One person has died and another has been seriously injured yesterday after shots were fired in the historic centre of the Austrian capital Vienna, an ambulance service spokesman told AFP.

Former Argentina president Cristina Kirchner, who has been accused of receiving tens of millions of dollars in bribes during her term in office, will go on trial for corruption, a federal court confirmed on Thursday.

Facebook's woes mounted Wednesday as it faced a lawsuit alleging privacy violations related to data leaked to a consultancy working on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, and as a new report suggested it shared more data with partners than it has acknowledged.

US President Donald Trump yesterday defended his surprise decision to declare victory over Islamic State militants in Syria and completely withdraw US troops from the country, amid criticism from some Republicans and concern from allies and some US military commanders.

African UN Security Council members scrapped Wednesday, for the second time in 10 days, voting on a draft resolution pushing for UN funds to support peace operations on the continent -- under threat from an American veto.

Former US president Barack Obama takes on a new high-profile role as Father Christmas on Wednesday for a surprise visit to sick children in Washington.

Human Rights Watch has said Myanmar should disband its inquiry commission on abuses in Rakhine state for its unwillingness to seriously investigate alleged grave crimes against the ethnic Rohingyas.

US prosecutors yesterday unsealed an indictment that charged two Chinese nationals with computer hacking attacks on a wide range of American government agencies and corporations including the Navy and the space agency Nasa, according to a court filing.

Returning officers in many constituencies are yet to start distributing leaflets containing a set of mandatory information about the candidates.

Jatiya Party (Zafar) leader TIM Fazley Rabbi, who was the BNP-led 20-party alliance candidate for Gaibandha-3, passed away at a hospital in the capital yesterday. He was 84.

Myanmar forces are conducting new rounds of "clearance operations" in conflict-hit Rakhine state after four local Buddhists were attacked and two killed, the commander-in-chief's office said yesterday, with one of the incidents blamed on Rohingya Muslims.

Two out of the nine members of a family, all of whom had suffered serious burns in a house fire in Narayanganj's Fatullah on Wednesday, died at the Burn Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday.

At least 12 people, including four of a family, were killed and 20 others injured when a bus and a human haulier collided head-on in Gopalganj Sadar upazila yesterday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the BNP and Jamaat have worked out two plans ahead of the election -- killing police officers and wooing them through bribes.

At least nine members of a family sustained burn injuries in fire at a flat in Fatullah in Narayanganj yesterday.

For the fourth time in a row, Bangladesh held the top position among South Asian countries in ensuring gender equality.

Abdul Latif Siddiqui, an independent candidate for Tangail-4, who has been fasting unto death since Monday protesting Sunday's attack on his motorcade, was hospitalised yesterday after falling sick.

Four policemen were injured when unidentified criminals vandalised a police vehicle in Tangail's Sakhipur upazila early yesterday, police said.

Although they can use each other's polls symbol, alliance partners cannot print the portrait of any political party chief other than their own, the Election Commission has decided.

The US Senate on Tuesday night overwhelmingly passed a sweeping federal criminal justice reform bill, paving the way for the most significant change to America's justice system in decades.