DHAKA: Iran’s foreign minister has expressed cautious optimism about upcoming talks on Iran`s nuclear programme, saying the issue is ‘not insoluble’.World powers and Iran are due to meet in Geneva later on Thursday for a further round of discussions.Iran foreign minister Javad Zarif

DHAKA: Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been released from house arrest and is free to move around the country, prison officials say.It comes days after he was bailed over the 2007 army operation to oust militants from Islamabad’s Red Mosque, the last legal case

FROM KUALA LUMPUR: Through social business Malaysia is now initiating mission to change the world. Arranging fifth Global Social Business Summit (GSBS), Malaysia, also known as Asian tiger, wants to change the format of social business.    The social business which was started by Nobel

DHAKA: Swiss scientists who conducted tests on samples taken from Yasser Arafat’s body have found at least 18 times the normal levels of radioactive polonium in his remains. The scientists said that they were confident up to an 83 percent level that the late Palestinian leader was

DHAKA: The late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with radioactive polonium, says a Swiss forensic report obtained by al-Jazeera.Arafat`s official medical records say he died in 2004 from a stroke resulting from a blood disorder.But his body was exhumed last year

DHAKA: A bomb exploded in a central square of Damascus on Wednesday, killing eight people and wounding several othersSyria’s state news agency said, reports The Jerusalem Post.The SANA report said the blast hit Hejaz square, in the heart of the capital, but offered no further details as

DHAKA: Kazakhstan foreign minister Yerlan Idrisov said he does not rule out the possibility that the final round of the negotiations between Iran and the international Sextet (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) on the Iranian nuclear programme will be held in

DHAKA: Enlisting the help of a computer-generated 10-year-old Philippine girl, Dutch children’s rights activists turned online sex predators into their prey.In an online sting operated from an anonymous warehouse office in an Amsterdam industrial park, activists from Terre des Hommes

DHAKA: Chinese cities should close schools, cut working hours and stop outdoor activities during the most severe spells of air pollution.China’s environmental protection ministry said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.‘Every possible compulsory measure’ must be taken to cut

DHAKA: Colombia is preparing a letter of protest to Russia after two Russian bomber planes twice entered the Andean nation’s airspace without authorization when flying between Venezuela and Nicaragua last week.Colombia president Juan Manuel Santos said on Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post

DHAKA: Workers in Greece are holding a 24-hour general strike over continuing cuts as international lenders decide whether to unlock further bailout money.Flights and other transport are being disrupted by action in both the public and private sectors, and schools and hospitals are also

DHAKA: The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a record high in 2012, continuing an ever-faster rise that is driving climate change.The United Nations weather agency said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.In an annual report on greenhouse gases, the World Meteorological

DHAKA: Myanmar may release scores of political prisoners this month to fulfil a promise by its reformist president to free prisoners of conscience by the end of this year.A member of a state-appointed panel said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.A 19-member committee set up by

DHAKA: Iran’s government should legalise access to social-networking websites including Twitter and Facebook.Iran’s culture and Islamic guidance minister Ali Jannati says, reports gulfnews.com.‘Not only Facebook, but other social networks should be accessible and the illegal

DHAKA: Two of the European teams investigating the reasons for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s death have already submitted their results to a special Palestinian committee in Geneva.Official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post publishes this report

DHAKA: US state secretary John Kerry will hold talks on Wednesday with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to try to keep the peace process from collapsing, urging them to reach a long-elusive deal.Only a few hours after Kerry arrived on Tuesday in Israel on a new mission to bring the two

DHAKA: The United Nations has hailed peace talks between Myanmar’s government and armed ethnic minority groups as a ‘significant move’ towards ending decades of civil war in the former junta-ruled nation.The meeting in the conflict-torn northern state of Kachin on November 4 to 5

DHAKA: Democrats have won key elections in New York City and the state of Virginia, in the first major round of polls since president Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012.Preliminary results show Bill de Blasio will replace three-term Mayor Michael Bloomberg to become the first Democrat

DHAKA: Apple has revealed details of requests it has received from governments across the globe to share customer data.The US government, which made between 1,000 and 2,000 requests in the six months to 30 June, topped the list.The firm said the US requests affected 2,000 to 3,000

DHAKA: A series of small blasts have killed at least one person outside a provincial office of the ruling Communist Party in northern China, state media report.The blasts in Taiyuan in Shanxi province appeared to have been caused by home-made bombs, Xinhua reported.It said eight people