Category: 2. World

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed into a school in Dhaka, the capital, shortly after takeoff on Monday afternoon, catching fire and killing the pilot and at least 19 other people, most of whom were students, officials said.

Another 171 students were rescued with injuries from a smoldering two-story building, officials said, including many with burns who were whisked away in helicopters, motorized rickshaws and the arms of firefighters and parents.

The Chinese-made F-7 BGI training aircraft experienced a “technical malfunction” moments after takeoff at 1:06 p.m. local time, and the pilot attempted to divert the plane to a less populated area before crashing into the campus of Milestone School and College, according to a statement from the military.

Students said the school’s buildings trembled violently, followed by a big explosion that sent them running for safety. A desperate scene soon unfolded at the crash site, as panicked relatives searched for loved ones. Screams filled the air at a nearby hospital.

The Milestone school is in Dhaka’s Uttara neighborhood, which is roughly 11 kilometers (7 miles) drive from the A.K. Khandaker air force base. The school is in a densely populated area near a metro station and numerous shops and homes.

The pilot, Flight Lt. Mohammed Toukir Islam, made “every effort to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas toward a more sparsely inhabited location,” the military said, adding that it would investigate the cause of the accident.

It is the deadliest plane crash in the Bangladeshi capital in recent memory. In 2008, another F-7 training jet crashed outside Dhaka, killing its pilot, who had ejected after he discovered a technical problem.

The government announced a national day of mourning on Tuesday, with flags to fly at half-staff across the country.

At the crash site Monday afternoon, a father sprinted with his daughter cradled in his arms. A mother cried out, having found her younger child, but desperately searched for her older one.

Another father described his feeling of helplessness while waiting to learn the fate of his daughter.

“The plane crashed on the building where my daughter was. My wife called me, but I was praying so I could not pick up,” Jewel, who goes by one name, said at the scene. “When I came here I saw there was a huge fire. There was a dead body of a child.”

Luckily, his daughter was safe, he said, but he saw many other children suffering from burns.

Students also scrambled to see what had happened. “We fought with the crowd and the soldiers to get close to the crash site in our school,” said Estiak Elahi Khan, who is in the 11th grade. “What I saw I can’t describe that … that’s terrible.”

Doctors at Uttara Adhunik Hospital said more than 60 students, many between the ages of 12 and 16, were transferred to a special hospital for burn victims.

By Monday evening, rescuers continued to scour the debris, searching for bodies. A crane was being used to remove debris.

Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, also pledged an investigation, and he expressed his deep sorrow over the “heartbreaking accident.” He called it “a moment of deep national grief.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed shock and sadness. “Our hearts go out to the bereaved families,” Modi said in a post on X. “India stands in solidarity with Bangladesh and is ready to extend all possible support and assistance.”

Rafiqa Taha, a student who was not present at the time of the crash, said by phone that the school, with some 2,000 students, offers classes from elementary grades through high school.

“I was terrified watching videos on TV,” the 16-year-old said. “My God! It’s my school.”

The UN food agency accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid, in what the territory’s Health Ministry said was one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in over 21 months of war.

The World Food Programme in a statement on Sunday (July 20, 2025) condemned the violence that erupted in northern Gaza as Palestinians tried to reach a convoy of trucks carrying food. The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 80 people were killed in the incident.

The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots “to remove an immediate threat,” but has questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians.

The accusation by a major aid agency that has had generally good working relations with Israel builds on descriptions by witnesses and others, who also said Israel opened fire on the crowd.

The bloodshed surrounding aid access highlights the increasingly precarious situation for people in Gaza who have been desperately seeking out food and other assistance, as the war that has roiled the region shows no signs of ending.

Israel and Hamas are still engaged in ceasefire talks, but there appears to be no breakthrough and it’s not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt.

As the talks proceed, the death toll in the war-ravaged territory has climbed to more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Its count doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

Israel has meanwhile widened its evacuation orders for the territory to include an area that has been somewhat less hard-hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier stretches of Gaza.

