The death toll from Saturday night's twin bombings in Istanbul has risen to 44, of whom 36 were police officers, Health Minister Recep Akdag was cited as saying by state-run Anadolu agency and other media on Monday.

With a cannon blast and a piercing whistle, Britain and France on Friday marked 100 years since soldiers emerged from their trenches to begin one of the bloodiest battles of World War I at the River Somme.

Like in the first phase, violence and irregularities marked the second-phase polls to union parishads yesterday, leaving at least eight people dead and around 130 others wounded in clashes and firing. One of the dead is a 10-year-old boy, who went with his uncle to see voting, and another a Dhaka University student who went to his village ahead of the polls.