BANGLADESH
The President of Bangladesh, Mohammed Shahabuddin, has resigned, whilst former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – his ally – may return to the country. The announced resignation comes just days after Hasina told Reuters that she would return to Bangladesh, where she faces the death penalty for cracking down on student-led protests in 2024. Shahabuddin is reported to have signed his letter of resignation yesterday afternoon. In the letter, he cited health reasons as the grounds for his resignation. The letter was submitted to the Speaker of Parliament, Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, who will act as President until an election is held. A new President must be elected by Parliament within 90 days.
ISRAEL – PALESTINE
Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have stated that they have ordered the army to launch a“large-scale military operation” in Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank. Overnight, Israeli military forces carried out raids on several Palestinian towns and villages across the West Bank, following a deadly firefight yesterday in which two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians were killed south-west of the city of Nablus. Furthermore, Netanyahu is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of eight Arab and Islamic countries have condemned Israel for its “increasingly aggressive actions”, after Minister Ben-Gvir joined thousands of Jewish nationalists in one of the largest showdowns at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, on what was once the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, during the Jewish fast of Tisha B’Av.
CHINA
Two Chinese academics have, for the first time, won the world’s most prestigious prize in the field of mathematics – the Fields Medal. Hong Wang and Yu Deng shared the award with John Pardon (United States) and Jacon Tsimerman (Canada). They received 15,000 Canadian dollars; they were honoured for solving problems that had baffled mathematicians for over a century. Wang, 35, who teaches in the United States and France, is the third woman to receive this honour. The news has caused quite a stir on Chinese social media.
MALAYSIA
Malaysia is aiming for 2028 to produce its first vaccine for human use and reduce its reliance on imports. The first locally produced vaccine for human use in Malaysia will be intended for the treatment of diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis and blood infections, said Chang Lih Kang, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation. The project is being carried out in collaboration with a Chinese company. Currently, the country relies on the United States, Belgium, South Korea, Japan, France, Thailand, India and Indonesia.
SOUTH KOREA
According to a three-year survey conducted by the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice and Hansei University, nearly 4 in 10 adult Korean men have paid for sex at least once in their lives, whilst the age at which minors begin to suffer sexual exploitation has fallen to 14. The survey revealed that 37.7 per cent had paid for sex at least once in their lives. The figure remained virtually unchanged from 37.4 per cent in 2022, but fell by 13 percentage points from 50.7 per cent in 2016.
UKRAINE – RUSSIA
Russia is no longer considering returning any occupied territory to Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal. According to Bloomberg, which cites three sources close to the Russian leadership, the Kremlin is only willing to discuss transforming these territories into ‘buffer zones’. The Russian Ministry of Defence has assured Vladimir Putin that by the end of the year, Russian troops will be able to re-establish full control of the Donetsk region, and only then will the Kremlin agree to resume peace talks.
TAJIKISTAN
In the first six months of 2026, 423 minors under the age of 18 in Tajikistan were granted permission to marry through the courts. During the same period, the courts examined 503 applications to lower the minimum age for marriage: 423 were granted and 49 rejected, as announced by the Vice-President of the Supreme Court in Dushanbe, Abdukakhhor Tagozoda, who stated that the number of such applications had fallen significantly compared with the same period the previous year.
