DHAKA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar of Indian state of Bihar on Saturday said India prime minister Manmohan Singh’s press conference Friday was only meant to bid farewell to public life.‘There is nothing more to react to the Prime Minister’s press conference other than it being a

DHAKA: Pakistan’s home ministry on Saturday said they were not immediately lifting a travel ban on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who suffered a heart problem on the way to his treason trial earlier this week.The 70-year-old former ruler was taken ill and rushed to a military

DHAKA: Afghan president Hamid Karzai has delayed the release from jail of 88 suspected Taliban fighters following complaints from the United States that they could return to the battlefield.Afghan officials said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.The planned release had angered US

DHAKA: A Chinese frigate which will help escort Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons out of the country docked in Cyprus on Saturday as part of a delayed international mission.The Yancheng, a missile frigate, will accompany a Norwegian-Danish convoy which is in international waters off

DHAKA: A newly formed Syrian rebel alliance has declared war on the powerful Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and joined other opposition groups in battling the extremists.‘We, the Army of the Mujahideen, pledge to defend ourselves and our honour, wealth

DHAKA: At least 11 people were killed in different incidents of violence in Karachi on Saturday.DawnNews reported.Unknown gunmen opened indiscriminate fire at a juice shop near Maskan Chowrangi in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, killing the shop owner and two other people whereas four others sustained

DHAKA: Majid al-Majid, the commander of the al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, has died in custody in a hospital in Lebanon, state media say.Majid al-Majid, a Saudi who is on Saudi Arabia`s most-wanted-terrorists list, was arrested in Beirut recently.An army general told media the

DHAKA: Face-to-face talks between warring parties in South Sudan have been delayed, government and rebel delegations said on Saturday, dashing hopes of a swift ceasefire to end raging battles and risks of all-out civil war.South Sudan information minister Michael Makuei, part of the

DHAKA: An Indonesian volcano that has erupted relentlessly for months shot volcanic ash into the air 30 times on Saturday, forcing further evacuations with more than 20,000 people now displaced.An Indonesian official said, reports The Straits Times.Mount Sinabung on the western island of

DHAKA: The Iraqi government has lost control of the city of Fallujah, which is now held by Al-Qaeda-linked militants.A senior security official in Anbar province said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.‘Fallujah is under the control of ISIL,’ the official said, referring to the

DHAKA: Dozens of journalists protested on Saturday in Malaysia against the suspension of a weekly magazine, urging the Southeast Asian nation to allow greater press freedom.The Heat stopped publication last month after the Home Ministry suspended it, saying it had violated its printing

DHAKA: A shallow earthquake of 5.9 magnitude struck off the coast of Chile on Friday, the US Geological Survey reported.There were no immediate reports of damage.The quake’s epicentre was located 71km southwest of Iquique, Chile, at a depth of 7.3 km.BDST: 1522 HRS, JAN 04, 2014Edited

DHAKA: The Obama administration announced it was taking two new executive actions on gun control, proposing a regulation to clarify gun restrictions for the mentally ill and another that would make it easier to add information about mental health restrictions into the federal background

DHAKA: Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a decree lifting a blanket ban on political protests at the Sochi Winter Olympics, bowing to pressure from the International Olympic Committee.The decree allows demonstrations and marches at locations or along routes that must be

DHAKA: At least four striking garment workers were killed and 22 injured as military police opened fire in Phnom Penh, in the third and worst day so far of clashes, which followed weeks of protests against the government.Violence and arson were being reported from the capital’s Veng

DHAKA: Direct talks aimed at ending weeks of violence in South Sudan are due to begin.They would come a day after delegations from the warring parties met mediators in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, reports BBC.Ethiopia`s Foreign Affairs Minister Tedros Adhanom said the initial

DHAKA: In a few days, people in the Midwest and Northern Plains will have reason to be jealous of what their countrymen in the Northeast are going through now -- digging out from as much as 2 feet of snow, dealing with the effect of blizzard-level winds, and feeling the heat of below-zero

DHAKA: The Chinese ice-breaker that helped rescue passengers stranded on the Akademik Shokalskiy vessel in Antarctica is now stuck itself.An Australian ice-breaker carrying the rescued passengers is no longer on standby and is returning to shore, reports BBC.On Thursday, a helicopter from

DHAKA: Thailand’s anti-government protest movement reasured tourists Friday that it would not target the kingdom’s airports or public transportation during a planned ‘shutdown’ of Bangkok later this month.The demonstrators, who are seeking to oust prime minister Yingluck

DHAKA: South Sudan rebels are retreating as the army pushes to retake the key town of Bor, the military said on Friday, as battles rage despite peace efforts to end the conflict.‘We have enough forces who will defeat the rebels within 24 hours,’ army spokesman Philip Aguer told