Pope Leo XIV leaves Rome hospital four days after lung cancer surgery

A Bangladeshi journalist who reported on smuggling, drugs and local irregularities was shot dead outside a tea stall in Netrokona's Durgapur upazila on Thursday night, police and his family said.

Lutfozzaman Fakir Alif, 44, was the Netrokona correspondent of the private IP television channel Ruposhi Bangla and ran a Facebook page called 'Detective Article', where he wrote about corruption and crime.

Police suspect the killing was planned and may have been linked to his reporting on trafficking and smuggling. According to Dhaka Tribune, two young men walked up to the stall and opened fire on Alif before fleeing; police recovered pistol cartridge casings and an unexploded bullet from the scene.

A post-mortem examination at Netrokona Modern Sadar Hospital found six bullet wounds, three of them to the chest. A doctor who conducted the examination said most of the shots were fired at close range. A murder case was filed at Durgapur police station against seven to eight unidentified people, and no arrests had been reported.

Alif had warned that his life was in danger. In a video of a meeting with police that resurfaced after his death, he said that people threatening him had been waiting with firearms, that he had told police about the threats, and that he might have to leave the country if no one was arrested. In November 2024 he survived an attack with sharp weapons near Teribazar ghat and filed a case; police arrested two named suspects who were later released on bail.

Netrokona Superintendent of Police Md Tarikul Islam said teams from the police, the Detective Branch and the Criminal Investigation Department were working to identify the attackers, and that no one involved would be spared. Police said they had advised Alif to tell them whenever he visited the area so that security could be arranged.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said on Saturday that his presidential term will end in 2030 and that he will not seek to stay in office beyond it, describing the question of his departure as 'completely settled'.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the first cohort of the Egyptian Military Academy in the New Administrative Capital, el-Sisi also said the constitution 'would not be touched', ruling out an amendment of the kind that could extend his rule.

'The period leading up to 2030 will be the end of my term as president of the state, if I am still alive,' he said, according to Al Jazeera. 'There will be no discussion about it.'

El-Sisi, 71, a former army general, has led Egypt since 2013, when the military he headed removed Mohamed Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president. He won the presidency in 2014 and was re-elected in December 2023. Constitutional changes approved in a 2019 referendum extended presidential terms to six years from four and allowed him to seek a third term, which put the end of his current term at 2030. His latest pledge echoes earlier commitments to term limits that were later changed.

To prepare a future leadership, he outlined a programme in which the Military Academy would train potential leaders for up to 30 months, aimed at doctorate holders aged between 40 and 50. A committee overseen by the speaker of parliament, and including political figures and the higher education and justice ministers, would set the selection criteria and draft the legislation, he said. He said the armed forces would cover the cost.

He rejected suggestions that the plan was meant to prepare a relative to take over. 'No one should engage in political one-upmanship and say that I am preparing someone from my relatives or family,' he said.

In the same speech, el-Sisi said Egypt would take 'any measure' to defend Saudi Arabia if the kingdom requested help, and he called for an emergency session of parliament to authorise such action. His remarks came as Yemen's Houthi movement has stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities. Egypt says the security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf is part of its own national security.