Iran’s health ministry announced yesterday that 11 more people had died from the new coronavirus in the past day, bringing the Islamic republic’s overall death toll to 77.

Abdul Karim’s eyes sparkle with joy when he stares at his salt flats shining white under the sun. But his joy soon begins to fade when he thinks of selling the fruit of his labour.

Veteran US television anchor Chris Matthews announced his retirement live on air and apologized for his conduct after sexual harassment claims and a public backlash sparked by his election coverage.

China yesterday threatened to retaliate against US “bullying” after Washington imposed staff cuts on Chinese state media, two weeks after expelling three Wall Street Journal reporters.

Cuban scientists are helping investigate whether pesticides caused mysterious health complaints from US and Canadian diplomats in Havana that were originally blamed on sonic attacks, a conference heard.

US authorities on Monday sanctioned two Chinese citizens and accused them of of laundering more than $100 million in cryptocurrency stolen in a 2018 cyberattack linked to North Korea.

The European Commission yesterday announced releasing €31 million in humanitarian aid to address the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Indonesia’s most active volcano Mount Merapi erupted yesterday, shooting a massive ash cloud some 6,000 metres (20,000 feet) in the air which coated nearby communities with grey dust and forced an airport closure.

Nigeria is monitoring 58 people who had contact with an Italian man infected with the new coronavirus, the health minister said yesterday, as officials scrambled to stop the disease spreading.

UN investigators yesterday warned that Ankara might bear “criminal responsibility” for war crimes perpetrated against Kurds in northern Syria late last year, including the execution of a popular female politician.

China is threatening to strip journalists of their visas as a weapon to intimidate foreign media “like never before”, a press group said yesterday, following the expulsion of three reporters last month.

A Chhatra League leader, who was injured in a clash in Koyra upazila on Sunday, died yesterday morning while another BCL leader injured in an attacked allegedly carried out by Shibir men died of his injuries yesterday afternoon.

Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay US presidential candidate, on Sunday ended his campaign to be the Democratic nominee -- giving a major boost to fellow centrist Joe Biden.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked her cabinet colleagues to build houses for homeless people instead of setting up Bangabandhu’s mural indiscriminately to mark the “Mujib Borsho”.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman meets the Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny at Kremlin today. The two leaders discuss strengthening and developing friendship and cooperation between their two countries as well as certain international problems.

Moscow has participated in war crimes connected with deadly air strikes in Syria, UN investigators said yesterday, warning that Ankara could also be responsible for similar crimes against Kurds there.

Author and activist Arundhati Roy has said the Modi government is acting as though the constitution does not exist and they are doing everything to completely dismantle democracy.

The Chattogram Development Authority has continued cutting hills in Sitakunda’s Jongol Salimpur area despite being fined Tk 10 crore for unregulated hill cutting just over a month ago by the Department of Environment, which also barred the CDA from harming the environment further.

The Improvised Explosives Device that went off at a traffic police box in Chattogram’s Sholoshahar on Friday was detonated by remote control.

Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Gono Bhaban yesterday.