Italy is closing all schools and universities from Thursday until mid-March to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Ansa and other Italian news agencies cited government sources as saying.

German Ambassador in Dhaka Peter Fahrenholtz says that Germany is looking forward to further deepen bilateral relations with Bangladesh and would remain committed in its future partnership with the country.

Roman Polanski wins best director for "An Officer and a Spy" at a fractious ceremony for the French Oscars, the Cesars, that ends in walkouts and recrimination in Paris.

Greta Thunberg denounced politicians and the media yesterday for ignoring a looming climate cataclysm, saying that they were failing her generation with their inaction in the face of a world on fire.

The Scottish parliament has approved plans to make sanitary products freely available to all women, the first nation in the world to do so.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday rejected calls for a halt to a Russia-backed Syrian offensive in Idlib in northwest Syria.

Australia’s wildfires have destroyed more than a fifth of the country’s forests, making the blazes “globally unprecedented” following a years-long drought linked to climate change, researchers said Monday.

German authorities yesterday scrambled to determine the motives of a man who ploughed his car into a carnival procession, injuring dozens and further unsettling a country rocked by a fatal mass shooting last week.

UN chief Antonio Guterres yesterday launched a “call to action” against rising attacks on human rights, highlighting the persecution of minorities and “alarming levels of femicide”.

A lawyer for the United States yesterday accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of risking the lives of intelligence sources by publishing classified US government documents, as his extradition hearing opened in a London court.

Libya’s warring sides have proposed a draft ceasefire agreement that would see the United Nations monitor the safe return of civilians to their homes, the UN said yesterday.

The sharp rise in cases and the geographical spread of the coronavirus outside China confirm WHO fears over dealing with the crisis, experts warned Sunday as they appealed for ever greater vigilance.

German interior minister Horst Seehofer yesterday said that the police presence would be increased across the country to counter the “very high” security threat from the far-right, after a gunman killed nine people in a racist attack late Wednesday.

British police on Thursday said they were not treating as terror related a London mosque stabbing in which an elderly worshipper suffered non life-threatening injuries.

Ukraine’s health minister said she will spend two weeks in quarantine with evacuees from coronavirus-hit China after protesters clashed with police and threw stones at returnees over infection fears.

Germany’s president took an indirect swipe at US President Donald Trump yesterday in accusing Washington, China and Russia of stoking global mistrust and insecurity with a “great powers” competition” that could threaten a new nuclear arms race.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday he wants greater federal powers during natural disasters, as authorities warned bushfires ravaging the country for months were sweeping through a national park near the capital.

Britain’s departure from the European Union was set in law yesterday as London returned a signed treaty and MEPs prepared to vote to ratify the divorce.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday urged Palestinians who rejected President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan to come up with a “counter-offer” that could win Israeli support, as he headed to Britain on a five-nation tour.

A German man who tested positive for the strain of coronavirus currently sweeping China was infected by a work colleague, officials say, in what is believed to be the first human transmission in Europe.