The second phase of the Biswa Ijtema, second largest congregation of Muslims after the holy Hajj, concluded yesterday on the Turag with Akheri Munajat seeking peace on earth and prosperity for the Muslim ummah.

Hundreds of right-wing demonstrators crowded a main square at Rotterdam's central station Saturday to protest what they describe as the "discrimination against ordinary Dutch citizens" in favour of immigrants and Muslims.

Two American and two Canadians who were kidnapped in an ambush by gunmen in northern Nigeria this week were freed on Saturday, police said.

Thousands of people were expected to take to the streets of northern Greece's biggest city Thessaloniki yesterday as hardliners seek to block any deal in the long-running name dispute between Athens and Skopje that contains the term Macedonia.

Aneek Aziz, son of Satkhira-1 lawmaker Mustafa Lutfullah, was found dead at their NAM flat on Manik Mia Avenue in the capital yesterday morning.

A Taliban assault on the Intercontinental Hotel in Afghanistan's capital killed at least 18 people, including 14 foreigners, and pinned security forces down for more than 12 hours before the last attacker was killed yesterday, with the casualty toll expected to rise.

The second phase of the Biswa Ijtema, the second largest congregation of the Muslims, ends today with Akheri Munajat or final supplications seeking divine blessings for people and the Muslim Ummah.

A housewife lost her life yesterday after a bus ran her over in city's Malibagh area. She was on her way with her husband to the home of a deceased family friend and pay her last respect.

A college girl was stabbed allegedly by her stalker in Mymensingh town on Friday.

Another worker died while extracting stones in an illegal operation in Shah Arefin Tila area at Companiganj upazila in Sylhet yesterday.

In the face of demonstration by a group of former Chhatra League leaders, the ruling Awami League yesterday put on hold its recently “announced” sub-committees.

Niazul Islam, a close aide of Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman, was not the only person who brandished a gun during the attack on Narayanganj Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy and her supporters on Tuesday.

Unidentified men allegedly picked up the owner of Lakehead Grammar School from in front of the school's Gulshan branch yesterday.

A group of as many as four gunmen attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in the Afghan capital Kabul last night, seizing hostages and exchanging fire with security forces as the building caught fire and residents and staff fled.

Two Chhatra League activists were injured in a factional clash of the student organisation on Chittagong University campus last night.

The lawyer of a prominent Chinese human rights attorney detained in Beijing said Saturday that the allegations against his client, who has been charged with disrupting public service, were "absurd".

Eleven people were killed and 46 injured when a Turkish intercity bus taking families bound for a half-term skiing trip crashed into trees while travelling on a motorway, local officials said.

Pakistani authorities yesterday suspended a senior police officer over the killing of a man in an alleged staged shootout that sparked anger and protests nationwide.

Teachers and employees of the MPO-enlisted schools and colleges on hunger strike are going to take any classes today.

The number of births in China fell last year even though the world's most populous country has relaxed its one-child policy to allow all couples to have two children.