Saudi Arabia opens hajj registration for foreign residents in the kingdom, saying they will make up 70 percent of the pilgrims after it scaled-back the annual ritual due to coronavirus.

Three members of a gang linked to the trafficking of 26 Bangladeshis killed in Libya on May 28 today confessed to a magistrate that they had trafficked a number of people including Md Rakib who had been missing since that date.

Qatar Airways temporarily closed its Dhaka office from today after seeing a huge rush of ticket-buyers. The office was closed to maintain social distancing, with the airlines requesting passengers to book tickets via phone or email.

Saudi Arabia has endorsed Bangladesh’s proposal to form a Covid-19 Response and Recovery Plan to save lives and livelihood in the member countries of the Organizaton of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

A total of 751 Bangladeshi workers returned home from Dubai by two special flights today.

A total of 677 Bangladeshi citizens, most of whom are migrant workers, have returned from Kuwait, UAE and Maldives by three separate special flights since Monday.

A father's brutal killing of his teenage daughter over her relationship with a man causes widespread anger in Iran, with President Hassan Rouhani urging lawmakers to work quickly on a bill to prevent violence against women.

Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging as a punishment, the state human rights commission says, hailing a "major step forward" in the reform programme launched by the king and his powerful son.

A total of 312 Bangladeshis, including 13 cabin crew, returned to Dhaka from Saudi Arabia.

Yemen has reported its first coronavirus case in Hadhramaut Governorate, supreme national emergency committee tweets.

Saudi Arabia imposes a 24-hour curfew in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, extending measures to combat coronavirus, while other Gulf Arab states lock down districts with large migrant worker populations.

The Saudi-led military coalition on Monday carried out multiple air strikes on Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa in retaliation for missile strikes on Riyadh.

The Taliban have killed about two dozen Afghan police and pro-government fighters, officials said yesterday, in two attacks that come as the foes are supposed to be preparing for peace talks.

Bangladeshi expatriates in Qatar, whose identity cards have already expired or have been living there illegally due to other reasons during the coronavirus pandemic, can take free treatment at hospitals in the Gulf country.

All sides in Yemen’s long conflict yesterday offered support for the United Nations’ call for a ceasefire to protect civilians from the coronavirus pandemic.

Two rockets slammed into the Iraqi capital’s high-security Green Zone early yesterday, hours before US-led forces were set to pull out of a second base in the country.

Libya has reported its first case of the novel coronavirus, a particular source of concern in the North African country where civil war has badly degraded the public healthcare system.

Gunmen and suicide bombers raided a Sikh religious complex in the Afghan capital of Kabul yesterday, killing 25 people before security forces killed all of the attackers, the government said.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah showed no sign of ending their bitter feud yesterday, even after it cost the impoverished nation $1 billion in US aid -- with yet more on the line.

The UN rights chief yesterday called for any sanctions imposed on countries like Iran facing the new coronavirus pandemic to be “urgently re-evaluated” to avoid pushing strained medical systems into collapse.