Here are some important news items, in brief, from around the world for Jago News readers.

After a long wait, silvery Padma hilsa from Bangladesh began entering West Bengal before Durga Puja. On Thursday afternoon (26 September), the first 30 to 35 metric tonnes of hilsa entered India on six trucks through the Petrapole land port in North 24 Parganas district.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said the ice in relations with India has begun to melt. He also assured India that if his party came to power, it would not let Indian separatists use Bangladeshi territory.

US multinational Procter & Gamble (P&G) has cancelled its agreement with Gillette India for distributing products in Bangladesh. Gillette India Limited said the decision takes effect on 31 December. Exactly why the distribution agreement was cancelled is not known.

At least 20 people have been killed and many more injured in clashes between Shia and Sunni communities in Kurram in north-western Pakistan. The dispute began about five days earlier over a piece of land in Kurram district near the Afghan border, and later escalated.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is giving Pakistan another $7 billion loan. On Wednesday (25 September), the IMF executive board approved the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), which is expected to play an important role in reviving the South Asian country's strained economy. The office of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed this.

Amid the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a change to his country's nuclear policy. He said Russia would treat help from a nuclear power to a non-nuclear country as a joint attack. Experts believe the decision paves the way for Russian nuclear strikes.

The United States has announced a further $375 million in military aid for Ukraine to fight Russia. Under it, the US will send a large quantity of arms and military equipment, including ammunition, air defence, anti-tank missiles, cluster munitions and light tactical vehicles.

A statement posted on Benjamin Netanyahu's X account said reports of a ceasefire were not true. Meanwhile, Netanyahu's office said the ceasefire proposal came from the United States and France, and that the prime minister had not yet seen it or replied to it. He has ordered Israeli forces to keep fighting with full force according to the plans given to them.

The United States, the European Union (EU) and several Arab countries have called for a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon. On Wednesday (25 September), these countries issued a joint statement calling for a 21-day "temporary ceasefire" in Lebanon, French news agency AFP reported on Thursday (26 September).

In Saudi Arabia, a retired teacher named Mohammad al-Ghamdi has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for criticising the government on social media. He had earlier been sentenced to death on the same charge, but the court overturned that sentence. Less than two months later, a Saudi court announced the new sentence, according to his brother Saeed al-Ghamdi.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.