DHAKA: Syrian insurgents pressed a new assault in the strategic, heavily-defended southwestern suburbs of Damascus on Tuesday, saying they aimed to break an army blockade of rebel-held areas.Rebels fired mortars at government forces while army shelling hit the suburb of Derayya, the scene

DHAKA: United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki Moon on Tuesday called on states to stop sending weapons to the Syria conflict as the United States and Russia wrangled over destroying Syria’s chemical weapons.‘I appeal to all states to stop fuelling the bloodshed and to end the arms

DHAKA: A strong earthquake of magnitude struck Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan on Tuesday, killing up to 46 people, officials said.Khairjan Baloch, Political Secretary to Chief Minister Balochistan and a former administrator in the worst-affected Awaran district

DHAKA: Russia hopes the UN Security Council will reach agreement this week on a resolution supporting a deal for Syria to abandon its chemical weapons, but there is no guarantee.Russia deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.Ryabkov, speaking in

DHAKA: A meeting between Iran’s top diplomats and world powers at the United Nations this week will start a ‘new era’ in efforts to end the dispute with the West over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.The Iranian foreign ministry said on Tuesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.It

DHAKA: A strong earthquake of magnitude struck the Dalbandin area in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people.Deputy Commissioner Awaran, Abdul Rasheed Baloch confirmed the death 10 people – all from the province’s far-flung Awaran

DHAKA: A deadly blast rocked south Damascus on Tuesday, state television reported, with a monitoring group putting the death toll from what it said was a car bombing at seven.State television said in a breaking news alert that there had been dead and wounded in the ‘terrorist

DHAKA: Chinese military officials will have to undergo an audit before they can retire or be promoted, state media reported on Tuesday, in the latest measure in the leadership’s campaign against corruption.The audit will encompass officials’ ‘real estate property, their use of

DHAKA: A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck the Dalbandin area in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Tuesday.The US Geological Survey said, reports dawn.com.Balochistan provincial home secretary Asad Gilani confirmed the death of one person and eight injured in Awaran district of

DHAKA: Several people have been killed and wounded in an explosion in the Syrian capital, Damascus.Syrian state TV reports, says the BBC.The state new agency Sana said a ‘terrorist bombing’ attack had taken place in the Tadamon district in the south of the capital.Tadamon has been a

DHAKA: A powerful earthquake of 7.8-magnitude has struck a remote area in south-west Pakistan.The United States Geological Survey says, reports the BBC.It struck at 16:29 local time (11:29 GMT) at a depth of 23km, 145 miles south-east of Dalbandin in Balochistan province, USGS adds.It was

DHAKA: Heavy monsoon rains exacerbated by Typhoon Usagi have pounded parts of Vietnam and Cambodia killing at least 36 people, the authorities said on Tuesday, with many swept to their deaths in floods.Despite not being directly hit by Usagi, the world’s most powerful storm this year,

DHAKA: Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is scheduled to meet with foreign ministers of the six major powers, including US state secretary John Kerry, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday.The agreement was made during a meeting in New

DHAKA: A renegade faction of a Muslim rebel group engaged in peace talks with the Philippine government released 13 hostages on Tuesday after attacking a banana processing plant in the southern Philippines on Monday, sources said.Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF),

DHAKA: Pope Francis urged countries on Tuesday to welcome and respect migrants and refugees and not treat them as ‘pawns on the chessboard of humanity’.Pope Francis, who has made the defence of the poor and vulnerable a cornerstone of his papacy, said in a message for the World Day of

DHAKA: A list of goods banned for export to North Korea signals China’s commitment to enforcing international sanctions and is in no way intended to punish Pyongyang.China foreign ministry said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.Hong Lei, a spokesman for China’s foreign affairs

DHAKA: Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamist militant group said on Tuesday its militants were still holding out in a Kenyan shopping centre they attacked over the weekend, and said hostages they held in the Westgate mall in Nairobi were still alive.‘There are countless number of dead bodies

DHAKA: Sri Lanka’s military harassed and intimidated ethnic minority Tamil voters and candidates during the first ever local elections in the former warzone.Foreign observers confirmed on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.The opposition Tamil party won a landslide victory in weekend

DHAKA: Russia’s government says UN chemical weapons inspectors are expected to return to Syria on Wednesday.Russia deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said they would investigate alleged chemical weapons attacks at Khan al-Assal, Sheikh Maqsoud and Saraqeb, according to the Interfax

DHAKA: An alleged commander in the Somali Shebab rebel group on Monday denied news reports that Westerners or women were involved in the hostage standoff at a Nairobi mall that has killed at least 69 people.The man, who claimed he had been in contact with the Islamist attackers inside the