WFP condemns violence at food distribution points

In northern Gaza on Sunday, the Health Ministry, witnesses and a UN official said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to get food from a 25-truck convoy that had entered the hard-hit area.

The WFP statement, which said the crowd surrounding its convoy “came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,” backs up those claims. The statement did not specify a death toll, saying only the incident resulted in the loss of “countless lives”.

After Sunday’s incident, a photographer cooperating with The Associated Press counted 31 bodies at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and 20 others in the courtyard of Sheikh Radwan clinic.

“These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,” it said, adding that the incident occurred despite assurances from Israeli authorities that aid delivery would improve. Part of those assurances, it said, was that armed forces would not be present nor engage along aid routes.

“Shootings near humanitarian missions, convoys and food distributions must stop immediately.”

The Israeli military declined to comment on the WFP claims. Military spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani posted on X Sunday that soldiers were told “do not engage, do not shoot,” and shared a video of troops near a crowd of Palestinians gathering around a truck as one soldier yells repeatedly, “Do not shoot!” The Associated Press could not immediately verify the video and it was not clear where it was filmed.

Israel has not allowed international media to enter Gaza throughout the war, and the competing claims could not be independently verified.

Sunday’s incident comes as Palestinian access to aid in the territory has been greatly diminished, and seeking that aid has become perilous.

A U.S. and Israeli-backed aid system that has wrested some aid delivery from traditional providers like the UN has been wracked by violence and chaos as Palestinians heading toward its aid distribution sides have come under fire. The group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has said that the majority of the reported violence has not occurred at its sites.

Violence rages on in Gaza

Gaza health officials said on Monday at least 13 people, including two women and five children, were killed in Israeli strikes since the previous night.

At least two people were killed Monday morning when crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks were shot at in the area of Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, according to Dr Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa Hospital where the dead were taken. He said Israeli forces had opened fire.

An Israeli strike overnight hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, killing at least five people, according to the Health Ministry. The dead include two parents, two of their children and a relative, it said.

Other strikes hit tents in the Muwasi area and a residential building in Gaza City, according to health officials.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates from populated areas.

Gaza’s Health Ministry meanwhile said Israeli forces detained Dr Marwan al-Hams, acting director of the strip’s field hospitals and the ministry’s spokesman. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Hamas triggered the war when militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty remain in Gaza, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.

Israel again struck rebels in Yemen

The fighting in Gaza has triggered conflicts elsewhere in region, including between Israel and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have fired missiles and drones at Israel in what they say is in solidarity with Palestinians.

The Israeli military said it struck the Hodeidah port in Yemen on Monday morning, saying that the Houthis were rebuilding the port infrastructure. Israel said the Houthis used the port to receive weapons from Iran and launch missiles towards Israel.

The Israeli military said it targeted the parts of the port used by the Houthis and accused the Houthis of using civilian infrastructure for militant purposes.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that the targets included areas of the port that Israel had destroyed in previous strikes. “The Houthis will pay heavy prices for launching missiles towards the state of Israel,” Mr. Katz said. Israel last struck Hodeidah port two weeks ago.

Published – July 21, 2025 07:01 pm IST

Published on 21/07/2025 – 14:21 GMT+2
•Updated
16:21

A trilateral meeting will take place on Tuesday between Iran, China and Russia to discuss Tehran’s nuclear programme and the risk of sanctions being reimposed, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Monday.

The meeting comes ahead of renewed nuclear talks with France, Germany and the UK —known as the E3 nations — scheduled for this Friday in Istanbul.

The three European powers, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 nuclear deal that lifted sanctions on Iran in return for restrictions on its nuclear programme.

The deal began to unravel in 2018, when the US under President Donald Trump pulled out of it and began reimposing certain sanctions.

Since then, Iran has gradually increased its nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment up to 60%, a step away from weapon-grade nuclear materials, or 90% enrichment of uranium.

European countries have threatened to trigger the 2015 deal’s “snapback” mechanism, which would allow sanctions to be reimposed in the case of non-compliance by Tehran.

