Both the BNP and the ruling Awami League mayoral candidates in Tuesday's Gazipur City Corporation polls are concerned about their polling agents but for two different reasons.

Whew! What a relief Friday night offered to fans of two Latin American football powerhouses -- Brazil and Argentina -- in Bangladesh and beyond.

While talking with my family back home during Brazil's World Cup game against Costa Rica on Friday night, I was informed that the three Argentine flags strung up on our neighbours' roof in the old part of Dhaka were removed immediately after Argentina's dreadful 3-0 defeat to Croatia.

Toni Kroos rescued holders Germany from the brink of an unthinkable early World Cup exit here Saturday, curling home a sensational winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time to seal a 2-1 win over Sweden.

Issuing a note of warning about intra-party feuds, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina has said the grassroots will be held responsible if people do not vote for the party in the next general election.

Fifty-two people were killed, including 18 in one crash in Gaibandha, on the country's roads yesterday.

Two alleged drug traders were killed in separate “gunfights” with police in Trishal and Tarakanda upazilas early yesterday, days after they were allegedly picked up by the law enforcers.

An organised trafficking syndicate, led by a Bangladeshi businessman with alleged political connections with the Malaysian home ministry, raked in at least two billion Malaysian ringgits in just two years from Bangladeshi workers looking to secure jobs in the southeast Asian country, Malaysian newspaper The Star reported yesterday.

The Awami League has picked AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran and Serniabat Sadek Abdullah as its mayoral candidates for Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal city elections respectively.

Both the Awami League and the BNP mayoral candidates are trying hard to woo the swing voters who they think will be a crucial factor in the upcoming Gazipur City Corporation polls.

What a shocker it was! No football buff, I believe, saw this coming. Argentina, the powerhouse of world football, are on the brink of elimination this early from the World Cup in Russia.

Brazil had to battle until injury time against a dogged Costa Rica on Friday before Philippe Coutinho and Neymar scored, putting the five-time World Cup winners back on track for the last 16.

Nigeria beat Iceland 2-0 to revive their hopes of advancing into the knockout stages of the World Cup in Russia on Friday as striker Ahmed Musa dramatically marked his return to the team with two fine second-half goals.

On the surface, Wednesday's decision looks like part of a nicely calculated and targeted approach to boost investment, as the finance minister hopes.

In a major development, the International Criminal Court yesterday asked Myanmar to submit its written observations by July 27 on the allegations of deporting over 700,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh.

They are the livewires of their clubs -- Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. They are the ones with whom their countries -

Lionel Messi's World Cup dream was left hanging by a thread as Croatia powered into the last 16 with a 3-0 rout of Argentina yesterday.

Police recovered the bullet-hit body of a man in Damurhuda upazila of Chuadanga yesterday, two days after he had allegedly been picked up by plainclothes men.

Eight election coordinators of BNP Gazipur mayoral candidate Hasan Uddin Sarker were arrested by law enforcers on Wednesday, party leaders said.

Twenty six Bangladeshi non-government representatives have submitted Amicus Curiae observations to the International Criminal Court (ICC), demanding territorial jurisdiction for investigation into the forcible deportation of the Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh.