Morning Digest: Tarique Rahman to be sworn in as Bangladesh PM today; AI Summit draws massive turnout on day one, and more

New Bangladesh government to take oath today; full Cabinet and Ministers’ portfolios in Manipur will be decided soon, says dept. CM, and more in Morning Digest on February 17, 2026.

The new members of the Parliament of Bangladesh will be sworn in at 10 a.m. Tuesday (February 17, 2026), the Election Commission of Bangladesh announced that a “Constitution Reform Commission” will also administer the oath. This event will be followed by the formation of the government in the afternoon, when the Cabinet led by BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman will be sworn in.

On February 4, President’s Rule was revoked in Manipur and a new Chief Minister, Yumnam Khemchand Singh, was sworn in, along with two deputies — Losii Dikho, a Naga, and Nemcha Kipgen, a Kuki-Zo. Mr. Dikho, from the Naga People’s Front, an alliance partner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mr. Dikho said the full Cabinet and Ministers’ portfolio will be decided soon.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday (February 15, 2026) felicitated awardees at the Bhavya Bharat Bhushan Awards during Mahashivratri celebrations in Coimbatore. The awards were instituted by Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation. But the presence of defence personnel in uniform at a private event sparked controversy, with several retired officers objecting to it. Major General B.S. Dhanoa (retd.) said military officers can attend private functions “except that they should not be doing so in uniform.”

The adjudicating authority under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) has passed an order imposing a penalty of ₹184 crore in the case of PPK Newsclick Studio Private Limited, the Enforcement Directorate said on Monday (February 16, 2026). The company owns NewsClick, a digital news platform, which was founded by its editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha.

Elon Musk-owned X experienced a sudden outage on Monday (February 16, 2026), with users across India and other countries reporting difficulties accessing the social media platform, according to Downdetector.com. Users attempting to use the platform encountered issues logging in, refreshing their feeds, and posting updates, as complaints surged on the tracking website.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Geneva for a second round of nuclear talks with the U.S. and technical discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) amid heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf, as Washington has sent a second aircraft carrier to the region, threatening to use force against the Islamic Republic if diplomacy fails.