DHAKA: Russia president Putin has told a special session of Russia’s parliament that ‘in people’s heart of hearts, Crimea has always been part of Russia’.Putin was speaking at the Kremlin, where he announced new laws for Crimea to join the Russian Federation and asked MPs to back

DHAKA: Malaysia opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has admitted that Malaysia Airlines MH370 pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah is related to his son’s in-laws.‘I am not denying that he (Zaharie) is related to one of my in-laws and that I have met him on several occasions.’‘In fact, he

DHAKA: Desperate relatives of Chinese passengers aboard flight MH370 threatened to go on hunger strike on Tuesday as they demanded answers about the missing aircraft from Malaysian officials.‘Now we have no news, and everyone is understandably worried. The relatives say they will go to

DHAKA: Russia’s president Vladimir Putin on Tuesday approved a draft bill for the annexation of Crimea, one of a flurry of steps to formally take over the Black Sea peninsula.Crimea on Sunday voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and seek to join Russia. The West and Ukraine

DHAKA: Ukraine’s acting president said Kiev was ready for talks with Russia on Moscow’s takeover of Crimea, but it would never accept annexation of the peninsula.‘We are ready for talks, but will never be reconciled with the annexation of our territory,’ Oleksander Turchinov said

DHAKA: Thailand is to lift its state of emergency on Wednesday, as tensions ease following weeks of anti-government protests.Officials say the emergency decree will be replaced by the Internal Security Act instead, reports the BBC.The 60-day decree, imposed on 22 January in Bangkok and

DHAKA: Three million people have joined an effort led by a satellite operator to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, in what may be the largest crowdsourcing project of its kind.The satellite firm DigitalGlobe said on Monday that its search area now has some 24,000 square

DHAKA: A suicide bomb attack in northern Afghanistan has killed at least 15 people including women and children.Officials have told the BBC.Another 27 were wounded in the attack in Maymana, capital of Faryab province, Provincial Governor Mohammadullah Batash said.The bomber is believed to

DHAKA: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree recognising Crimea as a sovereign state, paving the way for it to be absorbed into Russia.The decree said it had taken into account Sunday`s referendum in Crimea, in which officials said 97% of voters backed breaking away from

DHAKA: US president Barack Obama imposed sanctions on 11 Russians and Ukrainians on Monday blamed for Russia’s military incursion into Crimea, including two top aides to Russian president Vladimir Putin.Obama’s order freezes any assets in the United States and bans travel to the 11

DHAKA: The US city of Los Angeles was awoken just before dawn on Monday by a relatively powerful magnitude 4.7 earthquake, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.Residents of the Hollywood neighbourhood said they were shaken by the quake, which lasted just a few seconds.Burglar

DHAKA: Malaysia police are looking into possible pilot suicide in their investigation into missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, as it emerged that the last message from the cockpit, believed to be from co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, came around the time that two of the plane’s crucial

DHAKA: Ukraine’s foreign minister denounced Russian ‘provocations’ on Monday, warning of a troop build-up on the border and the presence of ‘political tourists’ in its eastern regions.‘We are very much concerned by the number of Russian troops on the (border),’ Ukraine

DHAKA: The EU has agreed to impose travel bans and asset freezes against 21 officials from Russia and Ukraine, following Sunday’s referendum in Crimea.The individuals affected are seen as having playing a central role in Crimea’s move to break away from Ukraine and join with

DHAKA: Crimea’s separatist leader on Monday said Russia had sent the autonomous republic the equivalent of nearly 295 million euros in ‘financial assistance’, a day after it voted overwhelmingly to split from Ukraine.‘The Russian Federation today gave the republic 15 billion

DHAKA: Chinese vice foreign minister Li Baodong on Monday repeated Beijing’s call for calm and restraint in Ukraine, after Crimea’s Moscow-backed leaders declared a 96-percent vote in favor of quitting Ukraine and annexation by Russia.Li, speaking to reporters ahead of a visit to

DHAKA: European Union foreign ministers will agree asset freezes and travel bans on Russian individuals after Ukraine’s Crimea region voted for annexation by Russia.British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday, reports The Jerusalem Post.‘We will agree today, I’m

DHAKA: Russia’s lower house of parliament will pass legislation allowing Ukraine’s southern Crimea region to join Russia ‘in the very near future’.News agency Interfax cited its deputy speaker as saying, reports The Jerusalem Post.‘Results of the referendum in Crimea clearly

DHAKA: Crimea’s separatist parliament on Monday introduced the Russian ruble as a second official currency alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia, after declaring independence following a referendum to break with Ukraine and join Russia.The parliament said in a statement that the hryvnia could

DHAKA: Crimea’s pro-Moscow prime minister Sergiy Aksyonov on Monday said he was leaving for Moscow after the local assembly approved a motion to secede from Ukraine and apply to become part of Russia.‘We are flying to Moscow,’ he tweeted, after local authorities had earlier said a