DHAKA: A powerful 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia on Sunday, the United States Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued.The quake struck in waters near the Barat Daya islands in Maluku province, 411km east of Atambua and 425km south of Ambon.It was

DHAKA: More than 110,000 people have died in the conflict in Syria since March 2011, a rights watchdog said on Sunday.They said days after alleged gas attacks near Damascus shocked the world, reports The Straits Times.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the toll since the

DHAKA: US president Barack Obama’s decision to seek congressional authorisation for a military strike on Syria has sparked calls for the French Parliament to get the same privilege.The French Constitution does not require such a vote unless and until a French military intervention lasts

DHAKA: Analysis of samples taken by UN inspectors in Syria investigating an alleged use of chemical weapons could take ‘up to three weeks’.Ihe Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post publishes the report on Sunday.‘The

DHAKA: Pope Francis has called for a day of fasting and prayer around the world next Saturday for peace in Syria, which will include a vigil on St Peter’s Square.‘May the cry for peace enter the hearts of everyone so that they may all lay down their weapons,’ the Pope told tens of

DHAKA: The leader of Turkey’s Felicity Party (SP), Mustafa Kamalak, has suggested that Muslim countries unite to establish an ‘Islamic NATO’ in the wake of recent atrocities in the Middle Eastern region.Lending support to deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi, Kamalak said, ‘We

DHAKA: A provincial governor says a vehicle carrying employees of a private mining company has struck a roadside bomb in northern Afghanistan, killing eight.Parwan province leader Abdul Basir Salangi says five people also were wounded Saturday in Bagram district, dawn.com publishes this

DHAKA: A Syrian state-run newspaper says that US president Barack Obama’s decision to seek congressional approval before taking military action against Syria marks ‘the start of the historic American retreat’.In a front-page editorial on Sunday, the Al-Thawra daily says Obama’s

DHAKA: Veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost has died at the age of 74 after a suspected heart attack.Sir David’s career spanned journalism, comedy writing and daytime television presenting, including The Frost Report and That Was The Week That Was.Internationally, he will be remembered

DHAKA: The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has said that the response to a possible military intervention in Syria by the United States will go beyond the Syrian borders.Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting of

DHAKA: North Korea said late on Saturday it withdrew an invitation for a US envoy to visit the country to discuss the fate of a jailed American citizen because US military drills on the peninsula made humanitarian dialogue impossible.Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human

DHAKA: Anti-apartheid leader and former South African president Nelson Mandela was discharged from hospital and returned home on Sunday after being treated for a recurring lung infection, the government said in a statement.‘Madiba’s condition remains critical and is at times

DHAKA: Twenty-four vigilantes in northeast Nigeria were killed in an ambush during a botched attempt to arrest members of Islamist sect Boko Haram, one a member of their group and a security source said on Saturday.‘They were ambushed even before they got to the Boko Haram camps,’ one

DHAKA: US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Saturday that he would hold a vote on authorising US president Barack Obama to use limited military force against Syria no later than the week of September 9.Reid said the Senate would hold public hearings on the issue next week with

DHAKA: The operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant said Saturday it had found new radiation hotspots near tanks storing toxic water, with one reading peaking at 1,800 millisieverts per hour, a potentially lethal dose.Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) detected high

DHAKA: A controversial spiritual guru was arrested early Sunday on a rape charge filed by a teen-age girl in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, police said.Asaram Bapu was arrested at a spiritual retreat in central India and flown to the city of Jodhpur where police say he is

DHAKA: German chancellor Angela Merkel and centre-left election rival Peer Steinbrueck are due to take part in their only televised election debate.The event is seen as the Social Democrat (SPD) leader’s biggest chance to claw back Merkel’s lead in the opinion polls before this

DHAKA: Egyptian officials say they have foiled an attack on a container ship which was aimed at disrupting shipping in the busy Suez Canal.Canal authority head Mohab Mamish said a "terrorist element" targeted a Panama-flagged vessel on Saturday, but it was undamaged.There were reports of

DHAKA: The Peruvian government has extended to nine more regions a state of emergency called to cope with unusually cold weather and heavy snowfall.At least two people have died and 33,000 others have been affected by the cold spell, local officials say.Tens of thousands of animals have

DHAKA: U.S. authorities are tightening up domestic security measures ahead of a possible U.S. military attack on Syria.The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are warning of a higher risk of cyber attacks after months of similar disruptions by hackers known as the Syrian