Police in Germany arrested twelve men, including one of its own officers, in a nationwide probe into an extreme-right group suspected of planning attacks on politicians, asylum-seekers and Muslims, state interior ministry sources and prosecutors said yesterday.

Police last night recovered the bodies of a woman and her two children from their flat in a five-storey building in the capital’s Dakshinkhan area.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte rejected on Thursday Taiwan’s appeal to lift a ban on its citizens visiting the country, saying his primary concern was the safety of Filipinos.

Iran’s week-long parliamentary election campaign started on Thursday, state TV reported, a vote seen as a popularity test for the clerical establishment at a time when relations with Washington are at their worst since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Beijing will cut smog levels further this year by putting more new energy vehicles (NEV) on its roads, reducing diesel-fuelled truck numbers and tightening its supervision of vehicle emissions and refined oil products, the city said on Thursday.

Armed attackers burned 21 people alive, including 16 members of the same family, in a revenge attack by criminal gangs on a village in northern Nigeria, residents said yesterday.

China is threatening the sovereignty of small Pacific Islands and undermining the region’s stability, a top U.S. military commander said on Thursday, in comments likely to inflame tension with China.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged the members of Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) to work with honesty, courage and integrity to defeat evil forces to ensure public security.

In Barishal, police yesterday arrested a bedding store trader for raping a fourth grader at his business place on yesterday noon.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has redistributed portfolios of a minister and two state ministers.

Saudi Arabia sent back 183 Bangladeshi migrant workers, including 20 female workers, on Wednesday night and in the early hours yesterday, according to Brac Migration Programme.

A Dhaka University committee, formed to evaluate the legitimacy of evening programmes at the university, has recommended that the departments temporarily stop enrolling students under these programmes.

Renowned educationists are divided over the University Grants Commission’s move to introduce a central entrance test for public universities.

Bangabandhu warmly greets Senator Edward Kennedy, his wife Joan B Kennedy and his nephew Joseph Kennedy at the prime minister’s residence. Russel, the youngest son of the prime minister, speeds past his father to be the first to greet the senator.

Coast Guard yesterday filed a case accusing at least 26 men of human trafficking after a boat capsized in the Bay on Tuesday, killing 15 Rohingyas.

The global cost of air pollution caused by fossil fuels is $8 billion a day, or roughly 3.3 percent of the entire world’s economic output, an environmental research group said yesterday.

Soviet Chargé D’affaires V. Popov calls on Bangabandhu at his official residence. Popov tells newsmen that matters connected with Bangabandhu’s forthcoming visit came up for discussion.

British energy giant BP, under the leadership of new chief executive Bernard Looney, declared Wednesday that it aims to achieve “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050, although it did not provide details how it plans to reach that target.

Mohammad Soinuddin Miah, a poor farmer from Chakgagadhar village in Tangail’s Nagarpur upazila who almost single-handedly constructed an earthen road to ease the sufferings of his fellow villagers, now hopes to see it concreted over by the authorities concerned.

In Lalmonirhat’s Kaliganj upazila, Abdur Rashid, a farmer, felt the need to do something for the children with special needs, who are often neglected by society.