DHAKA: US president Barack Obama has declared 2014 as the year of action to accomplish his key administrative goals and said he would continue to use his executive authority, his pen and phone, to get things done.‘This has to be a year of action,’ Obama said at an event in North

DHAKA: The trial of four men accused of murdering former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri has begun at an unprecedented tribunal at The Hague.The four, alleged members of the Syria-backed militant Shia movement Hezbollah, have not been arrested and are being tried in absentia, reports the

DHAKA: Three members of the Russian security forces and four armed fighters are reported to have died in a shootout during a sweep for armed groups who have threatened to attack the Winter Olympics that begin in Sochi next month.Wednesday`s deadly shootout occurred in a house in the

DHAKA: The two Pakistanis who were sentenced to death on charges of attempting to smuggle heroin into the Kingdom were executed on Tuesday.The Ministry of Interior confirmed their execution and said in a statement that Abrar Hussein was arrested while trying to smuggle heroin stuffed in

DHAKA: At least 61 people were killed and scores wounded Wednesday in the latest wave of attacks in the Iraqi capital and across the country.Bombings and shootings, aimed at security forces and civilians alike, made it an especially bloody day as sectarian violence flared up, reports

DHAKA: Iraq`s prime minister has called for international help in his fight against armed Sunni Muslim groups amid continued violence across the country.Nouri al-Maliki, who leads a government dominated by Shia Muslims, gave warning of a long fight ahead as 75 people died in a series of

DHAKA: Egyptian officials have spoken of a high turnout in a referendum on a new constitution, with voters expected to endorse the removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.Top election official Nabil Salib told state TV that voter turnout was higher than in previous polls but gave no

DHAKA: A truck slammed into a bus bringing schoolchildren home from an outing in southern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 17 pupils and three adults, police said.‘It was a head-on collision when the truck slammed into the school van on a single track dirt road. Apparently,

DHAKA: A policeman has been jailed for three years for picking up a saleswoman from a nightclub near Ibn Battuta Mall and having sex with her in his car against her will.The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 25-year-old policeman, NH, from Comoros Islands, to three years with

DHAKA: US president Barack Obama has summoned Senate Democrats to the White House for a rare meeting on Wednesday as he seeks to head off a congressional rebellion that he fears could undermine his efforts at diplomacy with Iran.Just as US diplomats begin final-stage talks with Iran over

DHAKA: China has flight-tested a hypersonic missile delivery vehicle in a move that was scientific in nature and not targeted at any country.China defence ministry said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.A Chinese military build-up has raised regional jitters.Many countries in Asia

DHAKA: Western and Gulf Arab nations pledged $1.4 billion on Wednesday for United Nations aid efforts in Syria, where an almost three-year-old civil war has left millions of people hungry, ailing or displaced.The pledge arose from an appeal for $6.5 billion launched last month that is the

DHAKA: Piracy at sea is at its lowest level in six years, with 264 attacks recorded, a 40% drop since Somali piracy peaked in 2011, a maritime watchdog has said.There were only 15 incidents off Somalia last year, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said, reports the BBC.This is down

DHAKA: A military spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo says a drone has crashed at the airport in the eastern city of Goma.Lt. Col. Felix Prosper Basse said the drone crashed Wednesday while returning from a mission and that no casualties were reported, according

DHAKA: The trial of four men charged over the Westgate shopping centre siege in Kenya has started in the capital, Nairobi.The four suspected foreigners deny charges of aiding a ‘terrorist group’ and being in Kenya illegally.The court heard testimony from security guards who saw what

DHAKA: Syrian president Bashar al-Assad warned during a meeting in Damascus on Wednesday with Iran’s foreign minister that Saudi Arabia’s political and religious ideology is ‘a threat to the world’.Syria state television reported, says Turkish daily Hurriyet.He was referring to

DHAKA: At least 46 people have been killed in a series of bombings in central Iraq, police and medical officials say.Eighteen died in an attack on a funeral for a pro-government Sunni militiaman in a village south of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province.Seven car bombs meanwhile

DHAKA: Thailand’s prime minister urged anti-government protesters on Wednesday to vent their anger against her at the ballot box, insisting that elections were the best way to solve the country’s deepening political crisis.Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has faced weeks of mass

DHAKA: European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is coordinating talks between six world powers and Iran on its nuclear programme, said she would visit Tehran in the coming weeks.‘It is my intention to visit in the next weeks,’ Ashton told a news conference in Kuwait

DHAKA: UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon says that half of Syria’s population now ‘urgently need humanitarian aid’.He was speaking at a donor conference in Kuwait to raise funds for the worsening humanitarian crisis.The UN is asking for $6.5bn over the coming year for Syria, its