DHAKA: India will vote for its next government starting April 7.  Voting will be held on nine days, ending with May 12.  The results will be declared on May 16. 814 million people are eligible to cast their votes -- 100 million more than in the last elections in 2009, NDTV

DHAKA: Thousands of protesters in Venezuela have marched through the streets of Caracas shouting slogans against the socialist government of Nicolas Maduro.They also demanded the release of dozens of activists detained since demonstrations began a month ago, reports BBC.Tension is high

DHAKA: China announced a growth target of 7.5% and revealed plans to raise its defence budget by 12.2%, as it opened its annual parliament session in Beijing.Issues such as targeting corruption and the environment are also on the agenda at the National People`s Congress, reports

DHAKA: A US judge has upheld Chevron`s allegations that an Ecuadorian court decision ordering it to pay $9.5bn for oil pollution in the Amazon jungle was fraudulently obtained.US District Judge Lewis Kaplan concluded on Tuesday that plaintiffs in the 2011 case and their lawyers committed

DHAKA: US President Barack Obama has urged Russia to move its troops in Ukraine`s Crimea region back to their bases and set up a monitoring mission there, White House officials say.The offer to Russian President Vladimir Putin was made as Moscow remained in de facto control of the

DHAKA: Suicide bombers attacked the city council headquarters in the Iraqi city of Samarra on Tuesday, took employees hostage and eventually blew themselves up, killing a total of five people.The attack, which followed a similar operation last December, illustrates the impunity with which

DHAKA: Syria has shipped out about a third of its chemical weapons stockpile, including mustard gas, for destruction abroad.The global chemical arms watchdog said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague said

DHAKA: US Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Kiev on Tuesday for talks with Ukraine’s interim government, amid an escalating crisis in Crimea.Officials travelling with Kerry said the United States would offer US$1 billion to financially-stricken Ukraine as part of an international

DHAKA: Egypt’s armed forces chief, Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, has said he cannot ignore calls by the majority for him to run for president.He told journalists ‘official procedures’ regarding his candidacy were expected in the coming days, Egypt’s state news agency

DHAKA: Ukraine’s telecommunications system has come under attack, with equipment installed in Russian-controlled Crimea used to interfere with the mobile phones of members of parliament.The head of Ukraine’s SBU security service said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.‘I confirm

DHAKA: Russian president Vladimir Putin tells a news conference Tuesday that no need to send in troops to Ukraine now, but the possibility of this remains.Deployment of Russian armed forces is the last resort, he added.The Russian president says the events in Ukraine which toppled

DHAKA: No ‘solution is in sight’ on the Ukraine crisis, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday after a ‘difficult’ talk in Geneva with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.‘I had a difficult, long and very serious talk but it wasn’t enough to say that a

DHAKA: Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra could face murder charges after relatives of two anti-government protesters who died following clashes with police filed a complaint with a criminal court.A lawyer said Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.The protesters were among six people,

DHAKA: Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered troops that took part in military exercises this week to return to base.Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin spokesman as saying on Tuesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.Dmitry Peskov said the military exercises, which Moscow denied

DHAKA: An Egyptian court on Tuesday banned all activities of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Egypt.A judge said, reports The Jerusalem Post.‘The court has ordered the banning of Hamas work and activities in Egypt," the judge, who asked to remain anonymous, told media.Hamas is an

DHAKA: Bill Gates has returned to the top of Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s richest people, as rising stock markets swelled the ranks of billionaires, which included a record number of women.With a net worth of US$76 billion, the Microsoft Corp co-founder reclaimed the

DHAKA: Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych asked Russia to send troops across the border to protect civilians, Moscow`s UN envoy has claimed.Vitaly Churkin told a Security Council meeting Mr Yanukovych wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.Thousands of Russian

DHAKA: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday harshly criticised threats of ‘sanctions and boycotts’ over his country’s role in the spiralling crisis in Ukraine, as Western powers ponder whether to kick Moscow out of the G8.‘Those who try to interpret the situation as a

DHAKA: Russia has vowed its troops will remain in Ukraine to protect Russian interests and citizens until the political situation has been ‘normalised’.Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was defending human rights against ‘ultra-nationalist threats’, reports the

DHAKA: China, which consistently says it opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs, is looking to ‘maintain principles’ on Ukraine.It said on Monday after Russia insisted the two were in broad agreement, reports The Straits Times.Moscow has appeared keen to stress