DHAKA: Several hundred thousand Ukrainians occupied a central square in the capital on Sunday, denouncing president Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to turn away from Europe and align this former Soviet republic with Russia.As widespread protests continued for a third week, Yanukovych’s

DHAKA: Atomic experts from the UN nuclear watchdog were at Iran’s Arak heavy water plant on Sunday to inspect it for the first time in more than two years, media reported.‘The IAEA experts started their visit to the Arak facility on Sunday morning,’ Fars news agency quoted Iran’s

DHAKA: Afghan president Hamid Karzai arrived in Iran for talks Sunday amid disagreement with the United States over a security accord that would allow some NATO forces to stay in Afghanistan.Karzai will meet president Hassan Rouhani, for the second time in four months in Tehran, and

DHAKA: Israeli president Shimon Peres said Sunday he would be prepared to meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, even though their two countries consider each other arch-enemies.Asked at an economic forum over a possible meeting, Peres replied, ‘Why not? I don’t have enemies.

DHAKA: The United Nations complained Sunday that Afghan authorities have been slow in enforcing a law protecting women against forced marriages, domestic violence and rape.A report issued by the UN mission in Afghanistan found that although Afghan authorities registered more reports of

DHAKA: Saudi authorities beheaded a Pakistani man on Sunday after he was convicted of smuggling drugs into the ultra-conservative Gulf state, the interior ministry said.Mohammed Zayer Khan Qol was arrested as he was ‘smuggling a large amount of heroin’ into the kingdom, said the

DHAKA: Fourteen prisoners alleged to have been held in secret and without charge by the Pakistani army have appeared before the Supreme Court in Islamabad.Six of the 14 men were identified by their relatives, who say they disappeared after being handed over to the military from a

DHAKA: An Egyptian court acquitted 155 people arrested during deadly clashes in the capital between Islamist protesters and police in October.Egypt state media reported Sunday, reports TDS.The Cairo misdemeanour court on Saturday dismissed the charges of assaulting policemen and vandalism

DHAKA: Inspectors from the UN nuclear agency were expected to visit on Sunday, for the first time in more than two years, the Arak heavy-water reactor in Iran.Two inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Tehran on Saturday, reports The Jerusalem Post.In November,

DHAKA: About 50 survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor paused on Saturday at the site to honour those killed and remember the moment that plunged the US into World War II.Alvis Taylor, 90, was serving as an Army medic when the attack began.His superiors, who were doctors, rushed

DHAKA: Gunmen attacked 12 liquor stores in Baghdad on Saturday, killing nine people, police said, the latest in a series of assaults on alcohol sellers in the capital.The attackers approached the stores in SUVs and shot dead people inside shops and supermarkets and wounded two.Police said

DHAKA: Thailand’s opposition MPs are to resign en masse, officials say, after weeks of anti-government protests.Opposition-backed street protesters have been trying to oust PM Yingluck Shinawatra, saying she is controlled by her brother, former PM Thaksin.Protest leader Suthep

DHAKA: South Korea on Sunday said it plans to expand its air defence zone to cover also two territorial islands and a rock reef, thereby partially overlapping a similar zone claimed by China last month in a move that sharply raised regional tensions.Beijing’s declaration of an air

DHAKA: Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra proposed a referendum on her future on Sunday, promising to resign if that was what the people wanted, as anti-government protesters prepared for a final push to force her from power.Protesters have been on the streets of the capital for

DHAKA: The United States has proposed to the Israeli government a security plan for new borders with a future Palestinian state that games out an exhaustive list of possible threats.US state secretary John Kerry told the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum on Saturday, The Jerusalem

DHAKA: Vote counting began in four Indian states Sunday where the nationalist opposition was in line to wrest power from the ruling Congress party, giving it crucial momentum ahead of next year’s national elections.Officials began counting tens of millions of ballots at 8:00am (0230

DHAKA: Ukrainian opposition has called for a new round of rallies called ‘veche’, or a popular assembly, that is expected to draw pro-EU integration masses to the heart of the Ukrainian capital in Independence Square.The protest, which will be the third event of its kind over the past

DHAKA: Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani says last month’s nuclear deal with world powers has already had a positive impact on the country’s economy.Rouhani spoke Sunday while presenting next year’s budget to parliament.He told an open session of parliament that, after the

DHAKA: A hospital in the capital of the Central African Republic has been attacked by armed gunmen, according to Al Jazeera sources.At least ten people were killed when Seleka rebels arrived late on Friday night at Bangui`s Amitie hospital, where many of those wounded from days of

DHAKA: Fourteen women jailed in Egypt over a protest in support of ousted President Mohammed Morsi have been freed after an appeal court ruling.Seven juveniles jailed over the protest last month in Alexandria have also been released, on three months` probation, reports BBC.The women`s