DHAKA: A team of British researchers has developed a model for determining how long a planet can expect to be within its sun’s habitable zone – the sweet spot just far enough to the sun so that the planet’s water doesn’t sizzle into vapor but just close enough to the sun so that

DHAKA: The Philippines and Taiwan are braced for super typhoon Usagi, which meteorologists say could become the most powerful storm of 2013.The typhoon was 560km (350 miles) east-southeast of Taiwan and 360km (225 miles) from the northern Philippines on Friday morning, weather officials

DHAKA: Former first daughter Caroline Kennedy has sailed through a confirmation hearing on her way to becoming the US ambassador to Japan.Ms Kennedy, 55, the only surviving child of former President John Kennedy, told a Senate panel she would focus on trade and military ties if

DHAKA: At least 87 people have been killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants in Nigeria`s north-eastern Borno state, according to local officials.Disguised in military uniforms, the militants set up checkpoints outside the town of Benisheik and shot dead those trying to flee, witnesses

DHAKA: Mexican authorities say 97 people have been killed by storms that hit the country earlier in the week.In the village of La Pintada, near the Pacific coast, a landslide partially engulfed the town.At least 15 bodies have been recovered and almost 70 residents are missing, the

DHAKA: A 5.3-magnitude earthquake has hit the Japanese prefecture that is home to the nuclear power plant crippled in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.The US Geological Survey says the quake struck early Friday at a depth of about 13 miles (22 kilometers) under Fukushima Prefecture

DHAKA: Pope Francis has said the Catholic Church is too focused on preaching about abortion, gay people and contraception and needs to become more merciful.He warned that the Church’s moral structure could “fall like a house of cards” unless it changed.The Pope used the first major

DHAKA: US bank JP Morgan Chase agreed to pay four regulators $920m relating to a $6.2bn loss incurred as a result of the “London Whale” trades.The settlement is the third biggest banking fine by US regulators, and the second largest by UK regulators.As part of the deal JP Morgan

DHAKA: Paying for sex in France may soon become a criminal offence, according to a forthcoming bill whose details were made public this week.The proposed legislation would also overturn a 2003 law that penalises prostitutes overtly offering their services, rules that were intended to

DHAKA: South African police lied about the Marikana shootings last year, in which 34 striking miners were killed, a commission of inquiry has found.Police falsified or withheld documents, and gave false accounts of events, the commission said, reports the BBC.The killings at the

DHAKA: A group of BJP politicians, who have been linked to the deadly communal riots in Muzaffarnagar in India’s Western Uttar Pradesh, were not present in the state legislature Thursday.Arrest warrants have been issued against two of them.Police sources tell India’s NDTV that to

DHAKA: A pilot believed to be working for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been arrested at a British airport on suspicion of being drunk while in charge of a plane.The police said on Thursday, reports The Jerusalem Post.Officers were called on Wednesday evening to the airport

DHAKA: Egypt has returned to Qatar $2 billion that the Gulf state had deposited with Egypt’s central bank, after negotiations to convert the funds into three-year bonds broke down.Egypt’s central bank Governor Hisham Ramez said on Thursday, reports The Jerusalem Post.Qatar had sent

DHAKA: A former Afghan lawmaker and district governor said on Thursday he had defected to the Taliban as the Islamist hardliners seek to strengthen their influence before United States-led combat troops withdraw next year.Government officials confirmed that Qazi Abdul Hai had joined the

DHAKA: A ‘perfect’ white diamond which is expected to fetch a record price of up to US$35 million when it is auctioned in Hong Kong next month made its first appearance in the city on Thursday.The egg-shaped 118.28-carat ‘Magnificent Oval Diamond’, the largest of its kind, stunned

DHAKA: Russia has no current plans to destroy Syrian chemical weapons on its own territory under a Russia-US deal to eliminate president Bashar Assad’s stockpiles.Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday, reports The Jerusalem Post.Asked whether Russia had plans to

DHAKA: A roadside bomb killed at least 14 members of president Bashar Assad’s minority Alawite on Thursday in the central Syrian province of Homs, an opposition monitoring group said.The blast targeted two buses near the Alawite village of Jabourin, 13 km north of Homs city, said Rami

DHAKA: Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras has said he will not let neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn ‘undermine’ democracy.His remarks came after a Golden Dawn supporter allegedly admitted killing an anti-fascist activist.‘This government is determined not to let the descendants of the

DHAKA: Philippine security forces killed eight Muslim rebels on Thursday as they hunted the remnants of a guerrilla force hiding in homes of a major city and believed to be holding hostages.A soldier also died, the military reported, bringing the death toll from 11 days of fierce street

DHAKA: A European Union police officer has been shot dead while on patrol in Kosovo, the first casualty since the EU took over security in 2008.The Eulex mission condemned the ‘act of cowardly violence’ and said a murder investigation had been launched.It said two vehicles, carrying