Jordan Intercepts Iranian Missiles Following Joint U.S. and Saudi Strikes in Iraq
Jordanian air defenses shot down five Iranian ballistic missiles following joint U.S. and Saudi air operations against militia positions in Iraq. The renewed clashes disrupt a short-lived pause in hostilities, putting global energy transit through the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea at further risk.
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LIVEBGMEA, BKMEA seek uninterrupted CNG supply for garment factories
Reading Dhaka's waterlogging through the life of commodities
Unlocking the full potential of Bangladesh's national laboratory institute
BMD forecasts five days of rain, heavy downpours
National & Politics
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Chattogram port’s empty-container problem needs more than quick fixes
A recent dispute over empty containers at Chattogram port has brought to renewed focus a deeper problem in Bangladesh’s trade logistics system: when legitimate interests collide, there is no neutral, technically competent authority to resolve the situation.
I spent two years learning AI, then another year unlearning it
I spent two years learning about artificial intelligence-based tools. I read the papers, tested out the models, attended the workshops, built prompts, compared outputs, and watched each new release with the excitement of someone witnessing the future unfold in real time. Like many people working close to technology, I believed AI would become the defining aspect for our generation.
Tottenham vs Sydney FC: How to Watch, Kick-off Time, and Streaming Details
Tottenham Hotspur wrap up their pre-season trip in Australia with a clash against A-League side Sydney FC. Here’s everything you need to know about where to stream the action, kick-off times, and key team updates ahead of the game.
Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury and the idea of Bangladesh
This 22nd of July marked the birth centenary of my father, Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury. I harbour no illusions that he would have lived this long in the normal course of events, however. The men on my father’s side of the family tend to be notoriously short-lived; his father died when he was nine, both his brothers passed away in their fifties, and even my only brother, his older son, left us when he was 47. But my father did not die a natural death. He was abducted on 14 December 1971, just two days before his country’s victory in one of the bloodiest liberation wars of the twentieth century, and tortured, bayoneted and shot to death in the early hours of 15 December, along with many other pre-eminent intellectuals of the land.
Capital markets gain momentum following the central bank's updated monetary policy guidelines and targeted export incentives.
Business & Economy
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Gazi Nazrul’s case raises bigger questions for parliament
6 days ago
Iran says no current negotiations with US
6 days ago
I spent two years learning AI, then another year unlearning it
6 days ago
Gas crisis strikes paracetamol API, other industries
4 days ago
Lifestyle & Perspective
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6 days ago
Bengal's forgotten slave trade: Portuguese, Arakanese and Dutch trafficking networks
We tend to equate economic growth with social and political vitality in conventional history-writing, but this was not the case in southeast Bengal. Environmental pressures led to a social crisis in the seventeenth century, manifested through slave raids by a Portuguese-Arakanese combine (Magh). Subsequent slave trading by Arakan and Portugal, and later by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), unveiled the paradox of social breakdown during a period of economic growth, as the active delta generated new rice-producing lands.
6 days ago
Will there be no end to this farce?
It is deeply concerning that illegal sand extraction continues unabated inside the Ramgarh-Sitakunda Reserve Forest despite repeated enforcement drives by the Forest Department. According to a report by this daily, authorities conducted at least 21 raids between June 2025 and May 2026, seizing excavators, dredgers, trucks, and more than 1,07,000 cubic feet of illegally extracted sand, while arresting six people. Unfortunately, these drives have failed to stop the illegal trade, as the miners return to the same areas soon after the raids. This shows that the authorities’ approach has failed to make any lasting impact.
6 days ago
We need stronger digital systems to seize the China-plus-one opportunity
Between April and June last year alone, Bangladesh received more than $53 million in fresh Chinese investment, nearly $30 million of it flowing straight into textiles. More than twenty apparel factories here now carry Chinese capital, some brand new, others leased from local owners squeezed for capacity. This is not an act of charity, but a calculation. Faced with tariff pressures in their largest markets, Chinese manufacturers are doing what manufacturers have historically done when the math no longer adds up: relocating their production bases. The question is whether Bangladesh is actually built to catch the shift.
