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

DHAKA: Thousands of South Africans are expected to take part in a day of "prayer and reflection" for late President Nelson Mandela.President Jacob Zuma will attend a service in a Methodist church in Johannesburg, with other multi-faith services planned throughout the day, reports BBC.A

DHAKA: Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel says Afghan’s defence minister has reassured him that a security agreement with the United States will be signed in a timely manner.Hagel met Bismillah Khan Mohammadi during a visit on Saturday to Kabul, the Afghan capital.Hagel also told reporters that

DHAKA: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Saturday identified six missing persons who relatives say were disappeared by the country’s powerful army from a detention centre.Relatives launched a legal bid to force the military to produce 35 people who they alleged are being held in

DHAKA: Flights are being delayed across the UK and Ireland because of an air traffic control centre fault.Affected airports include Heathrow, Stansted, Cardiff, Dublin, and Glasgow.The National Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said its Swanwick centre, in Hampshire, was having

DHAKA: Japan’s defence minister said on Saturday that China’s recently declared maritime air defence zone over the East China Sea raises regional tensions and that the international community must oppose any move to establish a similar zone over the South China Sea.Defence minister

DHAKA: Thailand will help the United Nations and the United States with any investigation into the findings of a Reuters report that Thai immigration officials moved Myanmar refugees into human-trafficking rings.Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Saturday, reports The Straits

DHAKA: Egypt appeals courts on Saturday ordered 14 women jailed after a protest to be freed, reducing 11-year prison terms to one-year suspended sentences, as seven girls were also ordered to be released.The women’s supporters in the Alexandria courtroom chanted ‘God is Great’ as

DHAKA: Dozens of people have died in northern Kenya in a week of fierce clashes between rival ethnic groups, aid sources and reports said on Saturday.The ongoing unrest, centred around the town of Moyale in Marsabit county on the frontier with Ethiopia, has seen villages burned down and

DHAKA: Yemen’s ministry of defence has said that the deadly gun and bomb attacks on the ministry’s complex in Sana’a were carried out mainly by Saudi militants.In a preliminary report submitted to president Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the country military’s chief of the general staff

DHAKA: Egyptian judges began hearing appeals on Saturday of 21 women and girls handed heavy jail terms over an Islamist protest, in a case that sparked an outcry.The 14 adult women were handed 11-year jail terms and the seven minors sentenced to juvenile detention last month, shocking

DHAKA: An Iranian news agency says inspectors from the United Nations nuclear agency have arrived in Teheran to visit a nuclear facility that has long been off-limits to outside experts.The semi-official Mehr news agency said on Saturday that two inspectors from the International Atomic

DHAKA: Protest leaders have pledged that anti-government rallies will resume in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok. Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister, hinted at an end to the truce called in honour of the king’s birthday. ‘We will only win if we have so many people that

DHAKA: Nelson Mandela’s funeral cortege will travel through the streets of the capital Pretoria on three consecutive days, the South African government said on Saturday, encouraging people to line the route.‘Every morning, when the remains leave the mortuary to lie in state, those

DHAKA: New York (NY) based investment firm Tau Investment Management Inc., announced the commitment to raise US $1 billion to help Bangladesh and other garment-manufacturing nations in order to construct factories with better safety and protection of workers. According to a statement

DHAKA: United States defence secretary Chuck Hagel is visiting with American forces in Afghanistan amid a stubborn stand-off between the US and Afghan leaders over a security agreement.Hagel’s unannounced visit on Saturday lands him in the centre of the chaos, but he has no plans to