The Bangl-adesh police fired live rounds on Saturday in fresh clashes with supporters of the country’s largest Islamic party whose leaders are standing trial for war crimes, killing two people.

The Barack Obama administration took another step toward institutionalising gay marriage, formally asking the US Supreme Court to strike down a 1996 law defining marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman.

Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage drama Argo goes into Oscars weekend a whisker ahead of Steven Spielberg’s presidential Lincoln, but the race is one of the most unpredictable in recent memory. Veteran director Spielberg, bidding for his first best picture Oscar since Schindler’s List in 1994, tops the nominations with 12 nods — but Argo has cleaned up in Hollywood’s awards season so far, despite having only seven.

There are better looking tin cans but they rarely have such a good pedigree as the rusty, armour-plated bus once used by Margaret Thatcher and sold in Britain for nearly £17,000.

Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed left the Indian embassy in the capital Male on Saturday, 10 days after seeking refuge in the mission in a bid to avoid arrest.

Devastating bowling from Steven Finn and a solid top-order batting display gave England a five wicket win over New Zealand in the deciding one-day international at Eden Park today to claim the series 2-1.

Thousands of people in Hong Kong contacted city authorities today saying they had felt the ground shaking following an earthquake across the border in southern China, an official said.

A powerful car bomb exploded near the ruling Baath party headquarters in the Syrian capital today, killing at least 31 people, wounding dozens and leaving a trail of destruction, a watchdog said.

Armed pirates who stormed an oil service ship off Nigeria have kidnapped six foreigners and demanded a $1.3 million ransom for their release, the police and military said on Wednesday.

North Korea has released a new propaganda video showing US soldiers and President Barack Obama burning in the flames of a nuclear blast.