The UN secretary general will visit Burma to seek the release of political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi.

The UN's top health official tells a swine flu forum in Mexico that the spread of the virus worldwide is now unstoppable.

The late Michael Jackson's ex-wife is undecided over whether to fight for custody of their two children, her lawyer says.

French investigators believe the Air France plane that crashed in the Atlantic broke up on contact with water, not in mid-air.

President Obama warns Moscow ahead of a visit that "Cold War approaches" to relations with the US belong in the past.

Police arrested 12 factory workers from Ashulia Thursday for alleged involvement in three days of riots earlier in the week over work conditions, pay and the killing of co-workers by law enforcement agencies.

Police arrested former MP Nazim Kamran Choudhury, the husband of former caretaker adviser Geeteara Safiya Choudhury, along with two close relatives, Thursday on charges of forcible occupation of a Gulshan property.

Police arrested businessman Nazim Kamran Choudhury, husband of former caretaker adviser Geeteara Safiya Choudhury, and two other close relatives on Thursday in a house grab case.

Police arrested two suspected JMB militants Thursday in a sting that also netted two alleged leaders of a newly formed splinter group known as 'Islam and Muslim'. The new group was formed by trained militants who were formerly members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, according to a statement given to reporters at a press briefing in the capital's Special Branch office.

The government is set to bring all Bangladesh's major cities under an extended digital mapping project, to better execute development programmes. An ECNEC meeting on Thursday, chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, approved the 'Improvement of the Digital Mapping System of Survey of Bangladesh' at an estimated cost of Tk 181.43 crore.

The government is yet to finalise plans for the new three-member Information Commission, although the Right to Information Act was passed by parliament ten days ago with retroactive effect from October 2008. "Our ministry has sent a letter to the housing and public works ministry requesting an office and logistical assistance for the commission," said information minister Abul Kalam Azad at his office Thursday.

President Zillur Rahman has called on government ministries and foreign missions to give all support to non-resident Bangladeshis so they in turn can do good for the country.

President Zillur Rahman has called on government ministries and foreign missions to give all support to non-resident Bangladeshis so they in turn can do good for the country.

Awami League spokesperson Syed Ashraful Islam, rejecting BNP's demands to take action against Indian high commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, said Thursday that the envoy did not overstep diplomatic norms in remarks about the Tipaimukh dam.

Second seed Serena Williams recovered from match point down to beat Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva 6-7 7-5 8-6 in a nailbiting semi-final at Wimbledon on Thursday.