Cancer has become the leading cause of death in rich nations, overtaking heart disease, according to the results of two landmark, decade-long global surveys of health trends released yesterday.

An unidentified man hacked an on duty police constable in front of the traffic police office in the city’s Bhatapara area yesterday afternoon.

A Dhaka court yesterday again sent former caretaker government adviser barrister Mainul Hosein to jail after rejecting his bail petition in a case filed for defaming journalist Masuda Bhatti in October last year.

The National Verification Card (NVC) scheme is part of a systematic campaign by Myanmar authorities to erase Rohingya Muslims’ identity, said a report of Fortify Rights yesterday.

Four men were sued yesterday for allegedly raping four girls in Jashore, Nilphamari, and Cox’s Bazar.

Students and teachers of Jahangirnagar University yesterday besieged the two administrative buildings protesting “corruption of the authorities” and “unplanned” development works which would endanger the biodiversity of the campus.

Bangladesh Railway has started working to increase the number of trips between Bangladesh and India.

The BNP yesterday called upon its leaders and activists to be active on the streets with a sacrificing mentality to restore democracy and free party chairperson Khaleda Zia from jail.

The national taskforce, working to implement the roadmap for Bangladesh’s graduation from a Least Developed Country status to a developed one, yesterday criticised a planning commission impact assessment report saying it “portrays only the negative side of graduation”.

Kazakhstan’s president yesterday called for an easing of restrictions on peaceful demonstrations, three months after thousands were detained at opposition protests in the authoritarian country.

The government yesterday made Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammad Abul Kalam officer on special duty and attached him to the textiles and jute ministry, according to a circular of the public administration ministry.

An Afghan asylum-seeker who killed a man and stabbed several others in the French city of Lyon sparked a row about immigration on Sunday as new details emerged about his rampage.

An alleged drug peddler and a suspected auto-rickshaw thief were killed in so-called gunfights with Rapid Action Battalion and detectives in Sylhet and Mymensingh yesterday.

Japan will launch a special police unit equipped with submachine guns and helicopters to patrol disputed isles in the East China Sea -- a source of tension between Tokyo and Beijing, according to police and media.

Four Australians were deported from Indonesia’s Papua region yesterday, the immigration department said, after they allegedly took part in demonstrations demanding independence for the restive province.

Berlin zoo said yesterday its resident panda Meng Meng had delivered twins, as it voiced delight at the first such births in the country.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong threatened Sunday the editor of an online publication with libel for repeating “false” allegations related to a bitter feud in the city-state’s founding family.

An alleged drug peddler and a suspected auto-rickshaw thief were killed in so-called gunfights with Rapid Action Battalion and detectives in Sylhet and Mymensingh yesterday.

Amid slow progress in the investigation of five cases filed over the recent bomb attacks on police and planting bombs near two traffic boxes, Dhaka Metropolitan Police has formed an eight-member committee to accelerate the probe.

The Supreme Court yesterday cleared the way for Aysha Siddika Minni to walk out of jail. The apex court upheld a High Court verdict that granted bail to Minni in her husband Rifat Sharif murder case.