DHAKA: New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key has announced plans to send 143 non-combat troops to Iraq to help the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants.Key told parliament most personnel would be based with Australian troops in Taji Camp north of Baghdad.He said New Zealand had

DHAKA: At least five drones were spotted flying over central Paris landmarks during the night and the operators have not been apprehended.A security source said Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.The first drone sighting was near the US embassy in the French capital. The Eiffel Tower and

DHAKA: South Korea and the US have announced that their annual military drills will begin on 2 March - a move that will anger Pyongyang.The exercises, called Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, always generate tension on the Korean peninsula.Seoul and Washington call the drills defensive in

DHAKA: Russian president Vladimir Putin has said war with neighboring Ukraine is ‘unlikely’, in an interview for Russian television.Putin also stressed his support for the recent Minsk ceasefire deal as the best way to stabilise eastern Ukraine.Ukraine says Russian troops have been

DHAKA: Greece has unveiled an outline summary of reforms demanded by eurozone leaders in order to secure a bailout extension.The measures include plans to combat tax evasion and tackling fuel and tobacco smuggling, reports BBC.Government officials said they were releasing the summary

DHAKA: Militant group Islamic State (IS) got funny travel tips from Italians after threatening to invade Rome.According to Buzzfeed, IS recently made the threat on Twitter following the release of a video on killing of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya last week.The group, in the video,

DHAKA: The Ukrainian military has said it cannot start withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line in the east until the rebels stop shelling its positions.Military spokesman Anatoliy Stelmakh told reporters the rebels had not stopped firing, according to the BBC.Both sides agreed at

DHAKA: Rahul Gandhi, a leader of India's Congress party, is taking a leave of absence from parliament to focus on party work, an official said, setting off speculation of a long-awaited change in the party to revive its fortunes.Gandhi, the presumed fourth-generation heir of the

DHAKA: US-led air strikes against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria have killed more than 1,600 people, mainly extremists, since they began five months ago.A monitor said on Monday, reports The Straits Times.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said almost all of those killed were

DHAKA: The Grand Imam of Egypt’s top Islamic institution has called for a radical reform of religious teaching to tackle the spread of Islamic extremism.Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb of Cairo’s al-Azhar University said that a historical misreading of the Koran had led to intolerant

DHAKA: Australia is to toughen citizenship laws and tackle those inciting hatred under new measures targeting domestic extremists.PM Tony Abbott has said, reports the BBC.He said citizenship for dual nationals involved in terrorism could be suspended or even revoked.People born in

DHAKA: US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif have met for two hours in Geneva in another round of nuclear talks.They sit to try narrow gaps as they pressed against a March 31 deadline to reach a political agreement, reports the Aljazeera.The

DHAKA: Maldives police have arrested former president and current opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed under anti-terrorism laws.A document signed by the prosecutor general said that Nasheed was arrested on Sunday to stand trial for his 2012 order as president to arrest a senior judge. It

DHAKA: A bomb has killed at least two people, including a police officer, and injured at least 10 more people at a rally in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv.The rally was one of several being held to mark a year since the Kiev uprising that led to the fall of pro-Russia leader Viktor

DHAKA: Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan said he underestimated Boko Haram Islamists who have overrun swathes of the country’s northeast and defended an election postponement in an interview published Sunday.Jonathan, facing a tight re-election bid against ex-military ruler Muhammadu

DHAKA: Militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria said they were behind attacks on the residence of the Iranian ambassador in Tripoli and the eastern Labraq airport.A group statement on twitter said on Sunday, reports The Straits Times.Two bombs detonated in front

DHAKA: A ceremony was held in New York to honour black civil rights leader Malcolm X at the site where he was assassinated 50 years ago.Activists, politicians and actors were among some 300 people who paid tributes to Malcolm X in Harlem, reports the BBC.They heard a call by one of his

DHAKA: Greece will crack down on tax evasion and streamline its civil service in its bid to secure a bailout extension.Minister of state Nikos Pappas says, reports the BBC.The government is working on a package of reforms that it must submit to international creditors on Monday.If the

DHAKA: Sensors at the Fukushima nuclear plant have detected a fresh leak of highly radioactive water to the sea, the plant’s operator announced Sunday, highlighting difficulties in decommissioning the crippled plant.Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the sensors, which were rigged to

DHAKA: Shibaji Panja, an associate of Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee who accompanied her to Bangladesh, was detained at the Kolkata airport on his return on Saturday night.Panja is a small-time businessman who has become increasingly close to the chief minister over the past