DHAKA: Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond will step down as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) at its annual conference on Friday after Scots voted against independence in September.The head of the party for nearly 20 years and first minister for seven years, Salmond

DHAKA: Lightning has the power to spark wildfires and kill, and scientists said Thursday that climate change may lead to 50 percent more of it by century’s end.The report in the US journal Science is based on measurements of precipitation and cloud buoyancy, applied to 11 different

DHAKA: Hong Kong democracy protest leaders said they will head to Beijing on Saturday in hopes of bringing their demands for political reform to the Chinese authorities, but there are worries they will not be allowed into the country.Protesters, spearheaded by the Hong Kong Federation of

DHAKA: Islamic State (IS) has released an audiotape it says was recorded by its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, days after reports said he had been killed or injured.In the recording, released via social media, the speaker says IS fighters will never cease fighting ‘even if only one

DHAKA: Seven army personnel get life sentence, including two officers, in connection with the Machil fake encounter killing of three youths in Jammu and Kashmir in 2010.  Chief minister Omar Abdullah said “the Army has handed out life sentences to seven including the Commanding

DHAKA: President Barack Obama said he sees opportunities for deeper engagement and cooperation with Vietnam despite the difficult history between the two nations. Obama cited trade, security and human rights as areas for cooperation as he prepared to meet on Thursday with Vietnamese

DHAKA: The doctor who performed mass sterilization surgeries in Chhattisgarh of India on Saturday, after which 11 women died, has been arrested.  Dr RK Gupta was picked up for questioning on Wednesday night and has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, reports

DHAKA: US President Barack Obama is to hold talks with Myanmar's President Thein Sein, hours after accusing his government of backsliding on reforms. Obama is in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, for the East Asia summit, which follows Wednesday's Asean meeting. In an interview with a

DHAKA: He may now be China’s richest man, but Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, has admitted in a United States television interview that being so wealthy is actually causing him ‘great pain’. Ma has seen his fortune balloon to US$19.5 billion after Alibaba’s

DHAKA: Air strikes by US-led forces in Syria have killed 865 people, including 50 civilians, since the start of the campaign in late September against Daesh militants. A group monitoring the war said on Wednesday, reports gulfnews.com. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human

DHAKA: Thailand expects around 25 million tourists this year, down one million from 2013, the government said on Wednesday, thanks in part to months of street protests in the capital which ended with a coup. Two unsolved murders of two young British tourists on the island of Koh Tao in

DHAKA: Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan reached a record high in 2014, a United Nations report revealed Wednesday, highlighting the failure of the multi-billion-dollar US-led campaign to crack down on the lucrative crop. The total area under cultivation was about 224,000 hectares

DHAKA: China and the US have unveiled new targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, as the leaders of the two countries met for talks in Beijing. US President Barack Obama said the move was ‘historic’, as he set a new goal of reducing US levels between 26 percent-28 percent by 2025,

DHAKA: Russia has signed a contract to build two more nuclear reactors in Iran likely to be followed with another six, a move intended to cement closer ties between the two nations.The deal comes less than two weeks ahead of the November 24 deadline for Tehran to sign an agreement on

DHAKA: Officials from Japan’s ruling coalition urged lawmakers on Tuesday to prepare for a possible early election, and a government source said prime minister Shinzo Abe was likely to delay a tax hike that could derail a promised economic recovery. A second government source said one

DHAKA: While the rest of the suckers-for-romance celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14, the practical people in China celebrate the more aptly named ‘Singles Day’ every 11/11; indulging in heart-shaped soft toys, button-eyed teddies and chocolates.This love-struck young chap

KOLKATA: Zokey Ahad has been appointed as deputy high commissioner to Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kotkata.He joined his new office in Kolkata from the United Kingdom on Tuesday.Born in Dhaka, Zokey served as assistant high commissioner in Manchester before joining in Kolkata.He

DHAKA: Kurds battling the Islamic State (IS) group in Kobane reportedly made advances Tuesday in the south of the flashpoint Syrian town on the border with Turkey.Top Kurdish officials told the media their fighters were advancing ‘street by street’, voicing confidence that the IS

DHAKA: The UN mediator in the Syrian conflict, Staffan de Mistura, has told the BBC he believes there is a fresh opportunity to resolve the country’s crisis. He said truce measures could succeed because of the common threat from Islamic State (IS) militants, as well as a growing

DHAKA: The number of Hong Kongers identifying themselves as ‘Chinese’ has reached a record low, after more than a month of mass pro-democracy demonstrations calling for free elections.A poll has found, The Straits Times publishes this report on Tuesday.Only 8.9 percent of Hong