DHAKA: Votes are being counted in Myanmar's first openly contested national election for 25 years.Turnout is thought to have been 80% in the poll - seen as a further big step away from decades of military rule, reports BBC.Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) is expected

DHAKA: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks in Cairo on Sunday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi about the latest developments in the Palestinian territories.Abbas briefed Sisi on ‘continued Israeli violations against the Aksa Mosque in particular and Palestinians

DHAKA: David Cameron is to warn European leaders he will ‘think again’ about the UK staying in the EU if his demands for reform are ‘met with a deaf ear’.The PM will deliver his warning on Tuesday to coincide with a letter to the European Council president setting out the changes

DHAKA: With JD(U)-led Grand Alliance well on the road to win a thumping majority in the Bihar provincial assembly polls, India PM Narendra Modi on Sunday called up JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and congratulated him on his victory in state elections.Modi said in a tweet, ‘Had a telephone

DHAKA: Nine more people have died of their injuries following last week's fire at a Romanian nightclub, bringing the number of deaths to 41, officials say.Seven people died in hospitals in the capital Bucharest, while another two passed away in the Netherlands, where they had been

DHAKA: Voting is under way in Myanmar's general election - the first openly contested poll in 25 years after decades of military rule.The ruling Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP), backed by the military, is one of the frontrunners, reports the BBC.Aung San Suu Kyi's National

DHAKA: As many as 37 Assyrian Christians who were among about 200 seized by the Islamic State (IS) militants in February in northeastern Syria, got released from the militant group.Two human rights monitoring groups said on Saturday, reports The Jerusalem Post.Elders from Arab tribes had

DHAKA: Leaders of political rivals Taiwan and China have met for the first time in more than 60 years for talks that come amid rising anti-Beijing sentiment on the self-ruled island and just weeks ahead of elections.China’s President Xi Jinping and his Taiwanese counterpart, Ma

DHAKA: At least ten people have been killed in suspected Russian air strikes on a market in a Damascus suburb.Baraa, a Syrian activist in Douma, told Al Jazeera on Friday that Russian air strikes had hit the Kouatly market in Douma, just outside of the capital.‘For the past half an hour

DHAKA: Israeli forces have shot dead a 72-year-old Palestinian woman amid clashes across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.On Friday afternoon, Israeli troops fatally shot Thawarat Ashrawi as she drove her car into a petrol station in Halhul, a town in the Hebron-area of the

DHAKA: Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to suspend all Russian flights to Egypt after a recommendation by his chief of intelligence for a halt until the cause of the crash of a passenger jet in the Sinai Peninsula is determined.Friday’s suspension came after several days of

DHAKA: A former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been found dead in Washington DC, Russian state media say, reports the BBC.Mikhail Lesin, 57, Russia's former press minister and a one-time head of the powerful Gazprom-Media Holding group, died on Thursday, the RIA-Novosti and

DHAKA: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou are set to hold historic talks in Singapore.It is the first time since the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 that the leaders from both sides have met, reports the BBC.China views Taiwan as a breakaway province, which

KOLKATA: Police arrested two members of militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), in connection with the Burdwan blast in West Bengal last year.Acting on tip off, they were rounded up from Shipahijala district of Tripura in India Thursday midnight.Of the arrestees, one was

DHAKA: Germany has unveiled plans to speed up the asylum process, after the governing coalition resolved a rift on the issue.Chancellor Angela Merkel said they would create up to five special centres for asylum-seekers deemed to have little chance of staying, reports the BBC.Merkel's

DHAKA: Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has declared that her party has the momentum for victory in Sunday’s elections, but warned against ‘ongoing fraudulent actions’ that could disrupt the electoral process.At a press conference on Thursday ahead of the November 8

DHAKA: Harjit Sajjan, a former police officer and veteran of three military deployments to Afghanistan, was named Canada’s new minister of defense on Wednesday, bringing first-hand expertise to one of the country’s top cabinet positions.‘It's an honour to serve in cabinet as

DHAKA: A major rescue operation is under way to save dozens of people thought to be trapped in rubble after a factory collapsed in Lahore, Pakistan.At least 17 people died when the factory, which was under construction, collapsed on Wednesday, reports the BBC.Cranes and bulldozers are

DHAKA: The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a phone conversation.They shared their opinions on the Syria crisis in light of ministerial meetings in Vienna last week.Both sides confirmed they were willing to

DHAKA: Maldives President Abdulla Yameen declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, giving sweeping powers to security forces to arrest suspects ahead of a major anti-government protest rally.His spokesman said, reports Bangkok Post.‘(The) Maldives declares state of emergency for a