A woman the Vatican described as unstable jumped over a barricade, lunged at Pope Benedict and knocked him to the floor at the start of his Christmas Eve mass in St Peter's Basilica.

The 82-year-old pope was apparently not harmed and went on to finish the two-hour service late on Thursday, but an elderly

At least 11,516 people around the globe have died from the H1N1 flu virus since the pandemic emerged in April, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Wednesday.

But in its weekly update, which showed an increase in officially reported deaths of nearly 1,000 since its last report, it said the disease appeared to have peaked or plateaued in Western Europe and North America while transmission was declining in parts of Asia.

The government hopes to add another 1,360 megawatts to the power-starved national grid within the next three months, the state minister for power said Thursday.

State minister Enamul Haque told a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on power that the government would be able to add at least 4,000 MW during its five-year term, ending in 2014, to reduce power outages and boost industrial production.

Bangladesh has sent a draft deal to Kathmandu, ahead of prime minister Sheikh Hasina's India visit next month, to activate a 1976 transit treaty allowing Nepal to use Mongla port for export of goods to a third country.

Government officials say Bangladesh and Nepal are ready to sign the deal to activate the transit agreement, which will also allow goods-laden trucks and trains to enter each others' territory.

Sweden described the Copenhagen climate change summit as a "disaster" and a "great failure" on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of European Union environment ministers to discuss how to rescue the process.

The European Union went to Copenhagen with the hope of achieving a broad commitment to at least a 20-percent cut in carbon emissions below 1990 levels within 10 years, but that and other firm goals failed to emerge in the final accord.

Autism, a brain disorder that interferes with communication and social skills, affected an estimated one in 110 American 8-year-olds in 2006, according to a federal study released Friday.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at the medical diagnoses of 307,790 children who were age 8 in 2006. They found 2,757, or 0.9 percent, had been diagnosed with autism.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will hand over awards to the three students who secured top positions in the new primary education terminal examination, an official of the primary and mass education ministry said Wednesday.

The ministry published the results on Tuesday with overall pass rate at 88.84 percent.
The examination was held on Nov 21, 22 and 23.

New chief justice Mohammed Tafazzul Islam was sworn in to office on Wednesday.

The prime minister, attorney general and Supreme Court judges were present as President Zillur Rahman administered the oath at Bangabhaban at 9:30am, Md Shawkat Hossain, registrar of the Supreme Court told bdnews24.com.

Finance minister AMA Muhith has hinted at lowering the proportion of paid-up capital in offloading of a company share to prop up the stock market.

On November 5, the finance ministry decided that from now on a company will have to go for launching initial public offering (IPO) with minimum of 40 percent of its paid up capital.

Use of small arms, rather than bombs, is becoming more popular among extremists, including cadres of the Islamist outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), RAB sources believe.

The elite force's assumption is based on the recovered arms and information from the recently arrested JMB members.

Opposition BNP has withdrawn its expulsion order for former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, his assistant said on Saturday.

Haidar Ali told bdnews24.com that a letter containing the withdrawal of his expulsion order had been received at Babar's residence.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani stepped down on Friday months after he led the Hindu nationalists to heavy defeat in the general election, officals said.

Party stalwart Advani will move to a largely ceremonial role specially created for him and will be replaced by Sushma Swaraj, a former cabinet minister, as party leader in the Lok Sabha.

UN climate talks avoided complete failure on Saturday by formally acknowledging a new US-led accord for combating global warming despite opposition from several nations.

"The conference of the parties takes note of the Copenhagen Accord," said a final decision at the 193-nation talks that stopped short of endorsing the deal.

Coffee, tea, or decaf-no matter what your choice, drinking any of these beverages may reduce your risk of diabetes, according to a new analysis of 18 studies including hundreds of thousands of people.

A 2005 research review concluded that people who drank the most coffee were one-third less likely to develop diabetes than those who drank the least, Dr. Rachel Huxley of The University of Sydney, Australia, and colleagues note.

Abu Dhabi bailed out neighbouring Dubai on Monday with $10 billion in surprise aid for debt-laden Dubai World, driving stock markets higher, but Dubai said creditors still needed to approve a standstill on outstanding debt.

Dubai said $4.1 billion of the money received from Abu Dhabi was allocated to property developer Nakheel to repay its Islamic bond maturing on Monday. Nakheel said it would repay the bond over the next two weeks.

A car bomb near the home of a Pakistani provincial government minister killed 20 people on Tuesday, a police official said, in another sign authorities are struggling against Taliban militants bent on grabbing power.

Militants who want no Western influence in nuclear-armed Pakistan, which Washington sees as critical in the battle against Islamist hardliners in Afghanistan, have not let up attacks, despite security crackdowns in their strongholds.

Just three days before world leaders are expected at the table to seal a UN climate pact, ministers in Copenhagen were struggling to break deadlock that threatens to derail the whole process.

Organizers of the talks said environment ministers would work deep into night to narrow wide differences, saying the bulk of the work must be complete before some 130 leaders formally join the Dec 7-18 meeting on Thursday.

Bangladesh celebrates Victory Day anew this year, following two successive years of muted celebrations under emergency rule.

A 21-gun salute at dawn will herald the day, followed by laying of wreaths at the National Memorial in Savar, led by the president, to commemorate those who gave their lives for independence.

The progress in introduction of online collection of vehicular tax, an initiative taken about one and a half years ago, is painfully slow.

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) officials said the tender proposals submitted by firms seeking to provide the online system is still being evaluated.

Bangladesh Cricket Board has provisionally picked 'ex-rebels' Shahriar Nafees, Aftab Ahmed and Alok Kapali, banned last year from representing their country after joining the lucrative but unauthorised Indian Cricket League, for an upcoming tri-nation series.

It marks BCB's first selection of the top players, along with wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh, since the ban was lifted following their departure from the rebel ICL.