DHAKA: Israel’s parliament member Haneen Zoabi defended her assertion that those who abducted three Israeli teens last week are not terrorists, saying Wednesday that kidnapping is a legitimate form of resistance and only killing people is terror. ‘I don’t agree with the kidnapping,

DHAKA: Israeli troops arrested 65 Palestinians overnight, most of whom were freed in a 2011 prisoner swap, as they scoured the West Bank for three teenagers believed kidnapped by Hamas. The arrest operations were praised by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said it sent an

DHAKA: Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran would do whatever it takes to protect revered Shia shrines in Iraq against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government. ‘Dear Karbala, Dear Najaf, Dear Kadhimiyah and Dear Samarra, we warn the great powers and

DHAKA: Ukraine’s new president Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday that he will soon order a unilateral ceasefire in the separatist east as part of a broader plan to end the 10-week insurgency. ‘The peace plan begins with my order for a unilateral ceasefire,’ the Interfax-Ukraine

DHAKA: Egyptian diplomats reported that they are mediating between Israel and Palestinian as both sides look to discover the fate of three yeshiva students kidnapped by Hamas operatives in the West Bank late last week. Israel Radio reports on Wednesday, says The Jerusalem Post.

DHAKA: A group of Turkish construction workers were among some 60 people abducted by Islamist militants near the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, less than a week after dozens of other Turkish nationals were taken hostage in Mosul. According to a news report, says The Jerusalem Post. Militants

DHAKA: Afghan president Hamid Karzai has dismissed the possibility of al-Qaeda linked groups making a comeback in his country in a similar way to Iraq. Asked by the BBC’s Lyse Doucet in Kabul whether what was happening in Iraq could happen in Afghanistan, the president replied:

DHAKA: A boat carrying 97 people from Indonesia sank off the western coast of Malaysia and 61 of the passengers are still missing, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said on Wednesday. The passengers included women and children and were suspected of trying to reach Malaysia

DHAKA: At least 12 women were abducted during the latest attack on Kenya's coast, which also left 15 people dead. Residents have told the BBC. President Uhuru Kenyatta has blamed ‘local political networks’ for the overnight raid on two villages near the town of Mpeketoni. But

DHAKA: A Russian state television reporter was killed in Ukraine and his colleague is missing after their position was shelled in clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists near the eastern city of Luhansk. Rossiya-24 channel said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.

DHAKA: A Romanian woman was imprisoned, raped and repeatedly beaten at a house in Austria for more than a month before escaping when her attacker got drunk. The police said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times. Badly hurt with fractured ribs, the 40-year-old woman fled to her former

DHAKA: Yemen’s president has removed heavy artillery from the outskirts of the capital, following fears the former president was plotting a coup. President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi removed the heavy weaponry stationed on hills surrounding Sanaa on Monday amid reports his predecessor, Ali

DHAKA: At least 15 people have been killed in a new attack by Islamist militants near Kenya’s coastal town of Mpeketoni. Local police say, reports the BBC. They say the gunmen raided two villages overnight. Somalia’s al-Shabab group said it had carried out the attack, telling media

DHAKA: At least seven people were killed on Tuesday when the Pakistani police clashed with followers of a fiery preacher in the eastern city of Lahore. Hospital officials said, reports The Straits Times. The clashes involved supporters of Canadian-Pakistani Tahir-ul-Qadri who held a

DHAKA: More deadly violence flared in a Sri Lankan resort region where Buddhist hardliners set shops and homes alight for a second night running in defiance of a curfew. The police and residents said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times. Amid mounting international concern at the

DHAKA: Thailand’s military government has paid rice farmers all the arrears of 92.4 billion baht owed under a controversial state purchase scheme. A senior official of the bank that funded the programme said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times. The move ended the government’s

DHAKA: The kidnappers of three yeshiva students last weekend are not terrorists, Israel’s parliament member Hanin Zoabi (Balad) said Tuesday. ‘They’re people who don’t see any way to change their reality and they are forced to use these means until Israel will wake up a little,

DHAKA: Afghan police hunted down and killed two Taliban insurgents who cut off the fingers of 11 elderly men who voted in the presidential election run-off.Officials said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.All voters in Afghanistan had their fingers marked with ink after voting to

DHAKA: UK foreign secretary William Hague will announce a plan on Tuesday which will lead to the re-opening of the British embassy in Iran's capital, Tehran. Full diplomatic relations with Iran were suspended after attacks on the British embassy in Iran in 2011. The election of a new

DHAKA: Egypt’s prime minister Ibrahim Mehleb was sworn in on Tuesday at the head of a new government that retained key economic and security ministers but created a new investment post to attract funds to an economy racked by years of political turmoil.Mehleb, followed by his