British voters will cast ballots Thursday in elections that could hasten the end of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s troubled term and confirm that an increasingly fractured United Kingdom has entered an era of messy multiparty politics. Starmer’s center-left Labour Party is expected to take a battering in elections for local authorities across England and for semiautonomous legislatures in Scotland and ...

More than 5,000 council seats will be up for grabs when voters in England go to the polls on Thursday. Local elections are taking place for 136 local authorities on 7 May, including some of the largest cities in the country and the whole of London. A mix of urban authorities and rural districts are also holding elections, along with ...

In Bangladesh, comfort does not come on a silver spoon. It does not require coverage and buzz on the internet. It is more usually served and quietly eaten alongside a heap of hot rice, a ladle of dal, a spoonful of bhorta, maybe a fried chilli on the side. These are the foods people reach for when life is unpredictable, ...

Mikel Arteta has urged Arsenal to use the “energy and belief” generated by reaching the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years as fuel to complete an historic double. Even by his frenetic standards, Arteta was a blur of energy as the Gunners boss embarked on a jubilant lap of honour with his players after Tuesday’s 1-0 ...

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has called for enhanced international support for Rohingya refugees. “Bangladesh alone cannot shoulder the burden of hosting the large displaced population without sustained global assistance,” he said. The minister made the appeal while Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Susan Ryle paid a courtesy call on him at his secretariat office on Wednesday afternoon, the ministry said ...

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he believed there was “a very good chance” of sealing a peace deal with Iran, but threatened to resume his bombardment of the country if negotiations fell apart. Despite the US leader’s optimism, Iran has yet to respond to a new US proposal, with its chief negotiator warning that Washington was seeking to force ...

The personal assistant (PA) of West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has been shot dead in Madhyamgram, two days after the party’s historic win in the assembly election. The BJP leader’s PA, identified as Chandranath Rath, was shot twice in the assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district near Kolkata, the police said. Another man, Buddhadeb, who was with Rath ...

Two more infants showing measles-like symptoms have died in Sylhet, health officials said today (5 May). The two infants- one aged six months and the other five months- died at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital yesterday night (4 May). Officials said the six-month-old infant hailed from Bishwanath upazila in Sylhet, while the other infant was from Dirai upazila in ...

Newly-elected Member of Parliament from a reserved women’s seat, Nusrat Tabassum Jyoti, has taken her oath of office in the National Parliament (Jatiya Sangsad). The oath was administered on Wednesday by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed at his office in Parliament House. The ceremony was conducted by Parliamentary Secretary Barrister Md Golam Sarwar Bhuiyan. According to parliamentary procedures, the oath was ...

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Education Mahdi Amin has strongly opposed the imposition of VAT on private universities, stating that higher education institutions should remain free from such taxation. He made the remarks on Tuesday night while speaking as a special guest at a discussion titled “Problems and Solutions of Private Universities.” “We opposed the VAT imposed on private universities during ...