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.

A fugitive Malaysian financier wanted over a massive graft scandal has been spotted in the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, police said, although it was unclear if he had left before Chinese authorities imposed a lockdown.

China yesterday touted a big drop in new virus infections as proof its epidemic control efforts are working, but the toll grew abroad with deaths in Japan and South Korea.

A schoolgirl, who took poison on Monday allegedly after being raped, died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on Wednesday night.

Family members of Yasmin Begum, who died in the custody of Gazipur police on early Wednesday, yesterday demanded a judicial probe into the death saying they have no faith in the police investigation.

My dear countrymen—brothers and sisters,

The state must be held accountable for the deaths in the disastrous fire in Chawkbazar’s Churihatta last year, eminent citizens yesterday said at an event to commemorate one year of the tragedy.

A man was stabbed to death and his brother injured allegedly by rival groups over a previous feud in Bogura Sadar upazila yesterday, police said.

Iraqi prime minister-designate Mohammad Allawi called Wednesday for parliament to hold a confidence vote on his government early next week.

An outbreak of Lassa in Nigeria has killed 103 people this year, health authorities said, as the first confirmed case was reported in the economic hub Lagos.

Four alleged criminals, including two robbers, were killed in “gunfights” with police in Dinajpur, Pabna, and Chapainawabganj early yesterday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday stressed the need for paying special attention to further spread Bangla literature and culture in the world.

Al-Shabaab Islamists on Wednesday carried out attacks on two Somali military bases, using a suicide vehicle bombing and dozens of heavily armed militants, a military official said.

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has claimed “very top” level Malaysian officials believed vanished Flight MH370 was deliberately downed by the captain in a mass murder-suicide.

Three people, including a child, drowned after a fishing trawler capsized in the Bay of Bengal in Chattogram’s Banshkhali upazila yesterday.

The world is failing to protect children from the health dangers posed by climate change and poor diet, a landmark UN report said yesterday, warning that every child is under “immediate threat”.

Myanmar is set to be placed on a watchlist by a global finance watchdog this week, amid concerns of money-laundering by transnational drug traffickers and weak regulation of its financial system, two sources familiar with deliberations said.

Two suspected robbers were killed in a “gunfight” between two dacoit groups at Borunatoil village in Sadar upazila of Magura early yesterday.