At least four refugees in Australia’s offshore Pacific camps have attempted suicide since the conservative government’s shock re-election Saturday, according to refugees, advocates and police.

Five Catalan separatist leaders who won election to the Spanish parliament last month were temporarily released from jail yesterday to be sworn in as lawmakers.

Two days before voting begins in European parliamentary elections, national leaders are scrambling to mobilise their supporters to resist a populist challenge.

Ukraine’s new President Volodymyr Zelensky called snap parliamentary polls in his inaugural speech Monday and said his top priority is ending the war with Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east.

Only last week Nepali mountain guide Kami Rita Sherpa set a new record by climbing Everest a 23rd time. On Tuesday for good measure he did it again, expedition organisers said.

A former teacher of Lakehead Grammar School and a British-Bangladeshi were shown arrested yesterday in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act, although their families claim they were picked up three years ago allegedly by law enforcers.

Samoa’s prime minister has turned back time to qualify for the archery competition at the Pacific Games at the grand age of 74.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday rejected media reports that Bangladesh halted visas for Pakistanis, but acknowledged delays in issuing visas which he attributed to the Islamabad authorities.

The United States has temporarily eased trade restrictions on China’s Huawei to minimize disruption for its customers, a move the founder of the world’s largest telecoms equipment maker said meant little because it was already prepared for US action.

The High Court yesterday directed the government to test the Wasa water supplied to 34 areas in laboratories of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), Dhaka University and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b).

Expressing dissatisfaction at the BSTI for not properly testing raw cow milk, curd and fodder, the High Court yesterday ordered the authorities to test them to identify the quantity of harmful bacteria, chemical, lead and antibiotic in them.

The litchi growers in Rangamati are not happy even after a good yield this year as the price of the succulent fruit has dropped in the local markets in comparison with the last few years.

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has failed to meet four deadlines to prepare the draft of the rules for the Road Transport Act-2018, halting implementation of the law.

Voters in Malawi cast ballots yesterday in a closely fought election, with President Peter Mutharika battling to hold off two serious rivals in a race that has focused on corruption allegations and economic development.

Beneath the gaze of the TV cameras a woman begins speaking, at first softly but with growing passion as she faces the “Butcher of Kabul” across a crowded auditorium and asks if he wants to apologise for alleged war crimes.

The Kremlin yesterday said the corruption scandal involving Austria’s far-right party that caused the government to collapse has nothing to do with Russia.

Protesters blockaded entrances to court buildings in the Armenian capital yesterday after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called for a demonstration against judges he accuses of political bias.

Sudan’s army rulers and protest leaders remained locked in talks early yesterday to finalise a new governing body that would replace the generals who took power after ousting longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir last month.

Former South African president Jacob Zuma arrived in court yesterday as he fights to have corruption charges against him over 1990s arms deal dropped before the case comes to trial.

The High Court has directed the government to form teams to monitor fruit markets and warehouses across the country to prevent use of harmful chemicals.