DHAKA: United Nations chief Ban Ki Moon said on Saturday that saving the lives of migrants stranded at sea in South-east Asia should be a ‘top priority’ as the region battles with an exodus of boat people fleeing persecution and poverty.The UN Secretary-General said he hoped regional

DHAKA: US president Barack Obama signed into law Friday legislation that gives Congress the right to review any potentially block any final nuclear deal between Iran and international negotiators.In recent weeks the US House of Representatives and the Senate passed the Iran Nuclear Review

DHAKA: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday pledged US$453 million in aid to Pacific island nations to help them combat climate change and natural disasters.Abe made the pledge as leaders of 14 Pacific island nations gathered for a two-day meeting that began on Friday in Iwaki,

DHAKA: A strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the Solomon Islands early Saturday.US geologists said the third major tremor to hit in three days, but there were no initial reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued, reports the Times of India.The quake hit at a depth of 10

DHAKA: At least 43 people were killed during clashes between armed civilians and security forces in western Mexico, a region torn by drug cartel violence in Michoacan of Mexico.The shootout took place on Friday in the municipality of Tanhuato, in the state of Michoacan, and the death toll

DHAKA: AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa will be sworn in as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the fifth time at 11am on Saturday.After seven long months, Jayalalithaa on Friday stepped out of her house to floral showers and led a victory march to Raj Bhavan to meet governor K Rosaiah and

DHAKA: The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind a suicide bombing on a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia that killed at least 21 people.The attack in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province is the first to be claimed by the Saudi branch of IS, which was formally established last November.The

DHAKA: A suicide bomber has set off an explosion during weekly prayers at a Shia mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia leaving at least 19 dead, the interior ministry spokesman said in a statement.“It has been established that an individual detonated a bomb he was wearing under his clothes

DHAKA: At least 10 people have been killed and 70 others injured in a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.A physician of emergency room at Qatif Central Hospital told the BBC that some were very critically injured.Witnesses reported a huge blast at the

DHAKA: Around 200 Buddhist monks and nuns have been killed as some 1,000 monasteries collapsed due to the April 25 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks in Nepal.Buddhist Philosophy Promotion and Monastery Development Committee (BPPMDC), under the ministry of federal affairs and local

DHAKA: A suicide bomber has attacked a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, causing casualties, state media say.One witness told Reuters news agency there was a huge explosion at the Imam Ali mosque in the village of al-Qadeeh, reports BBC.He estimated there were at least 30

DHAKA: A mass funeral has taken place in the Colombian town of Salgar for victims of a devastating mudslide on Monday.Burials were held for 33 of the 84 people whose bodies have been recovered. Several local people are still missing, reports the BBC.Thousands of people gathered in the

DHAKA: Myanmar’s navy rescued 208 fortune seekers from the shore on Thursday.They has carried out its first rescue of a migrant boat as it faced mounting international pressure to tackle a regional migration crisis.“A navy ship found two boats... on May 21 while on patrol,” Tin

DHAKA: A grand jury has charged all six police officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray at Baltimore in the U.S. state of Maryland, reports BBC Friday.State Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby announced the revised charges on Thursday, but the most serious charges - including second-degree

DHAKA: Islamic State militants have seized the last Syrian government-controlled border crossing between Syria and Iraq, a Syrian activist group says, reports BBC.Government forces withdrew from al-Tanf - known as al-Waleed in Iraq - crossing as IS advanced, the Syrian Observatory for

DHAKA: Air strikes killed at least 15 suspected militants in Pakistan’s north-western Shawal Valley on Thursday, intelligence officials said, a week after security forces moved in on Taliban strongholds there.The deeply forested ravines of the valley are a key smuggling route between

DHAKA: The world’s largest particle smasher broke the record for energy levels late on Wednesday in a test run after a two-year upgrade.The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) announced on Thursday, reports The Straits Times.‘Last night, protons collided in the Large

DHAKA: David Cameron says he will not give up on his immigration target despite net migration to the UK reaching its highest level for a decade.Net migration rose by 50% to 318,000 last year - with sharp increases from inside and outside the EU.A total of 641,000 people moved to the UK in

DHAKA: Myanmar was braced on Thursday for its first talks with US and southeast Asian envoys on the migrant exodus from its shores, as Malaysia ordered search and rescue missions for thousands of boatpeople stranded at sea.Foreign ministers Anifah Aman of Malaysia and Retno Marsudi of

DHAKA: Islamic State militants have taken near complete control of the Syrian city of Palmyra, home to some of the world’s most magnificent ancient ruins.There are fears that the militants will destroy the ruins, which UNESCO has designated a World Heritage site.Government troops have