More than three billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been given across the world, an AFP tally from official sources revealed yesterday, as the highly infectious Delta strain continued to cause mayhem around the world.

Militants are not capable of carrying out any major subversive attack in the country at this moment, Rab Director General Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun has said.

A Bangladeshi youth was shot dead by the members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) in the bordering area of Lalmonirhat’s Patgram upazila.

An alleged outlaw was shot dead by his rivals near his house in Pabna Sadar upazila on Sunday night.

A Dhaka court has ordered a freeze on eight bank accounts of former Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sayeed Khokon and his three family members as part of an investigation into an allegation of amassing illegal wealth.

The High Court yesterday granted six months’ ad-interim bail to a Manik Hawlader, an innocent man who had been serving the jail sentence handed down to actual convict Manik Miah, of Shariatpur’s Bhedarganj upazila, in connection with a drug related case.

A court in Dinajpur yesterday sent a youth to jail for raping a visually impaired woman, while three others were arrested in Gazipur and Noakhali in rape cases.

The people of Bangladesh would not accept any political settlement short of independence, said Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani.

Deaths of rare and endangered species of wildlife under the wheels of vehicles and on train tracks are rampant in Moulvibazar’s Lawachhara forest.

After declining fast for two months, the rate of Covid infections in the United States has leveled off since mid-June thanks to localized spikes in under-vaccinated regions of the country, data showed yesterday.

A mixed schedule of vaccines where a shot of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is given four weeks after an AstraZeneca shot will produce better immune responses than giving another dose of AstraZeneca, an Oxford study said yesterday.

An estimated 30 people died on Sunday when Somalia’s Islamist al Shabaab group launched an attack in a town in the country’s semi-autonomous state of Galmudug, a security official said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday said that 10,000 Islamic State fighters continue to be held in detention in camps run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and that this situation was “untenable”.

Violence in post-coup Myanmar has escalated as anti-junta “self-defence” forces step up to take on the military, a report said yesterday, warning of an “enormous” human cost if the regime uses its full power in subsequent crackdowns.

As life gradually returns to normal in Europe, there has been a resurgence of deadly violence against women as abusers experience a “loss of the control” they enjoyed throughout the coronavirus lockdowns.

Britain’s senior military commanders and the defence secretary are self isolating after the head of the armed forces tested positive for Covid.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven resigned yesterday, one week after he lost a vote of no confidence, leaving it up to the speaker of parliament to begin the search for a replacement.

A Myanmar junta trial of Aung San Suu Kyi will run longer than scheduled, her lawyers said yesterday, with the prosecution still to call nearly two dozen witnesses.

Delayed second and third doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine boost immunity against Covid-19, a study by Oxford University, which developed the jab with the British-Swedish firm, said yesterday.

A five-year-old child was found murdered after being raped in her home in the port city’s Chandgaon area yesterday.