DHAKA: Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday conceded defeat in Sri Lanka’s presidential election.The counting of votes, however, so far showed looks set to be won by opposition challenger Mithripala Sirisena, reports The Guardian.“The president conceded defeat at a meeting with opposition

DHAKA: Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan wed a TV journalist in a simple ceremony at his Islamabad home Thursday, ending years of speculation surrounding the former playboy cricketer widely considered his country’s most eligible man.Imran Khan, who is 62 and the father of two sons

DHAKA: Indonesian search and rescue teams plan to start lifting the crashed AirAsia jet’s tail off the sea bed on Friday, officials said, raising hopes that ‘black box’ recorders can be retrieved to reveal the cause of the disaster.Scores of divers plunged into the Java Sea on

DHAKA: The teenage face of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, 18-year-old Joshua Wong, slammed the authorities Thursday in a court appearance linked to mass protests which brought parts of the city to a standstill for months. Wong was one of 29 activists at the High Court for a

DHAKA: The bullet-riddled body of a kidnapped Pakistan Air Force officer was found in Balochistan province. Media reported on Thursday, says NDTV. The officer was kidnapped along with four others on January 4 from an area between provincial capital Quetta and Zhob district while they

DHAKA: France observed a minute of silence Thursday, broken only by church bells, in honour of the 12 people killed by extremists at a magazine known for publishing cartoons deemed offensive to Islam. At midday (local time), crowds of people stood silently in public squares, schools and

DHAKA: A policewoman was killed and a city employee was seriously hurt on Thursday after a man opened fire with an automatic rifle outside Paris, police said, but no link has yet been established with Wednesday’s deadly attack on a satirical magazine.The gunman is still on the run,

DHAKA: Reports from Syria say that some members of the religious police force set up by the militant group Islamic State (IS) have been kidnapped.Activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they had been ambushed and abducted by unknown gunmen in the eastern city of

DHAKA: A stunned and outraged France began a national day of mourning on Thursday, as security forces desperately hunted two brothers suspected of gunning down 12 people in an Islamist assault on a satirical weekly, the country’s bloodiest attack in half a century.The massacre triggered

DHAKA: Two Saudi men are facing jail after they were convicted of deliberately driving over a stray dog ten times until it was dead - and filming the despicable act of cruelty.In the footage, which quickly went viral on social media, one of the men is seen driving a 4x4 vehicle in an

DHAKA: Sri Lankans have started voting in a tightly fought presidential election in what is expected to be a fierce political battle for current President Mahinda Rajapaksa after a onetime ally suddenly defected from the ruling party to run against him.The November defection by former

DHAKA: The youngest of the three suspects in the deadly Paris attack Wednesday on the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo has surrendered to police in Charleville-Meziere, sources said.“Hamyd Mourad handed himself in to police… on Wednesday at 11:00 pm (2200 GMT) after

DHAKA: At least 12 people were killed when gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs and a rocket-launcher opened fire in the offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.Sources close to the investigation said, reports The Straits Times.Following the incident, the government

DHAKA: France raised its alert status for Paris to the highest level after gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs and a rocket-launcher opened fire in the offices of French satirical weekly ‘Charlie Hebdo’ on Wednesday, killing at least 12.The national security alert system was set to

DHAKA: Eleven people killed in attack at offices of satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, Paris prosecutors say.At least two gunmen have attacked the Paris office of French satirical magazine, French media report, says the BBC.Witnesses spoke of sustained gunfire at the office as the

DHAKA: For years, the Gates Foundation has been looking for a machine that could make contaminated water safe to drink. More than 2.5 billion people on earth have no reliable access to clean drinking water, so the humanitarian implications of such a machine would be immense. With the

DHAKA: A magnitude-6.6 earthquake struck off the west coast of Panama on Wednesday, about 261km south of the city of David.The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, reports The Straits Times.No tsunami warning was issued for the area following the quake, which was initially

DHAKA: Dozens of people have been killed or injured in a blast outside a police college in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.Security sources say, reports the BBC.Reports said a car bomb had been detonated near a crowd of students, but this could not be confirmed.Witnesses said the blast was heard

DHAKA: The tail of crashed AirAsia flight QZ8501 has been found in the Java Sea, the head of Indonesia’s search and rescue has said.The tail is where the crucial black box voice and flight data recorders are located which would give investigators clues as to what caused the crash.The

DHAKA: Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to an $84m (£55m) settlement with residents of the Bodo community in the Niger Delta for two oil spills.Lawyers for 15,600 Nigerian fishermen say their clients will receive $3,300 each for losses caused by the spills, reports BBC.The