Education & Career
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6 days ago
The narcotics trail: Traffickers tap 105 border points across 18 districts
Bangladesh faces a growing drug crisis, with an estimated 8.2 million users. As the country does not produce narcotics, most are smuggled in from abroad. In a four-part series, The Daily Star explores the trafficking routes, the threats and the impacts of drug abuse. The first instalment looks at the key entry points.
6 days ago
We need stronger digital systems to seize the China-plus-one opportunity
Between April and June last year alone, Bangladesh received more than $53 million in fresh Chinese investment, nearly $30 million of it flowing straight into textiles. More than twenty apparel factories here now carry Chinese capital, some brand new, others leased from local owners squeezed for capacity. This is not an act of charity, but a calculation. Faced with tariff pressures in their largest markets, Chinese manufacturers are doing what manufacturers have historically done when the math no longer adds up: relocating their production bases. The question is whether Bangladesh is actually built to catch the shift.
6 days ago
Why are we still struggling to make health insurance work?
Bangladesh has committed itself to achieving universal health coverage (UHC), ensuring that everyone can access necessary health services without suffering financial hardship. Yet, out-of-pocket payments continue to finance most healthcare, forcing families to borrow money, sell assets, or forego treatment altogether. Recognising this challenge, the government’s Health Care Financing Strategy identified health insurance as a key instrument to reduce out-of-pocket spending and accelerate progress towards UHC. More than a decade later, however, the country remains at the pilot stage.
4 days ago
When the river takes everything, even a girl's childhood
I remember the first time I truly understood what displacement meant in the chars of northern Bangladesh. It was 2010, and I was travelling through the river islands of Gaibandha and Kurigram for a National Geographic assignment on migration. I had come with notebooks and questions, assumptions about poverty, and early marriage. The chars dismantled all of them.
Tech & Innovation
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4 days ago
How violence against women is normalised in Bangladesh's chars
On the shifting sandbanks of Bangladesh’s Jamuna River, life is lived on the edge—geographically, economically, and socially. These river islands, known as chars, appear and disappear with the rhythm of the monsoon. Entire communities are built, eroded, and rebuilt again, often many times within a single lifetime. For those who live here, instability is not an exception but a condition of existence. Yet beneath the visible cycles of flood and displacement lies another, less visible crisis—one that is deeply embedded in everyday life and rarely addressed: violence against women.
Who writes the history of the July Uprising?
Reports of Tk 120cr VAT evasion by Transcom unsubstantiated
BB issues guidelines to link local banks with foreign payment providers
Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury and the idea of Bangladesh
Salinity’s silent intrusion
Culture & Entertainment
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When the river takes everything, even a girl's childhood
We need stronger digital systems to seize the China-plus-one opportunity
Reading Dhaka's waterlogging through the life of commodities
Iran says no current negotiations with US
Health & Wellbeing
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A trillion-dollar ambition needs a stronger investment climate
The other day, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman reaffirmed his government’s commitment to transforming Bangladesh into a $1 trillion economy by 2034. While the ambition is welcome, there is a policy puzzle that needs to be encountered: how will the economy double in size when domestic private investment has weakened, foreign direct investment remains modest, and many existing businesses are reluctant to expand? Private investment fell to 22.03 percent of GDP in FY2024-25, its lowest level in 11 years. Net FDI recovered to $1.77 billion in 2025, but this was less than 0.4 percent of an economy estimated at around $510 billion. Even the recovery deserves to be viewed with caution, since it was driven mainly by reinvested earnings and intra-company loans, while new equity investment increased only marginally.
BB issues guidelines to link local banks with foreign payment providers
Bangladesh Bank has introduced a bank-intermediated framework to link local banks with foreign payment providers, modernising the payment ecosystem, boosting digital financial inclusion, and supporting the growing trade in services.
SSC, equivalent results to be published on August 10
The results of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations 2026 will be published simultaneously across Bangladesh on August 10, the Bangladesh Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee announced today.