DHAKA: Iran and world powers should focus on confidence-building at next week’s talks on Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.Iran’s parliamentary speaker said on Wednesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.Ali Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator, declined to say whether Iran would bring

DHAKA: A Pakistani court on Wednesday granted bail to former military dictator Pervez Musharraf in a ruling which takes him a step closer to being released from house arrest.Musharraf’s fate has been subject to speculation since he became the first former army chief to be arrested this

DHAKA: US state secretary John Kerry said that Myanmar’s dramatic political reforms were still ‘incomplete’, a day after the former military-ruled country released dozens more political prisoners.‘I think what is happening in Myanmar is very exciting, but it is incomplete,’

DHAKA: The trial of Egypt’s deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi on charges of inciting the murder of protesters will start on November 4.The official MENA news agency reported Wednesday, reports daily Hurriyet. Mursi will stand trial with 14 other defendants over the killings of

DHAKA: South African police are investigating Nelson Mandela’s grandson for allegedly pointing a gun at a driver in a road rage spat.A spokesman said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.Mandla Mandela, a traditional chief and member of Parliament, is accused of pulling his gun on

DHAKA: Malala Yousafzai, the teenage activist nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, says she has not done enough to deserve the award, as her old school closed on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of her shooting by the Taliban.The 16-year-old was shot in the head by the Pakistani

DHAKA: Three scientists have won the Nobel prize in chemistry for their work on multiscale models for complex systems.Martin Karplus of Strasbourg and Harvard universities, Michael Levitt of Stanford University and Arieh Warshel at the University of Southern California share the prize.The

DHAKA: US state secretary John Kerry is in Brunei for meetings with top officials from China and its smaller Southeast Asian neighbours, in which he will urge all countries to cool tensions over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.Kerry will make the case in Wednesday discussions

DHAKA: Iran will reportedly offer to stop enriching uranium to levels of 20% purity in upcoming talks with world powers in Geneva, as well as offer to open the country’s nuclear facilities to more intrusive international inspections.The Wall Street Journal cited officials as saying on

DHAKA: A court in eastern China on Wednesday allowed ousted former senior politician Bo Xilai to appeal against a life sentence handed out last month on crimes of corruption and abuse of power.Bo was a rising star in China’s leadership circles and cultivated a loyal following through

DHAKA: Six workers at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant were doused with radioactive water from a desalination system on Wednesday, the plant’s operator said.The fluid splashed onto the men when they accidently removed a pipe connected to the system, Tokyo Electric Power

DHAKA: Americans are fed up with the political deadlock in Washington and frustrated with how the federal government shutdown is interfering with everything from hunting season to weddings and even military funerals.The congressional approval rating dropped to 11 percent in a Gallup poll

DHAKA: Myanmar released 56 political prisoners in a presidential amnesty, the government`s official MRTV reported late Tuesday.The inmates were released from a dozen prisons, according to Tun Kyi, a member of government`s committee on political prisoners. Most were charged under an

DHAKA: The Pentagon has named Paul Lewis as its special envoy for closing the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the appointment on Tuesday.It was part of President Barack Obama`s renewed push to close the prison, which remains open

DHAKA: US President Barack Obama will nominate Federal Reserve Vice-Chair Janet Yellen to be the next head of the US central bank on Wednesday, according to a White House official.If confirmed by the US Senate, Ms Yellen would replace Ben Bernanke, who has held the post for eight

DHAKA: A well-known Iranian blogger and veteran activist says a court has sentenced him to six years in prison over security charges.Mahdi Khazali told media the sentence was for spreading ‘propaganda’ against the ruling establishment.He insists he did not break the law and will

DHAKA: The world’s oldest movie theatre, where the first films of the pioneering Lumiere brothers were screened in 1899, reopens in a sleepy southern French town on Wednesday after an extensive facelift.Gleaming, velvet seats replace dusty chairs, fresh yellow paint and mosaic tiles

DHAKA: Seven days after the Pakistani Taleban shot her in the head, Malala Yousafzai woke up confused in a place that wasn’t home.Her first thought? ‘Thank God I’m not dead.’Malala, whose campaign for girls’ right to education made her a Taliban target, describes the shooting

DHAKA: Egypt’s cabinet on Tuesday ordered authorities to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from the list of approved non-governmental organisations following a judicial order, state media reported.The move comes after an Egyptian court last month banned the Muslim Brotherhood from operating

DHAKA: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has replaced officials holding almost half of the nation’s key posts in an attempt to strengthen his control over the country.A South Korean report showed on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.Kim has changed the officials filling 97 out of 218