Myanmar authorities torched over half a billion dollars worth of narcotics across the country yesterday, sending opium, heroin and methamphetamine up in smoke as experts warn smugglers have adapted to Covid-19 travel restrictions and are back in business.

A shootout between suspected drug cartels left 18 people dead Friday in Mexico, a government official said.

A ventilator “bank” where hospitals can rent critical care machines for Covid-19 patients has given Nepal’s cash-strapped healthcare system a much-needed lifeline.

Australia and Israel, which had been successful in fending off Covid-19, reimposed restrictions yesterday as cases surged of the highly contagious Delta variant which also threatened Africa with a brutal third wave.

Twenty-one houses recently built in Jamalpur’s Sarishabari upazila under a government project for the homeless are already inundated following the recent rains.

Awami League nominee Aga Khan Mintu has been declared elected unopposed in the by-polls to Dhaka-14.

Dinosaur species large and small made the Arctic their year-round home and probably developed wintering strategies like hibernation or growing insulating feathers, according to a new study.

Rescue workers scouring the debris of a collapsed condo building in a Miami suburb said they heard sounds in the rubble overnight, as officials yesterday raised the number of people unaccounted for to 159 and the confirmed death toll to four.

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has said Bangladesh should never worry about bad debt or the so-called debt trap.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) arrested a suspected member of an international organ smuggling racket in the Benapole check-post area on Thursday.

The government’s efforts to protect the proverbial heart of the country, its capital, from a worsening Covid-19 situation could be foiled by the influx of people from riskier districts to cattle markets in the lead-up to Eid-ul-Azha.

Pakistan, faced with the prospect of sharply reduced foreign aid during the coming year, announced a budget today that called for stringent national austerity but provided substantially more money for the military.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday stressed the need for creating stronger and inclusive international cooperation to mitigate water-related disasters for a resilient and sustainable post-Covid-19 world.

Damage to Sri Lanka’s marine environment from a sinking chemical ship is worse than feared, officials said yesterday, as more dead turtles, dolphins and whales washed up on the island’s beaches.

Turkey yesterday expressed disappointment after an EU summit ended with a critical statement about Ankara’s rights record and no clear progress on a customs treaty or committment on aid.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally announced Thursday that lawmakers will create a select committee to investigate the deadly US Capitol riot, weeks after Senate Republicans blocked formation of a bipartisan, 9/11-style commission.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said the nation should be prepared with skills, education and infrastructure as a major shift is taking place in the world economy.

The World Bank’s board of executive directors has approved a $191 million credit to Bangladesh and a $18 million grant to Afghanistan to help the countries strengthen their higher education sector and respond better to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Asean members, collectively or otherwise, should tighten the screws on Myanmar’s military by engaging with the National Unity Government (NUG) before geopolitical manoeuvres by superpowers further complicate the crisis, experts said.

General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed took the charge as the newly appointed Chief of Army Staff yesterday, said an ISPR press release.