British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday said he would pause efforts to pass his Brexit deal, after MPs gave their preliminary approval for it but rejected his timetable to push it through parliament this week.

The Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has expressed deep concern over the government’s move to appoint administrators for Grameenphone and Robi to realise their dues of Tk 13,446 crore.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked the officials concerned to cancel all contracts with controversial companies and float fresh tenders or award the jobs to sub-contractors.

The Bengal Classical Music Festival (BCMF) has once again been cancelled after organisers were denied permission to use the Army Stadium in Dhaka as the venue.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has asked banks to furnish details of all types of accounts and savings instruments of Awami League lawmaker Nazrul Islam Babu, his wife and his business firms to examine their tax compliance.

The European Union has raised concerns over the human rights situation in Bangladesh, particularly focusing on the reports of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

Teachers and students of Al-Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Muinul Islam Madrasa, popularly known as Hathazari Madrasa, saved a temple from vandalism when a group of people started throwing brick chunks at it on Sunday evening.

French investigators have wrapped up their probe into the jihadist attacks that killed 130 people on a single day in Paris four years ago, prosecutors said yesterday, paving the way for trial.

A man accused of raping an intellectually challenged woman in Netrakona’s Barhatta upazila was sent to jail yesterday.

The High Court yesterday issued a rule asking the government to explain why seeking permission from the authorities concerned before arresting a government employee in criminal cases should not be declared illegal and contradictory to the constitution.

Afghans should not misconstrue America’s sudden and contentious withdrawal from parts of Syria as a precursor to a similar move in Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said yesterday.

Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon’s sudden anti-government stance is nothing but his desperate attempt to prevent another split in the left-leaning political organisation, said party insiders.

Police yesterday recovered the beheaded body of a man from an abandoned luggage in Shambhuganj bridge area of Mymensingh city.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was dealt another blow yesterday when the speaker of parliament denied him a second shot at winning MPs’ approval for his EU divorce deal, with Brexit looming in just 10 days’ time.

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced Harunur Rashid, BNP lawmaker in Chapainawabganj-3, to five years’ imprisonment in a case filed for tax evasion during the import of a luxury car.

Thousands of commuters suffered immensely in Chattogram city yesterday as a section of bus owners and workers enforced a sudden strike, protesting the jailing of three of their fellows by a mobile court the day before.

Chinese authorities have detained a Japanese man in Beijing, Tokyo confirmed yesterday, following media reports that a university professor was being held on suspicion of spying.

Sattya Prashad Das spent his whole life teaching religious education and humanity to his students, irrespective of religions and caste in his locality in Bhola’s Borhanuddin upazila.

The National Board of Revenue yesterday asked banks to freeze all accounts of Jubo league presidium member Sheikh Fazlur Rahman Maruf and Awami Swechchasebak League President Molla Mohammad Abu Kawser.

Three officials at a gold mine in Siberia where 15 people died after a dam collapsed were arrested yesterday, the Russian authorities said.