Bangladesh

16 charged in Bangladesh for burning girl alive

Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 19, was doused with kerosene and set on fire on the roof of her Islamic school on 6 April, days after filing a complaint.

Headmaster Siraj Ud Doula, targeted in the complaint, is among those charged.

Police say he ordered her murder from prison when she refused to withdraw her accusations against him.

They described the preparations for the killing as being like a "military plan".

The case sparked mass protests in Bangladesh and shone a spotlight on the vulnerability of victims of sexual assault and harassment in the country.

De Villiers guides Proteas to big win

De Villiers smashed his highest ODI score of 176 from 104 balls as South Africa won the second match in Paarl by 104 runs.

South Africa made 353 for six in their 50 overs having been asked to bat, before restricting the visitors to 249 all out in 47.5 overs in their reply.

De Villiers was involved in a third wicket partnership of 136 with Hashim Amla (85 from 92 balls) and 117 for the fourth with JP Duminy (30 from 30 balls) as he thumped 15 fours and seven sixes, making batting look easy on a slow wicket.

Bangladesh hold nerve to beat New Zealand

The result saw the Tigers claim their first triumph over the Black Caps outside of Bangladesh and also served as a dose of revenge for last week's four-wicket loss against the same side. 

Fittingly, Mahmudullah (46) struck the winning runs in a contest that saw him surpass 3,000 runs in one-day internationals, as Bangladesh enjoyed a pre-ICC Champions Trophy morale boost.

After the early loss of Luke Ronchi (2), New Zealand upped the run rate as captain Tom Latham (84) and Neil Broom (63) compiled a 133-run partnership.

Toddler born with three legs going home to Bangladesh after surgery in Australia

Choity Khatun, who is three, was born with caudal twinning, meaning that part of a twin had developed in her pelvis.

Australian surgeons spent months working out how to remove the extra limb and reconstruct her pelvic area.

The toddler was brought to Australia from her village in Bangladesh by a charity, Children First Foundation.

Dr Chris Kimber, head of surgery at Monash Children's Hospital in Victoria, said Choity's case was very rare and the surgery had been "daunting".

Bangladesh executes Islamist for 2004 British envoy attack

Mufti Abdul Hannan, the leader of Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (HuJI), was hanged at the same time as two associates on Wednesday.

All had been found guilty of the 2004 attack at a 14th-Century Sufi shrine in Sylhet, in which three people died.

The British high commissioner, Anwar Choudhury, sustained leg injuries.

Mr Choudhury, who was born in Sylhet, was just 18 days into the job when he was caught up in the attempt on his life.

'I escaped death by reciting from the Koran'

Emerging from the appalling, bloody debris are stories of immense courage. There are also unanswered questions about what happened to some of those who died.

It was about 20:45 on a Friday evening just before the Islamic festival of Eid. The restaurant - the Holey Artisan Bakery and O'Kitchen in Gulshan, Dhaka's leafiest, most exclusive area - was filling up, mostly with Japanese and Italian customers.

Suddenly, the five young militants burst in shooting and began hacking at the diners with sharp weapons.

Bangladesh hangs Islamist tycoon Mir Quasem Ali

Media tycoon Mir Quasem Ali, 63, of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was sentenced to death two years ago.

He had been convicted of offences including murder and torture committed during the war with Pakistan.

The tycoon was hanged at a high-security prison outside Dhaka on Saturday evening.

He was arrested in 2010 and convicted in 2014. He declined to seek a presidential pardon, which would have required an admission of guilt.

Elephant carried by flood waters from India to Bangladesh

The four-ton female was separated from its herd in floods in northeast India in late June.

It is thought to have traveled around 620 miles, a journey that included crossing the mighty Brahmaputra River, on its way to northern Bangladesh.

The animal first became separated from the herd in Assam, India. The weak and exhausted beast spent several weeks stranded in a flooded area and nearly drowned in a rescue attempt Thursday.

But Friday -- World Elephant Day -- the pachyderm finally set its feet back on dry land.

Bangladesh: Hidden fault could trigger major quake

But the millions of tons of sediment that pile up in the delta region of these rivers, a large portion of Bangladesh, could be hiding the biggest natural disaster the region has ever seen.

Cyclone Roanu leaves thousands of Bangladeshis homeless

The storm on Saturday ploughed through low-lying villages in the Chittagong and Barisal regions, where residents described seeing metres-high walls of water that caught some unaware.

Authorities evacuated more than 500,000 people to shelters before the cyclone hit with winds of up to 88 kilometres per hour. They later weakened.