DHAKA: After four days of intense diplomacy, US state secretary John Kerry headed home on Monday, insisting progress had been made despite failing to agree a framework to guide Israeli-Palestinian talks.On his 10th visit to the region as US top diplomat, Kerry spent hours locked in

DHAKA: Syria’s main opposition National Coalition re-elected Ahmad Jarba as its leader during a general assembly meeting in Istanbul, the coalition said in a statement.Jarba won 65 votes, beating his only rival Riad Hijab, the best-known defector from the regime of president Bashar

DHAKA: A Chinese tycoon said on Monday he is serious about buying the New York Times and wants to work on ‘rebuilding its credibility and influence’ by reforming its award-winning coverage of China.Chen Guangbiao, listed as one of China’s 400 richest people and a man known as much

DHAKA: Airline passengers to Kuwait are to face routine fingerprinting starting Monday following the installation of scanners at the airport.The move is one more option to tighten control at the border and ensure the identification and apprehension of visitors who may be involved in

DHAKA: German chancellor Angela Merkel was injured in a fall while cross-country skiing in Switzerland over the winter holidays and has cancelled meetings in the next three weeks.Merkel’s spokesman said on Monday, reports The Straits Times.Steffen Seibert told reporters that Merkel had

DHAKA: An Indonesian court jailed an Islamic extremist for seven and a half years on Monday over an ‘evil’ plot to bomb the Myanmar embassy to avenge the killing of Rohingya Muslims.Achmad Taufiq is one of several men to have gone on trial over the May plot, which came amid anger in

DHAKA: At least 10 people were killed and another nine wounded on Monday in an explosion at the home of a tribal leader in a restive area of north-west Pakistan.Pakistan officials said, reports The Straits Times.The blast came in a remote village close to the Afghan border in Tirah

DHAKA: A Turkish photographer kidnapped while covering the civil war in neighbouring Syria has returned home after being freed from weeks in captivity, his newspaper said on Monday.Bunyamin Aygun, who works for the newspaper Milliyet, was taken hostage by radical Islamists in mid-December

DHAKA: A Saudi court has jailed five people for up to 30 years on charges including plotting to blow up an oil refinery on behalf of Al-Qaeda.Saudi state media reported on Monday, says The Straits Times.The official SPA news agency gave no details of when the alleged plot against the

DHAKA: Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki called for residents and tribes to expel ‘terrorists’ holding Fallujah to prevent fighting in the city.Iraqiya state TV reported on Monday, says The Straits Times.Maliki called on ‘the people of Fallujah and its tribes to expel the

DHAKA: Pope Francis said on Sunday he will make his first trip to the Holy Land, visiting Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem in May.‘In the climate of joy typical of this Christmas period, I would like to announce that from May 24 to 26, God willing, I will carry out a pilgrimage to the

DHAKA: Afghanistan will release 88 prisoners as planned even though the United States considers them dangerous and wants them to remain in detention.The board reviewing their cases told media, reports The Jerusalem Post.The prisoners are being held at a jail at the Bagram air base north

DHAKA: One person died and at least seven others were injured Sunday after a three-alarm fire broke out in a New York City high-rise, authorities said.Daniel McClung, 27, was remembered by a close friend as a brilliant and beautiful person, inside and out. McClung was a playwright, a deep

DHAKA: Sudan`s President Omar al-Bashir is to travel to Juba for talks with President Salva Kiir over the conflict in South Sudan, state media say.Fighting is continuing in South Sudan as the warring parties meet in Ethiopia to try to agree a ceasefire. So far no substantive progress has

DHAKA: Retired US basketball player Dennis Rodman is taking a team to North Korea for a match marking leader Kim Jong-un`s birthday.Rodman and the team of former US National Basketball Association (NBA) players were to fly from Beijing on Monday ahead of Wednesday`s match, reports

DHAKA: The United States is expected to see the coldest temperatures in almost 20 years as an arctic cold front descends on 140 million people. Much of the United States will see the coldest temperatures in almost 20 years, according to the National Weather Service. They are expected to

DHAKA: Fourteen people have been killed and 10 injured in a stampede at a mosque in China`s northwest Ningxia region, according to state media.It happened as traditional food was being handed out at an event to commemorate a religious leader, Xinhua news agency said.An investigation is

DHAKA: A South Sudan army general has been killed in an ambush as government forces advance on the rebel-held town of Bor.In Ethiopia, meanwhile, efforts to get the warring parties in South Sudan to agree a ceasefire continue.Detailed talks between negotiating teams are due to start on

DHAKA: A Polish woman was drugged and raped as she travelled to the Indian capital with her two-year-daughter, police said Sunday, the latest in a string of sexual attacks on women in the country.The woman, 33, and her daughter were travelling in a taxi from the city of Mathura where they

DHAKA: Iraqi security forces are preparing a ‘major attack’ to retake the city of Fallujah from al-Qaida-linked militants, a senior government official said on Sunday.‘Iraqi forces are preparing for a major attack in Fallujah,’ the official told media, reports The Times of