The overall number of nuclear warheads in the world has declined in the past year but nations are modernising their arsenals, a report published yesterday said.

Austria’s far-right former vice chancellor yesterday turned down a European Parliament seat, vowing to concentrate on clearing his name after the “Ibiza” video scandal that brought down the government.

More than 100 Bangladeshis trafficked to the remote island of Vanuatu with the promise of work that never materialized will start returning home this month, an official said yesterday.

Police yesterday arrested a man for allegedly raping an 11-year-old girl in Savar on the outskirt of the capital.

Thirty people were killed late Sunday in a triple suicide bombing in northeast Nigeria, emergency services reported, in an attack bearing the hallmarks of the Boko Haram jihadist group.

The United Nations has warned Myanmar of withdrawing support in the Rakhine state to avoid complicity in a government “policy of apartheid” for Rohingyas, reported The Guardian.

Transparency International Bangladesh yesterday called upon the government to immediately suspend all controversial projects, including the Rampal power plant near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest.

Former state minister for home affairs Sohel Taj yesterday sought the prime minister’s intervention in finding his nephew who was allegedly picked up by plainclothes men over his relationship with a woman.

Cash incentives on remittance offered in the next budget will help boost foreign currency inflow, but the decline in allocation for the expatriate welfare ministry means low priority for the migrant workers’ rights, analysts said.

Egypt’s first democratically elected civilian president Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist who was ousted after one year of divisive rule, died after falling ill during a court hearing yesterday, the attorney general said. He was 67.

Prices of some items such as sugar and edible oil may go up due to a spike in customs tariff and imposition of VAT for the fiscal 2019-20, Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, chairman of the National Board of Revenue, said yesterday.

Police recovered the mutilated body of a man from the Bay near Mirsharai Economic Zone in Chattogram yesterday morning.

Turkey expects the delivery of the controversial Russian S-400 missile defence system to begin in July, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying in Turkish media yesterday.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Saturday called for decisive action to protect energy supplies amid a tense US-Iran standoff as two tankers attacked in a vital Gulf shipping channel headed to port.

BNP joined the House to gain democratic space, but it will not give legitimacy to the current parliament, the party lawmakers said yesterday.

Bangladesh Ambassador to Libya Sheikh Sekander Ali made a journey on the Mediterranean Sea, around 10 kilometres off the Tunisian coast of Zarzis, to convince 64 Bangladeshi migrants to return to Bangladesh.

The 9th Wage Board Award will be announced soon, after a meeting of the cabinet committee on the issue and once Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gives her consent, Obaidul Quader, road transport and bridges minister, said yesterday.

Four alleged drug peddlers were killed in so-called gunfights with Rab and BGB in Cox’s Bazar and Cumilla early yesterday.

The Supreme Court yesterday scrapped a High Court verdict that granted bail to Hallmark Group Chairman Jasmine Islam in a corruption case.

Opposition lawmakers yesterday came down heavily on the government for its failure to ensure fair price of paddy and check money laundering, soaring loan defaults and black money.