Late Hefajat chief Ahmed Shafi’s family members yesterday told reporters that top leaders of the Islamist organisation have been threatening them.

China’s ruling Communist Party leaders have congratulated themselves on their “extremely extraordinary” success in handling the Covid-19 outbreak domestically, ahead of a World Health Organization probe into the disease’s origins.

The Detective Branch (DB) of police yesterday arrested a journalist in connection with a harassment case filed by a pro-Awami League councillor candidate in Chatmohar upazila of Pabna.

Police yesterday arrested four persons for allegedly killing an eight-year-old girl on December 14 in Bogura’s Dhunat upazila.

Renowned actor Abdul Kader breathed his last in the capital’s Evercare Hospital at 8:20 am yesterday after battling stage IV cancer.

The cold may get worse within the next two or three days as the temperature is likely to fall further.

The European Union teed up a vaccine rollout yesterday, even as countries in the bloc were forced back into lockdown by a new strain of the virus, believed to be more infectious, that has spread from Britain to France and Spain and even as far as Japan.

Abbe Pierre, world renowned philanthropist and chief patron of the United Towns Organisation of Europe, calls on Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Gono Bhaban today and discusses with him his committee’s Town Twining Programme in Bangladesh.

Turkey’s Defence Minister Hulusi Akar made a surprise trip to Libya yesterday flanked by top military officers to inspect his country’s troops, the ministry said.

Russia’s FSB security service yesterday said it had foiled an attack planned by a cell loyal to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in the country’s unstable southern republic of Dagestan, arresting four people.

Israel on Thursday arrested a Palestinian man in connection with the murder of a Jewish settler in the occupied West Bank, in a case that raised tensions in the area.

The European Union yesterday warned Turkey that a heavy jail sentence imposed on journalist Can Dundar harmed both human rights in the country and Ankara’s relations with Brussels.

Russia’s growing role in the volatile Central African Republic was in the spotlight this week, after Moscow dispatched military instructors following a rebel threat to disrupt Sunday’s elections.

Russian authorities yesterday opened a criminal probe into an ally of opposition leader Alexei Navalny after raiding her flat, alleging she threatened a man Navalny claimed took part in his poisoning.

Bakhtiar Uddin Chowdhury, a freedom fighter and political analyst, passed away early yesterday. He was 72 years old.

After months of fraught negotiations between the European Union and the UK, Britons welcomed Thursday’s “Christmas present” Brexit deal with relief and some scepticism.

The Covid-19 fatalities in Bangladesh rose to 7,398 with 20 more deaths recorded in the past 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday amid apprehensions that winter could complicate the coronavirus situation.

The sacrifices made to protect people during the coronavirus pandemic must not be squandered over the festive period, the World Health Organization’s chief said in a Christmas message.

A 45-year-old constable of Chattogtam Metropolitan Police (CMP) died with coronavirus yesterday.

Turkey would like better ties with Israel but Israeli policy towards the Palestinians remains “unacceptable”, President Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday.