Iranian prosecutors have confirmed a French man detained in the Islamic republic will be tried for espionage and “propaganda against the system”, his lawyer told AFP yesterday.

Amid the closure of Indo-Bangla land borders, Bangladeshi nationals are trespassing using several illegal points in six districts of the south.

The meteoric rise of Covid-19 cases during the second wave that overwhelmed the health infrastructure in India is now being matched by an equally steep decline in infections.

The majority of Hefajat-e-Islam’s funds came from the Middle East through Bangladeshi expatriates, said police.

After four mild tremors and several aftershocks between Saturday morning and afternoon, Sylhet experienced another light tremor of magnitude 2.8 at 4:35am yesterday, which panicked people again.

Vietnam health minister Nguyen Thanh Long yesterday said the country has detected a new variant of the coronavirus, a mix of the Indian and UK Covid-19 variants that spreads quickly by air, online newspaper VnExpress reported.

The World Health Organization has warned that efforts to uncover the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins were being hampered by politics, insisting scientists needed space to work on solving the mystery.

Golam Mortuza Harun, former president of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), Chattogram chapter, died of post Covid-19 complications at a hospital in the port city early yesterday.

The United States has announced punitive measures against Belarus targeting the regime of strongman President Alexander Lukashenko, who met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin amid a global outcry over the forced diversion of a European plane.

About 500 metres of Patuakhali’s Kuakata beach, the lone tourist attraction of the district, was washed away due to the tidal surge caused by recent Cyclone Yaas.

The BNP is observing the 40th death anniversary of its founder and former president Ziaur Rahman across the country today.

Twelve years ago, a case was first filed against Kamal after he was arrested with 10 yaba pills.

Evidence became available which appeared to confirm that the Pakistan Army’s operations in Dhaka on March 25 were part of a well-organised plan devised to terrorise the inhabitants into submission.

At least six Awami League activists got shot yesterday evening in a reported clash between factions of the party in Companyganj, Noakhali.

Some 63 prominent citizens of the country urged the government to take steps to stop the harassment of the workers of the Banshkhali coal-fired power plant in connection with the incident in which six workers were killed in police firing on April 17 this year.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday the United States and India are united in trying to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic together and Washington is determined to help India with its coronavirus crisis.

The US Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against former President Donald Trump, former Attorney General William Barr and other officials over the forceful pushing back of peaceful protesters at a White House demonstration last year, the Washington Post reported.

The eastern DR Congo city of Goma was eerily deserted after nearly 400,000 of its inhabitants fled following warnings that nearby Mount Nyiragongo volcano may erupt again.

Israeli forces on Friday shot dead a Palestinian man during clashes in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Two officers in the US state of Washington were charged with the murder of a Black man who died in police custody as he pleaded that he couldn’t breathe, and a third was charged with manslaughter, prosecutors said Thursday.