DHAKA: Saudi authorities are reassessing a controversial ban on the right for women to drive in the ultra-conservative kingdom, activists said on Wednesday, citing the interior minister.‘Rest assured that the issue is being discussed, and expect a good outcome,’ Prince Mohammad Bin

DHAKA: North Korea has accused the United States of ignoring its wish to settle the problem of its nuclear programme through negotiations and of disrupting the negotiating process.‘The US improper behaviour of deliberately creating obstacles in the way of resuming the (six-part) talks

DHAKA: Libya has deported more than 500 African immigrants, state news agency Lana said, sending them to Niger as it tries to tackle an influx of refugees and Islamist militants.Western powers fear Libya has become a safe haven for al Qaeda fighters as its government struggles to rein in

DHAKA: A severe cyclone was headed towards the south-eastern coast of India, the meteorological department said Wednesday.The ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ Lehar was expected to be accompanied by winds with speed of up to 170 kilometres per hour when it made landfall on Thursday

DHAKA: A Paris appeal court on Wednesday upheld the right of a nursery to fire a female employee who insisted on wearing an Islamic headscarf at work.In the latest round of a long-running legal battle, the court overturned a controversial March 2013 ruling that the ‘Baby-Wolf’

DHAKA: Pakistan’s prime minister chose the brother of a dead war hero to be the next army chief on Wednesday, promoting an experienced general to arguably the most powerful position in the country.Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s decision to appoint General Raheel Sharif, which

DHAKA: Hundreds of Turks have crossed the border into Syria to fight with Al-Qaeda linked jihadists against the Damascus regime, according to a Turkish interior ministry report.Turkey’s government, which is fiercely opposed to president Bashar al-Assad, has come under fire for allegedly

DHAKA: The Syrian government says it will participate in UN-sponsored peace talks aimed at ending the country’s civil war, but insists that it is not going to the conference to hand over power.The United Nations announced Monday that the long-delayed peace negotiations will begin

DHAKA: Ethiopia has flown home over 50,000 citizens in Saudi Arabia after a crackdown against illegal immigrants in the oil-rich state.Ethiopian foreign ministry said Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.‘We projected the initial number to be 10,000 but it is increasing,’ foreign

DHAKA: China said its new measures over the air defence zone should not affect regular flights of commercial aircraft crossing the area.China has ‘adequate resolve and ability to protect its sovereign rights and national safety’, by enforcing the new air defence zone in the East China

DHAKA: Iran will press on with construction at a nuclear reactor site at Arak, Iranian foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said on Wednesday, despite an agreement with Western powers to halt activity.The uncompleted heavy-water research reactor emerged as one of several crucial issues

DHAKA: The first book written in what is today the United States of America fetched $14.2 million in New York on Tuesday, becoming the world’s most expensive printed book sold at auction.The translation of Biblical psalms ‘The Bay Psalm Book’ was printed by Puritan settlers in

DHAKA: Thailand’s central bank unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a point to 2.25 percent on Wednesday, saying political tension is affecting investor confidence and there’s no sign of exports recovering.The Bank of Thailand’s Monetary Policy Committee

DHAKA: Russia’s interior ministry said Wednesday its agents had detained 14 radical Islamists in Moscow who belonged to a banned offshoot of the Al-Qaeda terror network.The ministry said members of Takfir wal-Hijra, a group formed in Egypt in the 1960s and outlawed in Russia in 2010,

DHAKA: THE almost-complete fossil of diplodocus dinosaur will be up for auction in Britain on Wednesday.The BBC has reported, says The Straits Times.The diplodocus is a large, long-necked dinosaur from the late Jurassic period. The fossil was unearthed by palaeontologists in the United

DHAKA: An Egyptian prosecutor has ordered the arrest of two prominent activists for inciting protests, including one whose group helped lead the revolt that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.A source in the prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.The arrests

DHAKA: Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday he hoped to establish a ‘security roundtable’ with Indonesia, seeking to rebuild a strategic relationship with a key Asian neighbour damaged by allegations of spying by Canberra.Reports last week that Australia`s

DHAKA: The Italian Senate will vote later on whether to expel former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi from parliament over his conviction for tax fraud.Analysts say a large majority of senators is expected to back his expulsion, reports the BBC.The former PM has called for supporters to

DHAKA: David Cameron has announced a crackdown on so-called "benefit tourism", saying EU migrants will not be able to claim taxpayer-funded support indefinitely.Eligibility rules for out-of-work benefits will be tightened and access to housing benefit will be curbed, reports BBC.The prime

DHAKA: China monitored the flight of two US bombers that flew across its newly-declared "air defence identification zone"The defence ministry of China acknowledged the issue, BBC reports.According to the ministry, the B-52 planes flew over disputed islands in the East China Sea on Tuesday