DHAKA: Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad marks his 48th birthday on Wednesday with the threat of US-led strikes against his regime in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack apparently receding.A Syrian pro-regime site called on residents of the capital Damascus to demonstrate

DHAKA: Japan’s coastguard said it was ‘on high alert’ Wednesday, a year to the day since Tokyo nationalised islands that China says it has owned for centuries.Often-testy ties have soured dramatically over the last 12 months, with frequent confrontations between official ships from

DHAKA: The United States relaxed sanctions on Iran on Tuesday to make it easier for US humanitarian groups to work there and sports exchanges to occur between Americans and Iranians, a possible goodwill gesture after Iran elected a new moderate president.The move announced by the US

DHAKA: A government-appointed body that oversees Myanmar’s Buddhist monkhood has issued a directive intended to check the influence of a monk-led movement accused of stoking violence against minority Muslims.At least 237 people have died in sectarian violence since June last year and

DHAKA: Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Wednesday he hoped that a US pledge to pursue diplomacy to remove the threat of chemical weapons in Syria was ‘serious’.Irans’ state news agency IRNA reported, says The Jerusalem Post.‘I am hopeful that the United

DHAKA: Prosecutors sought the death sentence on Wednesday for four men convicted of the gang rape and murder of a student on a New Delhi bus last December, saying the ‘diabolical’ crime had shocked the country’s conscience.Judge Yogesh Khanna is hearing arguments in a fast-track

DHAKA: France said on Wednesday it remained determined to punish Syrian president Bashar al-Assad over what it calls his use of chemical weapons if diplomacy fails, and a military strike was still possible.Paris put forward a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on Tuesday

DHAKA: Car bombs have hit Egypt’s intelligence headquarters in the Sinai peninsula, killing four peopleEgypt’s state TV says, reports the BBC.More than 10 people were wounded in the attack on the building in Rafah, on Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip.The bombings came after at

DHAKA: Researchers have found evidence to suggest that climate change, rather than humans, was the main factor that drove the woolly mammoth to extinction.A DNA analysis shows that the number of creatures began to decrease much earlier than previously thought as the world`s climate

DHAKA: Nine trekkers from Australia and New Zealand have been caught up in a deadly attack in Papua New Guinea which killed two local guides.The Australians and one New Zealander were hiking in PNG`s Black Cat Track when they were attacked by robbers.Several members of the group,

DHAKA: President Obama says he will pursue diplomatic efforts to remove Syria`s chemical weapons but has ordered the US military to "be in a position to respond" if such measures fail.In a televised address, he said he had asked Congress to postpone a vote authorising the use of force.The

DHAKA: The income gap between the richest 1% of Americans and the other 99% widened to a record margin in 2012, according to an analysis of tax filings.The top 1% of US earners collected 19.3% of household income, breaking a record previously set in 1927.Income inequality in the US has

DHAKA: North and South Korea have agreed to reopen their Kaesong joint industrial park next week, five months after it was shut during soaring military tensions.Following a marathon negotiation session that went through the night, the two sides on Wednesday set a date of September 16 for

DHAKA: Curfew remained in force in riot-hit areas of Muzaffarnagar with the army patrolling troubled places as the death toll in the clashes in the district and adjoining towns rose to 38.Over 360 people have been arrested in connection with the violence.‘A total of 38 people have died

DHAKA: Gulf Arab states renewed their demands on Tuesday for the United Nations Security Council to take deterrent measures against Syrian president Bashar Assad’s government over a chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people.The statement was the first from the Sunni

DHAKA: US president Barack Obama will press ahead with his plan to ask Congress to approve the use of military force in Syria, despite Syria’s recent acceptance of a Russian proposal to give up its chemical weapons.White House spokesman Jay Carney said on television on Tuesday, reports

DHAKA: Muslim militants traded gunfire with Philippine troops Tuesday and were using almost 200 villagers as human shields, officials said, in a stand-off after a deadly attack on a southern city.Gunshots rang out on the coastal outskirts of Zamboanga city on the second day of a

DHAKA: A Syrian caricature shows US president Barack Obama smile and pluck the petals of a daisy, as he wonders, ‘Should I bomb? Or shouldn`t I bomb?’Syrians on both sides of their civil war are resorting to black humour, sharing jokes and cartoons via mobile phone and the

DHAKA: Syria has signed ‘major contracts’ with Iran that would cover its needs for food, medical and other supplies.Syria state television said on Tuesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.A protracted civil war has left Syria divided and displaced millions of people.The country has

DHAKA: Egyptian authorities will bar 55,000 unlicensed clerics from preaching in mosques in the latest move against sympathizers of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.Egypt’s minister of religious endowments said on Tuesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.Egyptian authorities have