thursday. Asked by reporters if Putin was willing to meet Zelensky, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "Our president has repeatedly said that he is ready to meet, including with Mr. Zelensky". Kyiv says Zelensky remains the legitimate president. Zelensky said this week Kyiv would like a "strong reaction" from Washington if Putin were not willing to sit down for a bilateral meeting with him. Lavrov said it was clear that neither Ukraine nor European leaders wanted peace.
