DHAKA: Australians are voting in a general election, with opposition leader Tony Abbott`s Liberal-National coalition aiming to bring to an end six years of Labor government.Opinion polls suggest Kevin Rudd, who returned as prime minister three months ago, is trailing his opponent.The

DHAKA: Iran’s state TV has reported that the country has appointed its first foreign ministry spokeswoman.The Thursday report quotes Mohammad Javad Zarif, the foreign minister, as saying Marzieh Afkham has been appointed spokesperson for the country’s diplomatic apparatus.Afkham has

DHAKA: The US and Russia have not bridged their differences over the issue of possible military action in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin says.Putin said it was “counter-productive” to destabilize the situation in the Middle East.Putin’s comments came in a news conference on

DHAKA: Iran’s foreign minister has confirmed he sent a message on Twitter wishing Jews a happy new year.Mohammad Javad Zarif told Tasnim news agency that he sent a tweet saying: “Happy Rosh Hashana”.In a Twitter exchange that followed, he also distanced himself from the Holocaust

DHAKA: Egypt`s government has decided to press ahead with the legal dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood, state media report.A spokesman for the social solidarity ministry said it would revoke the Islamist movement`s non-governmental organisation status "within days".The Brotherhood had

DHAKA: Move over, Mauna Loa.A group of scientists say they`ve found a volcano bigger than you.Way bigger.An underwater volcano dubbed Tamu Massif was found some 1,000 miles east of Japan, says William Sager, a professor at the University of Houston, who led a team of scientists in the

DHAKA: UN chief Ban Ki-moon has made an impassioned plea against military action in Syria, warning that it could spark further sectarian violence in a country already suffering from a humanitarian crisis "unprecedented" in recent history.Speaking at a humanitarian meeting hosted by

DHAKA: Missiles fired by a suspected US drone aircraft have killed at least seven fighters in Pakistan`s Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border, local residents said.In the early hours of Friday, drones fired two missiles on a compound in the village of Dargah Mandi in North

DHAKA: G20 leaders were divided over Syria at the end of the first day of their Russian summit, as the US envoy to the UN showed her frustration at Moscow.Italian PM Enrico Letta said the splits were confirmed at a working dinner.At the UN, US ambassador Samantha Power accused Russia of

DHAKA: An Indian author whose memoir about her dramatic escape from the Taliban became a Bollywood movie was shot dead by militants in Afghanistan, police said Thursday.Sushmita Banerjee, also known as Sushmita Bandhopadhya, was killed outside her home in Paktika province, according to

DHAKA: As the ramifications of a grisly chemical weapons attack loom over a summit of world leaders, some of Syria`s staunchest friends blasted what they call the "arrogance" of U.S.-led efforts to strike the war-torn nation and said those who do will pay a steep price.Iran`s Ayatollah

DHAKA: An Indian woman, who wrote a popular memoir about her escape from the Taliban, has been shot dead in Afghanistan by suspected militants, police say.Sushmita Banerjee, who was married to an Afghan businessman, was killed outside her home in Paktika province, reports the BBC.The book

DHAKA: The United Arab Emirates has the ‘vainest’ skyscrapers in the world, a report measuring the extent of spires and other height-boosting additions to the top of buildings said on Thursday.The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) said unusable space at the top of

DHAKA: World powers will refrain from raising pressure on Iran at a UN nuclear meeting next week to give its new moderate president time to show he is serious about moves to reduce tensions over its atomic activity.Western diplomats say, reports The Jerusalem Post.But they stressed that

DHAKA: Iranian president Hassan Rouhani on Thursday said the foreign ministry would lead nuclear negotiations with world powers.Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported, says The Jerusalem Post.Negotiations have previously been conducted by the head of the country’s Supreme National

DHAKA: Thousands of Indonesian workers rallied in Jakarta on Thursday to demand an increase in wages of 50 percent next year, Bloomberg reported. Inflation, which is at a four-year high, has driven up living costs.About 20,000 workers from the Confederation of Indonesian Labour Unions

DHAKA: The driver of a car used in an attempt to blow up Egypt’s interior minister died during the attack on Thursday.A senior security official told the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper, reports The Jerusalem Post.Osama al-Saghir, head of Cairo security, said the minister’s armoured

DHAKA: More than 400 million Chinese are unable to speak the national language Mandarin, and large numbers in the rest of the country speak it badly.China state media said on Thursday, as the government launched another push for linguistic unity, reports The Straits Times.China’s ruling

DHAKA: Iran will support Syria ‘to the end’ in the face of a possible US-led military strike against the regime of Syrian president Bashar Assad as punishment for his alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians.The commander of the Islamic Republic’s Quds Force vowed on

DHAKA: Egypt’s interior minister said a bomb attack on his convoy on Thursday was ‘not the end but the beginning’ of a new wave of terrorism, but that the authorities would win out.Responding to a question on whether the attack marked the start of ‘a new wave of terrorism’,