DHAKA: The operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant should be broken up, a committee is set to propose according to unnamed sources.The ruling party panel wants part of the Tokyo Electric Power Company in charge of cleaning to be separated.Fukushima has been beset by

DHAKA: Teen pregnancies in the developing world are declining, but more than 7 million girls under the age of 18 are still giving birth each year, according to a United Nations report.The UN Population Fund expressed particular alarm about the dangers facing girls 14 or younger, who

DHAKA: India defence minister AK Antony on Wednesday said the inking of a new border accord with China was a ‘sincere attempt’ by both countries to avoid tensions on the border and would help to quickly solve any face to face situations that may arise.The border defence cooperation

DHAKA: Some US lawmakers said they were unhappy about cuts in Washington’s aid to Egypt announced earlier this month after authorities in Cairo used violence to put down protests.They also said they were considering changes to a US law that bars sending assistance to governments that

DHAKA: A fugitive senior Muslim Brotherhood leader, Essam el-Erian, has been detained by the Egyptian authorities.Prosecutors ordered his arrest in July, after the ousting of president Mohammed Mursi.The arrest is the latest move in a government crackdown against the Islamist movement

DHAKA: Afghan negotiators seeking peace with the Taliban will soon travel to Pakistan for their first meeting with key militant commander Mullah Baradar.Officials said Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.Afghan president Hamid Karzai said in a statement that a deal had been reached after

DHAKA: Israel has announced the construction of 1,500 new settler homes in the occupied East Jerusalem illegal settlement of Ramat Shlomo, Israeli army radio said.The early-morning report, credited to prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his interior minister, Gideon Saar, came hours

DHAKA: At least 23 people have died after a fire broke out in an air conditioned bogie of the Nanded Express in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh in India early Saturday.Nine others have been injured; they`ve been shifted to the Dharmavaram Hospital in the district, reports NDTV.The

DHAKA: China`s top legislature has formally adopted a resolution easing the country`s one-child policy, the state news agency Xinhua reports.The Standing Committee of the National People`s Congress passed a resolution allowing couples to have two children if either parent is an only

DHAKA: South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar has said there must be proper negotiations before the rebels can agree to a truce with the government.He was speaking after the government said it had agreed to an immediate end to fighting, in a declaration welcomed by East African leaders in

DHAKA: The National Security Agency notched a much-needed win in court Friday after a series of setbacks over the legality and even the usefulness of its massive data collection program.A federal judge in New York ruled the NSA`s bulk collection of data on nearly every phone call made in

DHAKA: Police arrested 12 people and charged six of them for allegedly gang-raping a 21-year-old woman on Christmas Eve in southern India, in another case of sexual assault of women in the country.Law enforcing agencies said that the arrests were made Thursday after the woman complained

DHAKA: India wants to ensure the furore over the arrest and strip-search of a female diplomat in New York does not do lasting harm to its ‘valuable relationship’ with the US.India foreign minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday.‘I can’t believe that either side wants to put at

DHAKA: More than two million people have flocked to Pope Francis’ general audiences in St Peter’s Square since his election in March, four times the number that Pope Benedict drew in all of 2012.The Vatican said on Wednesday it had issued 1,548,500 tickets for the 30 general audiences

DHAKA: China`s Jade Rabbit robot rover has driven off its landing module and on to the Moon`s surface.The robotic vehicle rolled down a ramp lowered by the lander and on to the volcanic plain known as Sinus Iridum.Earlier on Saturday, the landing module containing the rover fired its

DHAKA: Nelson Mandela is to be buried in his ancestral home in Qunu in the Eastern Cape, ending a week of commemorations for South Africa`s first black leader.Some 4,500 people - including foreign dignitaries - will be attending the funeral, which will blend state ceremonial with

DHAKA: Syrian rebel commanders from the Islamic Front which seized control of bases belonging to Western-backed rebels last week are due to hold talks with US officials in Turkey in coming days.Syria rebel and opposition sources said on Saturday, reports TDS.The expected contacts between

DHAKA: The Philippines will need nearly US$3 billion to rebuild parts of the country destroyed by the deadliest typhoon in its history.The presidential palace said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.President Benigno Aquino told reporters in Tokyo late Friday that scores of towns and

DHAKA: Thailand’s military chief on Saturday shrugged off an opposition rally leader’s appeal to intervene in support of protester efforts to topple the government and install an unelected ‘people’s council’.Weeks of boisterous demonstration have gripped Bangkok in the latest

DHAKA: A space module carrying China’s first lunar rover landed on the moon on Saturday, state television showed, the first soft landing on the moon in nearly four decades and a major step for the emerging superpower`s ambitious space programme.Scientists burst into applause as a