An hours-long gun and suicide attack on a Kabul government compound killed at least 43 people, officials said yesterday, making it one of the deadliest assaults on the Afghan capital this year.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's petitions seeking the Supreme Court's permission to contest the December 30 polls may not be heard before the election, as the court, which is now on annual vacation, will reopen on January 2.

A Tunisian journalist has died after setting himself on fire, officials said, in a protest over harsh living conditions that prompted overnight clashes with police in the country's west.

British Security Minister Ben Wallace said Monday the government can now deploy drone detection systems nationwide, after days of device sightings caused chaos at Gatwick Airport and criticism of the government response.

North Korea yesterday hit back at a latest UN resolution that condemned Pyongyang's rights abuses, calling it a "serious... provocation" that would undermine peace efforts on the Korean peninsula.

The governor of the Mexican state of Puebla and her husband, a senator and former governor, were killed on Monday in a helicopter crash, the country's president said.

The mobile internet may be downgraded on the election day as well as the day before and after it, said officials who attended a meeting at the Election Commission yesterday.

Jatiya Party Central Committee Vice President and local lawmaker Shawkat Chowdhury has allegedly been directing his followers to campaign for his rival BNP candidate Amzad Hossain Sarker ever since his nomination for Nilphamari-4 was cancelled.

A Nasa spacecraft is hurtling toward a historic New Year's Day flyby of the most distant planetary object ever studied, a frozen relic of the early solar system called Ultima Thule.

Dozens of filled body bags were hauled away from buildings flattened by Indonesia's volcano-triggered tsunami yesterday, as the death toll climbed to 373 and search teams pushed on with the grim hunt for corpses.

The United States has urged Bangladesh to do more to ensure a free election, blaming government foot-dragging on issuing visas for the cancelation of an international monitoring mission.

Former Pakistani leader Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption yesterday, state media reported, the latest conviction in a series of allegations which saw him ousted from power last year.

The world of music has lost another of its much-revered artistes, Dwijen Mukhopadhyay whose contributions have enriched it for more than half a century.

The BNP has virtually been sidelined in its Lakshmipur stronghold while its rival Awami League's campaigning has been going on in full swing.

The tussle in the Awami League camp of Munshiganj-3 seems to have subsided following a rebel campaigning for the nominee.

Air tickets for domestic and international tourist destinations have become scarce since the middle of this month, due to the ongoing rush of holidaymakers.

Australia will introduce new surveillance technology for a "crackdown" on drones next year, aviation authorities said yesterday, as concerns mount over their increasing prevalence in public areas.

A famous Turkish actor yesterday testified to Istanbul prosecutors after authorities opened a probe into whether comments he made on television threatened President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with death, local media reported.

A volcano-triggered tsunami leaves at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia's Sunda Strait, officials says, voicing fears that the toll would rise further.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia files separate petitions with the Supreme Court, seeking stay on the High Court order that rejected her three writ petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision to uphold cancellation of her nomination papers by the returning officers.