France opposes “repeated extensions” for Britain’s exit from the European Union, a presidential official said yesterday, keeping to the hard line of Paris on Brexit.

After a three-hour-long effort, police and firefighters rescued and arrested an alleged drug peddler who got trapped between two buildings while fleeing a police raid in Chandpur’s Shahrasti upazila on Thursday.

With the start of the Bangla month of Falgun, Nabidul Islam was over the moon to see his orchards adorned with mango buds. The grower in Kaliganj of Satkhira was expecting a bumper yield this year but there were unexpected rains coupled with hailstorms damaging a section of the buds in late February.

The leader of North Korea ordered its military to boost its strike capability as he directed another missile firing, state media said yesterday, as tensions grew over tests that appeared to show development of a new advanced missile system.

A suspected drug peddler was killed in a “gunfight” between two groups of criminals in Rajshahi’s Bagha upazila early yesterday.

At least 141 school buildings out of 1,162 primary schools in Bagerhat’s nine upazilas are risky, says the district primary education office. Teachers and guardians fear that accident might take place anytime there.

Traumatised and penniless, 165 more Bangladeshi migrants from differ-ent countries -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, Iraq, and South Africa -- landed at the Dhaka airport yesterday.

The damage caused by Cyclone Fani has been estimated to be Tk 536.61 crore, the government said yesterday.

Red-faced bank bosses in Australia admitted to an embarrassing error yesterday, revealing their state-of-the-art $50 note had a typo.

A 25-year-old woman was set on fire allegedly by her in-laws for dowry in Pabna’s Sujanagar upazila early yesterday.

Two men were killed in a “gunfight” between Rab and an alleged group of drug dealers in Jhauban area of Cox’s Bazar early yesterday.

European countries yesterday said they wanted to preserve Iran’s nuclear deal and rejected “ultimatums” from Tehran, after Iran scaled back curbs on its nuclear programme and threatened moves that might breach the pact.

Workers of state-run jute mills continued their demonstration for the fourth consecutive day yesterday demanding arrears and fair wages. In the capital’s Demra, hundreds of workers of Latif Bawany Jute Mills and Karim Jute Mills blocked roads near Sultana Kamal Bridge

The closure of the glittering Thai bay made famous by the movie “The Beach” has been extended for another two years to allow a full recovery of its corals and wildlife, an official said yesterday, drawing a sharp rebuke from the tourism industry.

An outspoken critic of Tanzanian President John Magafuli who was allegedly abducted, has been “seriously beaten” and is in hospital, the main opposition party said yesterday.

Frankfurt airport was shut down for nearly an hour yesterday morning as operators halted flights over a drone sighting, in the latest such incident affecting a busy European hub.

Four women were freed “safe and sound” Tuesday after being held hostage for five hours by an armed teenager at a bar on the outskirts of the southern French city of Toulouse, officials said.

Sudanese protest and opposition leaders yesterday called for civil disobedience in response to the military’s “disappointing” answer to their interim constitutional proposals.

A teenaged student was fatally shot and multiple others were wounded Tuesday in a school shooting by fellow pupils in the US state of Colorado, across town from one of the worst gun massacres in the country’s modern history.

The UN warned yesterday that its agencies providing food assistance to Gaza must raise tens of millions of dollars within weeks to avoid significant aid cuts.