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

DHAKA: Saudi authorities rounded up thousands of illegal foreign workers at the start of a nationwide crackdown ultimately aimed at creating more jobs for locals.Hundreds of thousands of workers have already left the kingdom following a grace period of seven months during which

DHAKA: Space is vast, but it may not be so lonely after all: A study finds the Milky Way is teeming with billions of planets that are about the size of Earth, orbit stars just like our sun, and exist in the Goldilocks zone, not too hot and not too cold for life.Astronomers using NASA data

DHAKA: UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met US and Russian officials on Tuesday to discuss convening long-delayed Syrian peace talks this year despite disputes over president Bashar al-Assad’s future and whether his ally Iran can attend.Hours earlier, Damascus reiterated that Assad will stay in

DHAKA: UN nuclear agency chief Yukiya Amano is expected to visit Tehran on November 11, Iranian state television said on Tuesday, a possible sign of progress in a long-stalled investigation into suspected nuclear arms research by Tehran.After years of worsening confrontation with the

DHAKA: The Democratic Republic of Congo’s M23 rebel group has declared an end to its 20-month rebellion, saying it is ready to disarm and demobilise troops and pursue a political solution to end the crisis in the east of the country.The M23 declaration was issued hours after government

DHAKA: They work hard, sniffing out crime with only the occasional pat on the nose in gratitude.But police dogs deserve better, according to the police and crime commissioner in the English county of Nottinghamshire, who wants to reward them with ‘pensions’ on retirement.Paddy Tipping

DHAKA: The West has been exploring a plan to offer Iran a portion of the country’s frozen oil revenues to advance nuclear talks set for later this week.The Times of London reported overnight Monday, The Jerusalem Post publishes this report on Tuesday.According to the report, the

DHAKA: The Philippine defence chief says disagreements in negotiations between US and Filipino officials may prevent an early conclusion of an accord allowing an increase in American military presence in the country.US and Filipino officials began negotiations in August on a defence

DHAKA: China and India began a joint anti-terrorism drill on Tuesday, the first such exercise by the Asian powers, which have a sometimes-fraught relationship, for five years.The world’s two most populous countries each sent one company of soldiers to Chengdu, in the southwestern

DHAKA: A mortar round hit the Vatican embassy in Damascus on Tuesday morning, damaging the building but causing no casualties.A diplomatic source said, reports The Voice of Russia.‘A mortar round fell this morning at 6:30am (0430 GMT) on the embassy rooftop, causing only material

DHAKA: Russia insisted on Tuesday that Iran must be invited to peace negotiations on Syria that world powers hope to hold in Geneva later this month.‘All those who affect the situation must be invited to the conference,’ Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters, says

DHAKA: Heavy shooting from guns and anti-aircraft weapons erupted early on Tuesday in the Libyan capital Tripoli.The fighting occurred between militias in the eastern Suq al-Juma area, said a militia source with government ties, adding that he had no further information.Media reporters in

DHAKA: China says its top nuclear envoy is in North Korea to discuss stalled six-nation talks aimed at ending that country’s nuclear programme.China foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Tuesday that Wu Dawei arrived in North Korea a day earlier for a ‘work discussion’.He says

DHAKA: India launched its first rocket to Mars on Tuesday, aiming to put a satellite in orbit around the red planet at a lower cost than previous missions and potentially positioning the emerging Asian nation as a budget player in the global space race.The Mars Orbiter Mission blasted off

DHAKA: Three people were killed on Monday when a man armed with a knife hijacked a bus in western Norway, police said.The suspected hijacker, a man in his 50s of foreign origin, has been arrested, police officer Joern Lasse Foerde Refsnes told the TV2 Nyhetskanalen news channel.‘For

DHAKA: India is preparing to launch a robotic spacecraft towards the Red Planet, a first for the South Asian country.The head of India’s space agency told the BBC the mission would demonstrate the technological capability to reach Mars orbit and carry out experiments.The Mars Orbiter

DHAKA: When Vernon Maynard’s friends asked him what he wished he had done in his 100 years of life, the Southern California man said he had always wanted to jump from a plane with a parachute.The retired car dealer got the chance to mark his centenarian birthday on Monday by doing just