DHAKA: The electoral commission had made a last-minute announcement that the vote would be held as planned on Saturday.But commission head Fuwad Thowfeek said police had entered his offices and were stopping officials distributing election materials.Two candidates had sought to have the

DHAKA: The United Nations has said that at least 450 civilians may have been killed by US drone strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, a figure which the US has previously downplayed.A UN report, obtained by Al Jazeera on Friday, stated that Pakistan’s government had confirmed at

DHAKA: On Thursday, the 193 countries making up the U.N. General Assembly held a secret ballot to select new members of the Security Council. Each year, the Assembly elects five new countries to serve two-year rotating posts; competition is keen, and countries lobby years in advance for a

DHAKA: A fire in Brazil`s largest port has burnt some 180,000 tonnes of raw sugar, damaging six warehouses and pushing international prices to a one-year high.The authorities in the port of Santos said it took six hours to bring the fire under control.The cause of the blaze is still being

DHAKA: The US has urged the Syrian government to allow immediate aid convoys to starving civilians cut off in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus.Washington said the army`s months-long siege left many people in desperate need of food, water and medicine.It also cited "unprecedented reports" of

DHAKA: Two charred bodies pulled from Kenya`s Westgate shopping centre on Thursday are "highly likely" to be two of the attackers, an MP has told the media.Ndung`u Gethenji, chairman of the parliamentary committee investigating the attack, also said the body of a Kenyan soldier had been

DHAKA: One of the greatest mysteries of the Himalayas may have finally been solved.Genetic testing has led scientists to believe that the abominable snowman - the Yeti, actually existed but it was actually a cross between an ancient polar bear and brown bear.Hair samples from what is

DHAKA: A series of major wildfires are burning in the Australian state of New South Wales with fears that hundreds of homes have been destroyed.Fire crews are still tackling the blazes on the outskirts of Sydney, despite temperatures and winds easing.One man has died while trying to

DHAKA: The man being investigated by Norwegian police over the attack on Kenya`s Westgate shopping centre is Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow.The 23-year-old Norwegian citizen of Somali origin is suspected of helping to plan and carry out the attack.BBC Newsnight has spoken to a relative of his in

DHAKA: Suspected Maoists on Thursday struck again in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra in India and killed three policemen in a landmine blast and a gunbattle at Jhilia village, bordering Chhattisgarh, some 300 km from eastern part of Maharashtra.Two jawans were reported to have been

DHAKA: Islamist militants killed two Tunisian policemen in clashes on Thursday in the northeastern city of Goubellat.A Tunisian security source told media, reports The Jerusalem Post.Gunmen linked to groups such as Ansar al-Sharia carry out occasional attacks on security forces in

DHAKA: Talks this week between Iran and six global powers over Tehran’s nuclear programme were ‘very tough but quite, quite promising’.Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday, reports The Jerusalem Post.He sounded more upbeat than deputy foreign

DHAKA: Palestine president Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday invited Pope Francis to visit the Holy Land, matching a standing invitation from Israel.The pontiff, who has made many appeals for peace in the Middle East since his election in March, has already accepted an invitation from Israeli

DHAKA: The US Congress on Wednesday approved an 11th-hour deal to end a partial government shutdown and pull the world’s biggest economy back from the brink of a historic debt default that could have threatened financial calamity.Capping weeks of political brinkmanship that had unnerved

DHAKA: A Canadian national working for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights has been released.Syrian state television reported on Thursday, eight months after he was reported to have been captured by rebel fighters, says The Jerusalem Post.The television channel

DHAKA: A suicide bomber driving a truck packed with explosives blew himself up in a village in northern Iraq, killing at least 11 people early on Thursday.Iraq police said, reports The Jerusalem Post.The attack targeted members of Iraq’s predominantly Shia Shabak minority in the village

DHAKA: Some 30 million people are enslaved worldwide, trafficked into brothels, forced into manual labour, victims of debt bondage or even born into servitude.A global index on modern slavery has shown, reports Hurriyet.Almost half are in India, where slavery ranges from bonded labour in

DHAKA: Rebels fighting president Bashar al-Assad’s government in southern Syria declared Wednesday that the main opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) had ‘failed’ and that they would no longer recognise the Western-backed group.The video statement signed by nearly 70 groups

DHAKA: What many commuters choking on smog have long suspected has finally been scientifically validated: air pollution causes lung cancer.The International Agency for Research on Cancer declared on Thursday that air pollution is a carcinogen, alongside known dangers such as asbestos,

DHAKA: A team of reporters from Sky News Arabia has gone missing in the contested city of Aleppo in northern Syria.The Abu Dhabi-based channel said on Thursday, reports gulfnews.com.Since Syria’s uprising erupted in March 2011, the country has become the most dangerous in the world for