Loudspeakers blaring hygiene messages, foreign ambassadors locked in their compounds and state media demanding “absolute obedience” to health authorities -- North Korea is taking what diplomats call “unprecedented” measures as it seeks to prevent a crippling coronavirus outbreak.

Four girls, all of whom are cousins, from Mymensingh’s Phulpur upazila have been missing for the last four days as police are continuing drives to rescue them.

The luxury tourist destination of the Maldives has hired prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to represent it at the UN’s highest court in seeking justice for Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslims.

China has sentenced Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai to 10 years in prison on charges of illegally providing intelligence abroad and claimed him as a citizen, prompting Stockholm to call for his release in a case that has rattled diplomatic relations.

Pakistan’s former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was granted bail yesterday after months in detention on graft charges.

A garment worker was allegedly gang-raped at Ashulia in Savar, on the outskirts of the capital, on Sunday night.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday said expelled Jubo Mohila League leader Shamima Nur Papia was arrested as per the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Fresh deaths and a surge in new coronavirus cases in Iran, Japan and South Korea yesterday fuelled fears of a pandemic, as the disease took root in some of the world’s poorest -- and worst-equipped -- countries.

Former President Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for 30 years, died yesterday at the age of 91 after undergoing treatment in intensive care following surgery.

A woman died in police custody early yesterday, hours after she was picked up from the city’s Mohammadpur area.

The High Court yesterday directed the government to declare March 7 as “National Historic Day” since Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered his historic speech on March 7, 1971, inspiring the nation to go for the Liberation War.

Air quality in Bangladesh was the worst in the world last year and Dhaka was the 21st most polluted city, according to 2019 World Air Quality Report.

The resumption of Malaysia hiring Bangladeshi workers has become uncerztain amid recent political development of the Southeast Asian country.

Bangabandhu calls for agricultural revolution to make the country self-sufficient in food production.

The 11th anniversary of the carnage at the BDR headquarters in the capital was observed yesterday.

The United States has urged Yemen’s Huthi rebels to drop charges targeting the Baha’i community, which said that 24 believers of the faith will face a new trial session today.

The Red Cross said yesterday it had obtained an exemption to United Nations sanctions against North Korea to provide testing kits and medical equipment against a possible coronavirus outbreak.

Official calls to arrest a Saudi female rapper who appeared in a music video have sparked an online backlash with many calling the move hypocritical as the kingdom invites Western women to perform.

Haitian police demanding better working conditions shot up the army headquarters on Sunday, killing two servicemen and wounding a dozen more, the Defense Ministry said, prompting the government to cancel an upcoming carnival.

Fears of a global coronavirus pandemic deepened yesterday with a growing number of deaths in Iran and the worsening of other outbreaks across Asia, the Middle East and Europe.