Dhaka, Aug 23: Bangladesh is open to joining the recently formed defence alliance between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye, two junior ministers have said, while stressing that any decision would be guided by the country’s national interests.

Signed in Makkah on August 7, the pact establishes a framework for collective deterrence and stipulates that an armed attack on any one of the three countries would be considered an attack on all three.

“Bangladesh maintains a positive approach towards the possibility of joining an economic or defence framework involving Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye, taking into account its own interests and the changing dynamics of the global economy and trade,” newly appointed state minister for foreign affairs Humayun Kobir said.

In an interview with the Bangla service of state-run BSS on Friday, Kobir said the government was pursuing a “Bangladesh First” policy and a balanced foreign policy with national interests at its core, which might lead Dhaka to join the defence pact.

He said Bangladesh would also strengthen bilateral ties with Pakistan through normal diplomatic engagement, focusing on trade and people-to-people connectivity.

Kobir, appointed as the second state minister for foreign affairs on Friday, said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is expected to visit Riyadh at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s invitation and the tour schedule is likely to be finalised after the summer.

ᨊAnother state minister for foreign affairs, Shama Obaed Islam, in a separate media interaction on Friday, supplemented Kobir’s comments, saying Bangladesh’s national interest and the interests of its people would determine Dhaka’s stance on joining the pact.

“Whether we join any pact or any multilateral body will be decided primarily on whether Bangladesh’s interests and the interests of the Bangladeshi people are protected,” she said when asked whether Bangladesh would be part of the trilateral framework.

The two junior ministers’ comments came two days after Rahman’s finance and planning adviser Professor Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir said a “Bangladesh First” policy marked a “paradigm shift” in the country’s foreign policy.

He said the policy placed national interest, sovereignty, mutual respect and regional harmony at the centre of Bangladesh’s engagement with the international community by maintaining constructive and mutually beneficial relations with all countries.

“The Bangladesh First policy means putting Bangladesh’s interests first, but Bangladesh for all,” Titumir said.

Beijing, Aug 23: Chinese humanoid robots broke records set by humans, including beating Usain Bolt’s 100-meter sprint world record, on the opening day of the Olympics-like World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing.

More than 2,000 humanoid robots were participating in the event, the organizer said.

The five-day games, now in its second year, are a spectacle demonstrating China’s rapid progress in advanced robotics as the technology race with the U.S. heats up, with 51 events and more than 1,000 competitions taking place including running, table tennis and soccer.

The games, which are taking place in the National Speed Skating Oval built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, opened the same week as Beijing held the 2026 World Robot Conference, where companies showcased around 3,000 products, including humanoid robots.

China makes the majority of the world’s humanoid robots. The U.S. has stepped up scrutiny of robots from the country.

Last month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots. The FCC cited national security reasons in a move that targeted China. The Pentagon recently also added Unitree, one of China’s leading humanoid robot makers, to its list of companies that it deemed have ties with the Chinese military. Beijing has hit back at the accusations.

At Saturday’s opening of the robot games, the organizer and robot makers said that Chinese humanoid robots defeated human world records, as hundreds of humanoid robots marched in formation onto the field in a massive display of synchronized coordination.

At a 100-meter sprint, a humanoid robot achieved a result of 9.39 seconds, beating the human record of 9.58 seconds set by Jamaican athlete Bolt in 2009.

In a standing high jump, a humanoid robot was able to reach 2.88 meters, well above the 0.95 meters best result by a humanoid in last year’s first edition of the games. It surpassed the human high jump record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor in 1993.

Both robots were from Beijing-based X-Humanoid.

Before the opening, a humanoid robot from Chinese smartphone company Honor completed a 100-meter sprint in a record of 9.32 seconds during a trial of the games, the company said, at a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second.

Still, experts say humanoid robots are still mostly used for demonstrations, performances and research — at least for now — and it will still take time to achieve mass real-world deployment.

Some spectators at the robot games said they were excited about the humanoid robots’ quickly improving abilities.

Humanoid robots are “evolving rapidly,” said Li Yanfeng, an education worker and a Beijing resident.

“At first, I wasn’t very accepting of artificial intelligence. I was even a bit resistant to it, because of the possibility that it might replace or displace humans,” she said. “But now that I see this development is unstoppable, I decided to come and take a look.”

“These sports are perfectly normal for humans, but now robots can do them. I find it amazing,” said Yang Shangzheng, another spectator.

Liu Tao, who was watching the games with his son, said that he was hoping to see “the best robots China currently has to offer.”

This year’s robot games — which the organizer said has 16 countries participating, among them Germany, Japan and the U.S. — also include other events such as weightlifting and tug of war.

