Two recent missile tests conducted by North Korea were of a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system, marking a “serious escalation” by Pyongyang that will be punished with fresh sanctions, a senior US official said Thursday.

The UN yesterday voiced alarm at Facebook’s decision to temporarily ease its policy on violent speech after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, warning it could spark “hate speech” against Russians.

International food and feed prices could rise by between 8 percent and 20percent as a result of the war, triggering a jump in global malnourishment, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday gave the green light for up to 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East to be deployed alongside Russian-backed rebels to fight in Ukraine, doubling down an invasion that the West says has been losing momentum.

Nato must not allow Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to spill over into an open conflict between the alliance and Moscow, its chief Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday, warning a no-fly zone would likely lead to full-scale war.

Emmanuel Macron has led western European leaders in rebuffing appeals from Volodymyr Zelenskiy for fast-track EU membership for Ukraine despite the backing of eastern member states.

Russia has drawn up plans to seize the assets of western companies leaving the country as the Kremlin pushes back against sweeping sanctions and the exodus of international businesses since its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian strikes hit fresh civilian targets in central and eastern Ukraine yesterday, including a city previously considered a safe haven, as Moscow’s troops edged closer to the capital Kyiv.

The edible oil price has dropped to the government’s pre-fixed rate a day after the announcement of value-added tax exemption came.

Fleeing the horrors of war in Ukraine, Bangladeshis are finding new hope in other European countries.

The body of engineer Md Hadisur Rahman, who was killed in a rocket attack on the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) vessel stranded at a Ukraine port, is expected to reach Dhaka on March 13 or 14, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam yesterday.

The EU said yesterday that the talks it is chairing on the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord must be paused, days after fresh demands from Russia complicated negotiations.

More than 70 original Nasa photographs including a celebrated image of Buzz Aldrin’s moon walk taken by Neil Armstrong were sold at auction in Copenhagen on Wednesday for more than 155,000 euros ($172,000).

Britain has urged Myanmar’s former ambassador to leave the official London residence where he has continued to live since he was ousted for criticising last year’s military coup, citing pressure from the junta, according to emails seen by Reuters.

During the first week of war, Russia shifted from strategic strikes against military targets using cruise missiles to a stalled ground attack and, currently, a broader siege of major cities, including bombardments using rocket artillery and cluster munitions, sometimes against residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.

The body of engineer Md Hadisur Rahman, who was killed in a rocket attack on the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) vessel stranded at a Ukraine port, is expected to reach Dhaka on March 13 or 14, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light on Friday for up to 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East to be deployed alongside Russian-backed rebels to fight in Ukraine, doubling down an invasion that the West says has been losing momentum.

While the official global death toll from Covid-19 eclipsed 6 million on Monday (March 7, 2022), according to researchers, the actual death toll is likely three times more than what government figures imply.

More than 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine as of March 11, the UN migration agency said on its website on Friday.

The European Union will not impose sanctions on Russian gas or oil, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a video posted on his Facebook page today, amid a summit of EU leaders in France.