DHAKA: Visiting French foreign minister Laurent Fabius on Monday said he was ‘very confident’ of the outcome of his talks with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi on the $20 billion deal for the Rafale combat aircraft. Most of the negotiations with the French

DHAKA: One of China’s most senior military officials has been accused of accepting bribes and expelled from the Communist Party. State media report, the BBC says. Gen Xu Caihou was once a member of China’s elite decision-making body, the Politburo. He will now be handed over to

DHAKA: More than 50 people were killed in the latest attack blamed on Boko Haram Islamists which targeted churches in Nigeria’s embattled northeast. A Borno state government official said Monday, reports TDS. ‘So far we have 54 dead,’ said the official, who requested anonymity, of

DHAKA: Thailand’s military government said on Monday that it had begun an overhaul of the electoral system following an announcement by junta leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha that polls could take place by late 2015.The military took power on May 22 in a bloodless coup following six

DHAKA: Pakistan’s military launched a ground assault in North Waziristan tribal area on Monday, beginning a new phase in its offensive against Taliban militants. Officials said, reports The Straits Times. Troops moved on Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, around 9.30am

DHAKA: About 30 bodies were rescued from a migrant boat which was stopped between Sicily and the North African coast, media reports. The rescuers made the gruesome discovery on Monday when they boarded a fishing boat carrying around 590 refugees and migrants. The immigrants apparently

DHAKA: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop a satellite which will serve all the Saarc nations. Addressing Indian space scientists at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota after the successful launch of

DHAKA: Islamist militant group Isis has said it is establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state, on the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria.  It also proclaimed the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and leader for Muslims everywhere.  Setting up a caliphate ruled by

DHAKA: Bulgaria's president has said he will dissolve parliament and appoint an interim government, amid concerns over the country's banking system.   Rosen Plevneliev's comments came after crisis talks with leaders of the main political parties, says BBC.  Earlier, five people were

DHAKA: North Korea says it will put two detained US tourists on trial, accusing them of "committing hostile acts".     Miller Todd and Jeffrey Fowle have been investigated and will be brought before a court, BBC reported.                                          

DHAKA: An independent Kurdish state was a reason for war in the past, however the situation has changed, according to Hüseyin Çelik, spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). ‘In Turkey, even the word ‘Kurdistan’ makes people nervous, but their name is

DHAKA: Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi landed in Islamist neighbor Sudan for a lightning visit, which an analyst said would attempt to shore up a regional alliance against Islamic ‘terrorism’. An AFP photographer at Khartoum airport confirmed the Egyptian leader’s plane had

DHAKA: A solar panel producer in western Turkey has said recent international media coverage of their ‘plug-and-play donkey’ project proved that they are on the right track. BBC News reported on June 24 that sheepherders in western Turkey have now equipped their donkeys to cart

DHAKA: Suspected Boko Haram Islamists armed with explosives attacked a series of churches on Sunday near Chibok, the north-eastern town where more than 200 teenage girls were kidnapped in April. Witnesses said, reports The Straits Times. Residents said dozens of people may have been

DHAKA: Egypt will restrict Ramadan sermons to the topics of faith and morality, in the latest move aimed at limiting political speech in the deeply polarized country. Religious Endowments Minister Mohammad Mokhtar Jomaa said Sunday the decision should ensure that sermons during the month

DHAKA: A jihadist group in Syria has publicly executed and crucified eight rebels fighting both president Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the jihadists. A monitor said on Sunday, reports The Straits Times. The report comes amid fierce clashes on the outskirts of Damascus between the

DHAKA: Thailand’s military court has issued an arrest warrant for the spokesman of an anti-coup group over alleged arms offences, an accusation firmly rejected by the former minister. The warrant against Jakrapob Penkair, a prominent member of the ‘red-shirt’ movement affiliated to

DHAKA: Western governments are rushing to visit India’s PM Narendra Modi, drawn by the prospect of multi-billion-dollar deals as the Indian government prepares to open the nascent defence industry to foreign investment. Senior politicians from France, the United States and Britain

DHAKA: Iraqi government forces trying to retake the city of Tikrit from Sunni insurgents have pulled back to a nearby town amid fierce clashes. Reports say, according to the BBC. Government troops launched an assault on the city on Saturday with tanks, armored vehicles and air support.

DHAKA: A Japanese man set himself on fire in central Tokyo on Sunday after giving a speech opposing prime minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to reform the country’s pacifist constitution. Police and reports said, according to The Straits Times. The middle-aged man doused himself in what