The much-hyped Mass Rapid Transport projects will hardly ease traffic congestion in the capital because by 2035, when the projects are expected to be fully implemented, only one-tenth of the commuters will be using the trains, an expert said yesterday.

Former Rab commanding officer Lt Col (sacked) Hasinur Rahman returned home in the capital’s Mirpur DOHS around midnight on Friday, nearly 18 months after being picked up by some plainclothes men.

A new police battalion is going to start its operation in coastal district Cox’s Bazar from February 28.

Between 1990 and 2017, the increase in the road crash fatality rate per capita was three times higher in Bangladesh than that across South Asia, according to a World Bank report.

Bangabandhu appeals to the UN secretary-general to use his office urgently to alleviate the plight of the Bangalee population living in different parts of Pakistan. He also requests the UN secretary-general to send his special representative to Pakistan for this purpose.

The Daily Star honoured 2,122 students for their extraordinary results in O- and A-level exams yesterday.

A group of unidentified criminals shot dead a local Awami League leader and left five others critically injured in Bandarban Sadar upazila yesterday evening.

Fears mounted yesterday over the growing spread of infections outside China from the new coronavirus outbreak, as the World Health Organization warned of a shrinking window to stem the spread of the deadly disease.

A former Khulna University professor died after falling under a train when he was trying to get on the moving Betna Express at the Khulna Railway Station yesterday morning.

A man, who was killed in an alleged “gunfight” with police in Sylhet’s Bishwanath upazila early yesterday, was picked-up by plaincloths policemen from in front of Sylhet Central Jail on February 18, claims his wife.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday said drug addicts will not get government jobs.

Dozens of Hong Kong police officers have been placed in quarantine after attending a banquet with a colleague who later tested positive for the new coronavirus, officials said yesterday.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar resigned on Thursday, but stayed on as interim leader while the country’s three main parties battle out coalition talks after an inconclusive election.

The United States and the Taliban will sign an agreement on February 29 at the end of a week long period of violence reduction in Afghanistan, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Taliban said yesterday.

Two more people died from the new coronavirus in Iran, infections nearly doubled in South Korea and clusters surfaced in Chinese prisons yesterday, rekindling concerns about an epidemic that has killed more than 2,200 people in China.

Police arrested a youth after he stabbed a nurse inside a hospital in Bauphal upazila of Patuakhali yesterday.

An ancient tomb thought to belong to Rome’s founder Romulus was all set to be presented to the world yesterday, bringing to a head months of investigation by history sleuths.

Bangladesh will look to revive their fortunes in Test cricket when they take on Zimbabwe in the one-off Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today.

Three people, including two suspected robbers, were killed in two “gunfights” with law enforcers in Cumilla and Narayanganj early yesterday.

In an interview with BTV on the reminiscence of 1952, Bangabandhu says, “Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, had no sympathy for Bengalees.