France, Germany and the UK have warned that they would do so if there is no progress on nuclear talks by the end of August.

Baghaei said Iran is “continuously coordinating” with Beijing and Moscw on how to prevent the snapback mechanism or “to mitigate its consequences”.

‘No plan’ for renewed talks with Washington

On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, stated in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the three European nations lack “any legal, political and moral standing” to invoke such mechanisms, and accused France, Germany and the UK of failing to uphold their commitments under the deal.

“The European parties have been at fault and negligent in implementing” the nuclear agreement, Baghaei added.

He also noted that “we have no plan for talks with America, under the current situation.”

Friday’s talks will be the first since a ceasefire following a 12-day conflict waged by Israel against Iran in June, which also saw the US strike three major nuclear facilities in Iran.

Nearly 1,100 people were killed in Iran, including dozens of military commanders and nuclear scientists. A total of 28 civilians were killed in Israel.

Iran has long said its nuclear activities have aimed at peaceful purposes.

“The agenda is clear: removal of the sanctions and issues related to Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme,” Baghaei said in his briefing on Monday.

Tehran has been one of Russia’s key allies in its all-out war against Ukraine, providing the Kremlin with its domestically produced Shahed suicide drones.

Additional sources • AP

At least 20 people were killed and nearly 200 injured – many of them children – when a Bangladeshi fighter jet on a routine training exercise crashed into a school in Dhaka in the country’s worst aviation disaster in decades.

The jet, a Chinese-made F-7BGI, hit the private Milestone school in the capital as students were ending or had left afternoon classes, witnesses said. It reportedly struck a five-storey academic building before crashing on to a two-storey structure on the campus, triggering a massive explosion and fire.

Videos of the aftermath of the crash showed a big fire near a lawn, emitting a thick plume of smoke into the sky, as crowds watched from a distance. The Bangladeshi air force said the jet had experienced a mechanical failure.

Ahmed, a secondary-age student at Milestone, which takes pupils from kindergarten to senior secondary, told the Guardian: “I was eating at the school canteen when I suddenly heard a deafening noise. I saw the plane hit the building and then fall on to a smaller structure. It caught fire instantly. People were screaming and running. Flames engulfed many of the younger students.”

“Never in my life have I seen death so closely … The fire, the smoke, the panic – these sounds are now etched into my memory. In an instant, our school became a place of death.”

Mizanur Rahman, a teacher, said he believed the pilot had attempted to steer the plane away from crowded areas: “Our campus is large and lively, with open spaces. I was standing close to the crash site. Judging by the trajectory, it looked like the pilot was trying to reach the field behind the buildings – but probably didn’t make it. He even seemed to aim for one of the smaller structures when he was unsuccessful steering towards the field.”

Rahman said many younger pupils were playing outside classrooms as the school day neared its end. “After the plane hit, there was a massive blast and an inferno swept through the surrounding area, engulfing the children. Some of our teachers and staff are still missing.”

Images from the scene also showed people screaming and crying as others tried to comfort them.

Bangladesh’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), representing the armed forces, said the fighter jet had developed a mechanical failure shortly after takeoff at 1.06 pm and crashed minutes later. The Uttara neighbourhood where the crash occurred is a densely populated part of northern Dhaka, a city of more than 20 million people.

ISPR said a high-level investigation committee had been formed by the Bangladesh air force to determine the exact cause. Officials have confirmed that the pilot, Flt Lt Md Towkir Islam, is among the dead.

Over the past two decades, Bangladesh has suffered multiple plane crashes involving military and civilian training flights, with at least 15 fatalities – though none approached the scale of Monday’s disaster. Most previous incidents involved only military flight crew.

The deadliest happened in 1984 when a plane flying from Chattogram to Dhaka crashed, killing all 49 on board.

The interim government of Muhammad Yunus announced a day of national mourning on Tuesday.

Yunus expressed “deep grief and sorrow” over the incident in a post on X.

“The loss suffered by the Air Force, the students, parents, teachers, and staff of Milestone School and College, as well as others affected by this accident, is irreparable,” he said.

“This is a moment of profound pain for the nation.”

