DHAKA: Chinese prime minister Li Keqiang says Chinese investment in infrastructure construction, renewable energy and agriculture in eastern Europe will bring greater prosperity and jobs in the region.Li said China’s economic interest in eastern and central Europe would bring ‘massive

DHAKA: France’s defence minister says the country will send 1,000 troops to Central African Republic, which has been in turmoil since March when rebel groups overthrew the president.It’s the second time this year that France has sent forces to a former colony, and defence minister

DHAKA: Iraq has executed 11 more people convicted of crimes related to ‘terrorist attacks’.Iraq justice ministry official told media on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.Eleven terrorists, all Iraqi men, were executed on Sunday, November 24.‘They were executed after being convicted

DHAKA: Christmas is not a holiday in predominantly Buddhist Thailand, and its palm trees outnumber pines, but the country still set a world record with its holiday spirit.One of the country’s largest shopping malls arranged a publicity stunt involving 852 schoolchildren dressed in green

DHAKA: A Thai court approved an arrest warrant Tuesday for a top protest leader in connection with the occupation of several government ministries as part of efforts to topple the government.‘We sought an arrest warrant for Suthep (Thaugsuban) and the Criminal Court just approved it,’

DHAKA: Pakistani activists have blocked the main supply route for provisions destined for Nato troops in Afghanistan to protest against US drone strikes.Opposition politician Imran Khan called for the action and said it would continue until American drone attacks in north-west Pakistan

DHAKA: Scotland’s first minister is to set out the SNP’s blueprint for independence, ahead of next September`s referendum.Alex Salmond said the Scottish government’s 670-page white paper would put beyond dispute Scotland’s ability to be a successful, independent nation.On 18

DHAKA: Wicked wintry weather that pummeled the West Coast is now barreling across the country, threatening to wreck millions of holiday travel plans just before Thanksgiving.Scores of car crashes and 12 fatalities are blamed on the storm.Nearly 200 flights out of Dallas-Fort Worth

DHAKA: Mexican authorities have found 42 bodies buried in mass graves in western Mexico this month, the Attorney General`s Office said.Many of the bodies had bullet wounds and showed signs of torture, according to federal authorities at the crime scene.The bodies have not yet been

DHAKA: The Afghan president has refused to back down on his decision not to sign a key security deal in a meeting with the US national security adviser.The pact allows thousands of US troops to remain in Afghanistan after 2014.US envoy Susan Rice told President Hamid Karzai his proposal

DHAKA: France has agreed to send 800 extra troops to the Central African Republic (CAR), CAR Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye has said.He said the deployment to the conflict-torn nation would take place after a vote in the UN Security Council - expected next week.The UN deputy secretary

DHAKA: Egypt’s interim prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi said on Monday he expects a referendum on the constitution, currently being drafted, will take place in the second half of January.‘I believe that it will take place in the second half of January,’ Dr Beblawi told reporters,

DHAKA: Israeli authorities have green-lighted the construction of 800 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank.Israel’s defence ministry said on Monday it had approved a planning stage for the housing earlier this month, an initial step in a protracted bureaucratic process, with

DHAKA: Lawyers for seven Pakistanis accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks said on Monday that the case against them ‘lacks evidence’, a day before the fifth anniversary of the assault that left 166 people dead.The three-day onslaught by 10 heavily-armed men on high-profile

DHAKA: The White House says National Security Adviser Susan Rice is in Afghanistan to meet with government officials, including president Hamid Karzai, and visit US troops for the American harvest holiday of Thanksgiving.The visit announced on Monday is Dr Rice’s first overseas trip as

DHAKA: Sri Lanka’s military on Monday announced a ban on any commemoration of the island’s defeated Tamil Tiger rebels following reports that sections of the ethnic Tamil minority were planning to hold events.The military said any event was banned because the Liberation Tigers of

DHAKA: A handwritten envelope sent by Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong to the father of fallen politician Bo Xilai and another military leader has fetched more than $1.35 million at a Beijing auction.The envelope, inscribed in black brushstrokes ‘To Mr Fu Yisheng and Mr Bo Yibo’

DHAKA: Syrian government and opposition negotiators will meet for the first time since start of the country’s 32 month-old war in Geneva from January 22.The United Nations announced on Monday, reports The Straits Times.UN leader Ban Ki Moon called the landmark conference ‘a mission of

DHAKA: Malaysia should reverse a ban on a Christian newspaper using the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God, a UN official said on Monday about a decision that fanned religious tension in the mainly Muslim country.Malaysia’s second highest court ruled in October that the Catholic

DHAKA: A group of young Saudi men have launched a smile campaign, saying that it is a revival of a tradition by Prophet Mohammad (SM).Carrying placards that said ‘Smile! It is a sunnah’, the young men used the Corniche in the Red Sea city of Jeddah to promote better feelings and