DHAKA: Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear weapons programme in the world and by 2020 it could have enough fissile material to produce more than 200 nuclear devices.A top American think tank has said, reports gulfnews.com.‘Though many states are downsizing their stockpiles, Asia

DHAKA: China has begun generating electricity from Tibet’s biggest ever hydropower project, state-run media reported, the latest dam development on Himalayan rivers that has prompted concern in neighbouring India.The first generating unit of the 9.6 billion yuan Zangmu Hydropower

DHAKA: Russia is set to lose around US$40 billion per year due to Western sanctions over Ukraine.Russia finance minister Anton Siluanov said Monday.‘We are losing around US$40 billion per year due to geopolitical sanctions and we are losing some US$90 to US$100 billion per year due to

DHAKA: Rescuers pulled 44 more bodies from a fast-flowing river in western Nepal where a bus crashed last week, hiking the death toll to 47.Police said on Monday, reports The Straits Times.Emergency workers found three bodies immediately after the crash in mountainous Jajarkot

DHAKA: Negotiators in Vienna, Austria, are set to make a final push to try to reach a deal on Iran's nuclear programme ahead of a 23:00 GMT deadline.They said earlier ‘serious gaps’ remained, suggesting that an extension could be agreed instead, reports the BBC.World powers - the

DHAKA: Pope Francis on Sunday named six new saints, including two from India, in a mass gathering tens of thousands of worshippers at Saint Peter’s Square.Some 5,000 Indians were among those attending the mass to see Francis canonise Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871) and Euphrasia

DHAKA: A suicide bomber has killed at least 40 people at a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan, officials say.A spokesman for the governor of Paktika province told the BBC that the attacker had detonated the bomb amid a crowd of people gathering for a game.About 50 people were

DHAKA: The death toll from a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that struck a remote part of China’s southwest rose to five on Sunday, as media reported the injured have all been successfully rescued.The quake struck 39km northwest of Kangding in the mountainous west of Sichuan province at 0855

DHAKA: The lower house of the Afghan parliament has overwhelmingly approved a security agreement allowing US and Nato troops to remain in the country.The deals provide legal protection for troops serving under a new Nato mission due to begin after combat operations formally end on 31

DHAKA: Boko Haram gunmen killed 48 fish vendors in Nigeria's restive Borno State, near the border with Chad.The head of the fish traders association told the media on Sunday, reports The Straits Times.‘Scores of Boko Haram fighters blocked a route linking Nigeria with Chad near the

DHAKA: Tunisians are set to vote in the country’s first presidential election since the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’ that triggered uprisings across the region. More than 25 candidates are in the race, but incumbent Moncef Marzouki and anti-Islamist leader Beji Caid Essebsi are widely seen

DHAKA: A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake in central Japan left 39 people injured, seven seriously, and wrecked homes in a popular ski resort. The government said Sunday, reports The Straits Times. The quake struck at 10.08pm local time (1308 GMT) Saturday at a depth of 10km at the

DHAKA: Angry workers have hacked to death the owner of a tea plantation in eastern India over a payment dispute, police said on Sunday, underscoring festering labour unrest in the region. Rajesh Jhunjhunwala, 45, was dragged out in the middle of discussions and attacked by the irate mob

DHAKA: Gary Bass, author of The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide, captured this year’s $75,000 Cundill Prize in Historical Literature at McGill. Chancellor Michael A. Meighen and Dean of Arts Christopher Manfredi announced the winner Thursday night at a gala

DHAKA: Doubts are growing that Monday’s deadline for a deal on Iran's controversial nuclear program will be met at talks in Vienna in Austria. Both the US and Germany said the sides were working to close ‘big gaps’, with some suggestions that the deadline could be extended, reports

DHAKA: Teheran is ready to allow nuclear inspectors access to its Marivan military site, an Iranian official said Saturday, a facility long suspected of being used to develop explosive weapons.The declaration comes as Iran and six world powers hold talks in Vienna to reach a lasting

DHAKA: An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 6.8 jolted central Japan on Saturday evening.The meteorological agency said, reports The Straits Times.Public broadcaster NHK said no tsunami warning had been issued.The quake struck at 10:08pm (local time), with its epicentre at a depth

DHAKA: Islamic State (IS) militants have killed 25 members of a Sunni Muslim tribe during their assault on a provincial capital west of Baghdad, local officials said on Saturday, in apparent revenge for tribal opposition to the extremists.They said the bodies of the men from the Albu

DHAKA: India on Saturday invited bids for a US$2.4-billion artillery deal while deferring a decision on acquiring 106 Swiss Pilatus aircraft for fighter pilot training.The bid for 814 mounted guns is the first big artillery tender in nearly three decades since the scandal-hit Swedish

DHAAK: Less than a month after electing a new parliament, Tunisians will vote Sunday in their first-ever open democratic presidential election, completing a tumultuous democratic transition begun with their revolution nearly four years ago.The front-runner, Beji Qaid Al Sebsi, who