The government has declared a day of mourning on Tuesday, where the national flag will be flown at half mast across all government and educational establishments and at Bangladeshi missions abroad. Special prayers will be held at places of worship across the country.

The incident comes a little over a month after an Air India plane crashed on top of a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people onboard and 19 on the ground, making it the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.

Meta is hosting ads on Facebook, Instagram and Threads from pro-Israel entities that are raising money for military equipment including drones and tactical gear for Israeli Defense Force battalions, seemingly a violation of the company’s stated advertising policies, new research shows.

“We are the sniper team of Unit Shaked, stationed in Gaza, and we urgently need shooting tripods to complete our mission in Jabalia,” one ad on Facebook read, first published on 11 June and still active on 17 July.

These paid ads were first discovered and flagged to Meta by global consumer watchdog, Ekō, which identified at least 117 ads published since March 2025 that explicitly sought donations for military equipment for the IDF. It is the second time the organization has reported ads by the same publishers to Meta. In a previous investigation from December 2024, Ekō flagged 98 ads to Meta, prompting the tech giant to take many of them down. However, the company has largely allowed the publishers to start new campaigns with identical ads since then. The IDF itself is not running the fundraising calls.

“This shows that Meta will literally take money from anybody,” said Ekō campaigner Maen Hammad. “So little of the checks and balances the platform ought to be doing actually takes place and if it does, they’ll do it after the fact.”

Meta said it reviewed and removed the ads for violating company policy after the Guardian and Ekō reached out for comment, according to Ryan Daniels, a spokesperson for the social media firm. Any ads about social issues, elections or politics are required to go through an authorization process and include a disclaimer that discloses who is paying for the ad, the company said. These ads did not.

These ads garnered at least 76,000 impressions – a term that indicates the number of times an ad is shown to a user – in the EU and UK alone, according to Ekō. The group was unable to determine the number of impressions in the US.

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At least 97 ads within the more recent crop, including many that remain active, are seeking donations to fund specific models of civilian drones. A new investigation from +972 magazine reveals these types of drones have allegedly been used by Israeli combat units to drop grenades on Palestinians, many who were unarmed. These quadcopters are primarily used for photography and can be purchased on Amazon, but IDF units are retrofitting the machines with grenades, primarily because they are orders of magnitude cheaper than military-grade drones, according to several IDF soldiers who spoke to +972 anonymously.

“Most of our drones are broken and falling apart—and we don’t have any replacements,” another ad reads. “Donate now—every second counts, every drone saves lives.”

While it’s unclear if these combat units used funds received from these particular ads to purchase drones, soldiers told +972 they did receive cheap drones, manufactured by a Chinese firm called Autel, through donations and fundraisers as well as Facebook groups.

Fundraising ads from one of the publishers Ekō identified, Vaad Hatzedaka, links to a donation page that lists the variety of equipment the organization is fundraising for, including two Autel drones. Vaad Hatzedaka, a non-profit, has raised more than $250,000 of its $300,000 goal to provide these drones and other aid to various IDF units, according to the donation page. The second publisher, Mayer Malik, a singer-songwriter based in Israel, has published ads linking to a landing page that includes sponsorship opportunities for various pieces of tactical equipment, among them an Autel thermal drone. Malik has raised more than $2.2m in total donations for the IDF.

Meta’s ad policy prohibits most attempts to donate, gift, buy, sell or transfer “firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, explosives, or lethal enhancements” with some exceptions. While Meta has taken down this recent crop of ads as well as some of the ads fundraising for military equipment Ekō previously flagged, the company did so because the content lacked a disclaimer required for ads around social issues, elections or politics, according to disclosures included in the Meta ad library.

The ads may also violate certain terms of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), according to Ekō. Under the DSA, platforms like Meta are required to take down content that violate national or EU law. In France and the UK, laws limit whether and how charities can fundraise for foreign militaries. In the UK, for instance, in January 2025, the Charity Commission issued an official warning to a London charity that was raising funds for an IDF soldier and said it was “not lawful, or acceptable”.