Bernie Sanders leads a tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination in Iowa for the first time, according to a key poll released yesterday weeks before the state kicks off the 2020 voting on February 3.

The birthplace of Germany’s national anthem and a practice bombing range for British airmen after World War II, Helgoland island in the North Sea turns cuddly at the turn of the year as grey seals arrive to give birth.

Crisis-hit Lebanon yesterday said it “regrets” being among seven countries stripped by the United Nations of voting privileges in the General Assembly for failing to pay their dues.

The proposed opening of three Turkish schools in Germany has rekindled a long-standing row over the perceived influence of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government on the country’s three-million strong Turkish community.

Washington on Friday spurned an Iraqi request to prepare to pull out its troops, amid heightened US-Iranian tensions after the US killing of an Iranian commander in Baghdad, and said it was exploring a possible expansion of Nato’s presence there.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam has cancelled his visit to India as he will travel to the UAE with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today.

The first phase of Biswa Ijtema, the world’s second largest Muslim congregation after Hajj, will end today through the Akheri Munajat [final prayer].

Israel has announced the release of two prisoners -- one of whom was convicted of spying for Syria -- as part of a swap deal brokered by Russia.

India’s Supreme Court said yesterday that an indefinite shutdown of the internet in Kashmir was illegal, rebuking the government for the communications lockdown imposed after it withdrew the Muslim majority region’s autonomy in August.

Australia urged nearly a quarter of a million people to evacuate their homes yesterday and prepared military backup as authorities said the next few hours could be “very, very challenging” even as rain poured down in some parts.

A 19-day election campaign for the two Dhaka city corporations polls officially began yesterday with the ruling party candidates pledging to continue the ongoing development work in the capital.

The first phase of Bishwa Ijtema, the largest Islamic congregation after Hajj, started yesterday on the bank of the Turag river in Tongi.

A youth pins him to the ground and starts beating him with a stick. The victim cries in pain, repeatedly begs for mercy, but the youth does not stop.

At least 14 people were killed and 20 others wounded in a bomb blast during evening prayers at a mosque in Quetta’s Satellite Town area yesterday, police and a doctor said.

The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which gives citizenship to non-Muslims who came to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan until 2014, went into force yesterday, the Indian home ministry said.

An air strike in eastern Syria killed eight fighters of Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force overnight, a war monitor said yesterday.

France said yesterday that the imprisonment of two prominent French academics by Iran was unacceptable and that their release would represent a “significant gesture”, as tensions mount between Tehran and the West.

The Israeli defence ministry has hailed a “breakthrough” in the development of cheaper laser-based air defences, as tensions soar in the region after Iran hit US targets in retaliation for a high-profile assassination.

A court in Italy has sentenced a former far-right extremist to life in prison for his part in a bombing at a railway station 40 years ago that killed 85 people.

The United States has approved the sale of up to 12 F-35 fighter jets -- one of the most advanced warplanes ever built -- to Singapore for around $2.75 billion, officials said yesterday.