DHAKA: Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a joint session of parliament on Tuesday as a deepening crisis over mass protests demanding his resignation prompted fears of an army intervention.Sharif had called the session and he had been expected to address it on Tuesday but

DHAKA: Japanese space scientists have unveiled the asteroid hunting space probe they hope to launch later this year on a mission to mine a celestial body.The probe, named ‘Hayabusa-2’, is expected to be flung into space on a rocket for a mammoth four-year voyage to the

DHAKA: Hearing a set of petitions against sit-ins by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) on the Constitution Avenue, the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notices to all parliamentary parties as well as the PAT. The notices were issued after petitioner

DHAKA: Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif voiced optimism after talks with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton that a dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program can be resolved by a November 24 deadline. ‘I am quite optimistic after discussions with Lady Ashton

DHAKA: Nurses at Liberia’s largest hospital went on strike, demanding better pay and equipment to protect them against a deadly Ebola epidemic which has killed hundreds in the west African nation. John Tugbeh, spokesman for the strikers at Monrovia’s John F Kennedy hospital, said the

DHAKA: US military forces conducted an operation Monday against the Al-Shabaab network in Somalia, CNN reports.  No other information was immediately available. The Pentagon did not say who was targeted, where in Somalia the operation took place nor why the operation was happening now.

DHAKA: Hundreds of anti-government protestors stormed the headquarters of state-owned Pakistan Television on Monday, forcing the channel briefly off air, as fresh clashes erupted and the army gave the government an ultimatum to end the impasse soon.Prime minister Nawaz Sharif met

DHAKA: In the wake of ongoing anti-government protests in Islamabad, a group of hackers calling themselves ‘Anonymous Op Pakistan’ temporarily brought down numerous government portals in a bid to remove, ‘every vestige of the Pakistan government from the Internet’.The group

DHAKA: Ukraine’s defence minister warned on Monday that a ‘great war’ has broken out with Russia over his country’s future that could claim tens of thousands of lives.‘A great war has arrived at our doorstep - the likes of which Europe has not seen since World War II’,

DHAKA: Japan will give 3.5 trillion yen (over USD 33.56 billion) to India over five years to help finance infrastructure projects and two of the PM’s pet projects - the cleaning of the Ganga and the building of smart cities.Japan will also supply financial and technical support for

DHAKA: At least 1,420 people were killed in Iraq in August, the United Nations said on September 1, as sectarian violence raged in the centre and north of the country.Another 1,370 Iraqis were wounded and 600,000 people forced to flee, the UN added, as Islamic State militants, who

DHAKA: Pakistan is preparing to launch a selective crackdown against anti-government protesters trying to bring down the government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif.Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif said, warning demonstrators against storming government buildings.Dashing chances

DHAKA: Myanmar launched an online visa application on Monday promising an end to painful waits for permits to visit the once secretive nation as it tries to lure five million tourists a year by 2015.The e-visa is open to tourists from 41 countries, from Singapore, China, Japan and

DHAKA: Saudi Arabia’s crown prince arrived in Paris Monday for talks with president Francois Hollande likely to touch on a Saudi-financed French package of arms for Lebanon and the wider jihadist threat in the region.Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, who is also deputy prime minister

DHAKA: Pakistan’s national television channel is back on air after security forces removed anti-government protesters from its headquarters in Islamabad.Troops were sent in to regain control from demonstrators who had forced their way into the PTV offices.Earlier, fresh clashes

DHAKA: Anti-government protesters armed with rocks and wooden clubs clashed with police in Islamabad on Monday, hours after the powerful army called for a peaceful resolution to the political crisis rocking Pakistan.Opposition groups marched to the capital on August 15 in a bid to

DHAKA: Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have disrupted a speech given by a Beijing official explaining voting changes for the territory.They chanted slogans and held placards accusing Beijing of breaking its promise to allow Hong Kong to choose its leader directly.On Sunday the

DHAKA: Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong (HK) have disrupted a speech given by a Beijing official explaining new voting changes being introduced for the city.They chanted slogans and held placards accusing Beijing of breaking its promise to allow Hong Kong to choose its leader

DHAKA: A man killed three people at a primary school in central China on Monday and then committed suicide by jumping off a building, CNN reports.Six people were wounded in the attack at the school in Hubei province, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported, citing the local

DHAKA: The World Health Organization (WHO) said the effort to contain Ebola in Senegal is a top priority emergency.The government continued tracing everyone who came in contact with a Guinean student who has tested positive for the deadly disease in the capital, Dakar.Senegal faces an