Dubai, Aug 23: The new leader of Iran’s top security body is threatening neighbours against joining new US efforts to squeeze Tehran’s economy.

Egypt is trying to revive Iran-US negotiations. And Iraq and Iran say Tehran has helped some ships carrying Iraqi oil to transit the Strait of Hormuz. France and Saudi Arabia are expected to discuss plans to bypass the waterway.

Meanwhile, Israel has carried out strikes in Syria and in Gaza.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage can be found here.

Iran’s new top security adviser issues threats

The hard-line new leader of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council threatened Tehran’s neighbours against joining the new US effort to hurt Iran’s economy, and accused the United States of increasing global nuclear insecurity with months of war.

“If (Trump) wants to do something, we will retaliate in a seismic manner,” he said in an interview with the state broadcaster that aired Saturday.

Mohsen Rezaei was named this month as part of senior appointments widely seen as hardening Tehran’s political and military stance. His interview with IRIB is his most extensive public statement since then.

Rezaei said Iran would target oil-shipping routes out of the Persian Gulf — alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz — if neighbours join what he described as the economic war against Iran. Those neighbours would be considered enemies and “we will target their interests,” he said.

US President Donald Trump in the past week has vowed to increase Iran’s pain by imposing an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation. Iran has lived under sanctions for years.

Rezaei said discussions with Oman, located on the other side of the strait, over management of it were ongoing, and said fees would be imposed. Iran asserted control over what was seen as an international waterway shortly after the US and Israel attacked on February 28.

Rezaei also vowed to make changes to Iran’s diplomacy and bring new capabilities to what he called the next war. He warned the US against sending more military personnel to the region, and said the US had increased nuclear insecurity because countries see that participating in international monitoring efforts, as Iran has done, is no protection against attack.

Egypt tries to revive US-Iran negotiations

The top diplomats for Egypt and Iran discussed efforts to bring Tehran and Washington back to the negotiating table to settle the war, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty also discussed the Iranian-Omani talks, the ministry said.

Araghchi briefed Egypt’s foreign minister about “Iran’s view of ongoing developments, the course of negotiations and their challenges,” the ministry said, without elaborating. Araghchi confirmed the call. Separately, Araghchi said he had a call with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir.

Iran and Iraq say some Iraqi oil is facilitated through the strait

The governments of Iraq and Iran said Tehran has helped some ships carrying Iraqi oil to transit the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil, natural gas and other supplies, but there were few details.

“There is facilitation for some ships carrying Iraqi oil in the Strait of Hormuz,” Iraqi President Nizar Amidi said in comments published Saturday by the state-run news agency, adding that Iraq doesn’t have a national carrier for transporting oil.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said a number of Iraqi oil tankers have been permitted to transit. It was not clear how many or what Iran might have received in return.

Syria says an Israeli drone strike inside a village

An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle wounded one person on Saturday in the southwestern Syrian village of Beit Jin, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. Syria’s foreign ministry said several civilians were injured and called the strike a flagrant violation of the country’s sovereignty.

The Israeli military said it targeted a “terrorist who advanced terror attacks in final stages of preparation,” without elaborating. It wasn’t immediately clear if it was the same strike.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria after the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in late 2024, mainly destroying army assets to keep them out of the hands of his successors.

Messages differ on the Golan Heights

In an interview on Friday with Mario Nawfal, a Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur, US Ambassador Tom Barrack said Israel “still” occupies the Golan Heights in violation of UN resolutions.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Saturday in a statement called Barrack’s remarks “full of inaccuracies and positions that contradict Trump’s own position.”

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and annexed it in 1981. The UN considers the territory occupied Syrian land. But in March 2019, Trump signed a proclamation recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, reversing decades of U.S. policy.

French president and Saudi crown prince will meet

French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are expected to discuss plans to develop alternative routes to the Strait of Hormuz during the Saudi leader’s two-day visit to Paris that starts on Sunday, according to officials in the presidency who weren’t authorised to be publicly named.

Proposals include increasing trade through Omani ports outside of the Persian Gulf, expanding or doubling pipelines in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and developing new rail links, the officials said.

France and Saudi Arabia have formed a task force on energy and logistics connections between the Middle East and Europe that is scheduled to meet at the ministerial level Monday. The officials said the work would focus on identifying the most strategic projects, securing financing and establishing roles for French companies.

An Israeli strike in Gaza kills 1 Palestinian

An Israeli strike on the backyard of a house in central Gaza killed one Palestinian and wounded another Saturday, according to health officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Israel’s military said it targeted Sharif al-Hasanat, a Hamas commander who “advanced terror attacks and took part in efforts to restore Hamas’ underground infrastructure.” Days earlier, a US negotiator reportedly asked Israel to draw down attacks while seeking to make progress on the ceasefire.