DHAKA: Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has promised Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a full and courteous response to his demand for an examination of reported Australian eavesdropping on senior Indonesian leaders’ phones.Indonesia has downgraded its relations with

DHAKA: US state secretary John Kerry accused the Muslim Brotherhood of stealing Egypt’s revolution.‘Those kids in Tahrir Square, they were not motivated by any religion or ideology,’ Kerry said in a speech to a forum on enhancing links between private sector businesses and

DHAKA: A senior Palestinian official accused then-US president George W Bush of okaying alleged Israeli killing of PLO leader Yasser Arafat.In an interview given to official Palestine television earlier this month, Fatah leader Jibril Rajoub said that the ‘fool known as (George) Bush

DHAKA: Up to 15,000 foreign troops could stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014 if a security pact with the US is signed.Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai said on Thursday, reports The Straits Times.About 2,500 tribal chiefs, chieftains and dignitaries are gathered in Kabul for a four-day

DHAKA: A suspected US drone attack has killed at least five people in an Islamic seminary in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, reports say.Officials said at least two of those killed were militants, reports the BBC.The attack appears to have taken place outside the

DHAKA: The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal would intensify into a cyclonic storm and cross the coast between Chennai and Ongole on Thursday night, the Indian Meteorological Department said on Wednesday.Cyclone `Helen` would cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast near Kavali on the

FROM NEWYORK: US congress foreign affairs house committee Chief Ed Royce expressed deep concern over ongoing political crisis of Bangladesh including attacking on minority, emerge of militancy and various others issues.He came up with the assertion at 2:55am Wednesday in the sub-committee

DHAKA: The UK allowed the US National Security Agency to keep the mobile phone numbers and email addresses of ordinary Britons from 2007, reports say.Channel 4 News and the Guardian said existing rules were modified in 2007 to allow the US to keep information swept up incidentally about

DHAKA: An assembly of more than 2,000 Afghan elders is due to discuss the text of a long-awaited bilateral security agreement with the US.The deal to be debated at the Loya Jirga will determine the presence of US troops in the country after 2014.A draft reportedly says the Afghan

DHAKA: World powers resumed efforts to clinch a preliminary deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme at talks in Geneva on Wednesday, with Russia and Britain confident that agreement can be reached.Seeking to end a long standoff and head off the risk of a wider Middle East war, the United

DHAKA: A powerful cyclone was hurtling on Wednesday towards India’s southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, a month after a killer storm forced one million people to flee their homes, officials said.The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) advised the state administration to

DHAKA: Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon narrowly escaped a twin suicide bombing outside the embassy that killed 23 people, including an aide and four guards.An Iranian diplomatic source said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.‘Ambassador Ghazanfar Rokn-Abadi was on his way with

DHAKA: The remaining differences between Iran and world powers over a potential deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme are narrow and a historic deal is within reach.British foreign secretary William Hague said on Wednesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.‘The differences that remain

DHAKA: Fred Sanger, a double Nobel Prize-winning British biochemist whose work pioneered research into the human genome, has died at the age of 95.The University of Cambridge said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.Sanger, who once described himself as ‘just a chap who messed about

DHAKA: Hundreds of workers shouted slogans on Wednesday outside a Nokia factory in southern China to protest against what they called unfair compensation after the company sold its mobile telephones business to Microsoft Corp.Lack of trust in employers has often led Chinese workers to

DHAKA: Russia is hopeful that talks between Iran and world powers will produce a preliminary deal this week to ease the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme.Russia foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.Iranian negotiators and diplomats from the

DHAKA: Israel successfully tested its newest missile defence system on Wednesday, a key step toward making the third and final leg of the country’s three-part defence system operational by next year.Israel’s defence ministry said, reports TDS.‘David’s Sling,’ also known as

DHAKA: Pakistan’s teenage activist Malala Yousafzai was Wednesday handed the EU’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize.To thunderous applause announcing the European Parliament prize, the assembly’s president Martin Schulz praised the 16-year-old’s crusade for all children’s

DHAKA: A UN General Assembly committee condemned Syria for widespread human rights abuses and expressed concern about such violations in Iran, North Korea and Myanmar, but also welcomed pledges by Iran and Myanmar’s presidents to improve some areas.The draft resolution on Iran was

DHAKA: Syria’s over 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons and precursors could be destroyed at sea if no country agrees to dispose of them on its soil.The world’s chemical watchdog said Wednesday, reports daily Hurriyet.‘This possibility has been looked at for some time already,’