DHAKA: French foreign minister Laurent Fabius pressed on Sunday for preparatory meetings ahead of a G8 meeting of world powers in Sochi in Russia to be suspended to raise pressure on Russia to defuse an escalating crisis in Ukraine.The United States has said it will not participate in

DHAKA: The United States is reportedly pressuring Israel to stop assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, a number of whom have been mysteriously killed in a campaign thought to be carried out by Mossad.According to CBS News, Obama administration officials have communicated to Israeli

DHAKA: Ukraine has announced it is calling up military reservists, following Russia’s decision to allow deployment of troops.Ukraine acting president Olexander Turchynov had already ordered increased security at key sites, including nuclear plants, reports the BBC.US president Barack

DHAKA: The Pakistani military said it had bombed the hideout of a militant leader on Sunday, killing five insurgents, only a day after the Taliban declared a one-month ceasefire to pursue stalled peace talks with the government.The target of the attack, Mullah Tamanchey, directed a deadly

DHAKA: President Vladimir Putin has not yet decided whether to deploy Russian troops in Ukraine, his spokesman was quoted as saying after the Federation Council upper house of parliament empowered him to do so.‘After the decision by the Federation Council, the president has received the

DHAKA: Prison officials in Afghanistan`s southern city of Kandahar have been tricked into releasing a dozen Taliban fighters.The chief of security for Kandahar, Rahmatullah Atrafi, said a letter was sent to the prison on Tuesday requesting the release of 28 prisoners.Sixteen were due for

DHAKA: Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared Saturday to dismiss warnings from world leaders to avoid military intervention in Ukraine`s Crimean peninsula, even amid growing evidence that pro-Russian forces were already in control of the region.The rhetoric escalated Saturday night,

DHAKA: n attack by knife-wielding men at a railway station in Kunming in south-west China has left at least 29 dead, the state news agency Xinhua says.Another 130 people were wounded in what authorities described as an "organised, premeditated, violent terrorist attack".Four suspects were

DHAKA: A son of Egypt’s toppled Islamist president Mohammad Mursi has been arrested for allegedly possessing drugs.The official Middle East News Agency reported Saturday, says gulfnews.com.Abdullah Mohammad Mursi, 25, was arrested along with a friend inside a parked car in Qaliubia

DHAKA: Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday submitted a request to the upper house of parliament asking approval for the use of Russian troops in Ukraine.Media reported the Kremlin as saying, reports The Straits Times.‘In connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine

DHAKA: Ukraine’s acting president signed a decree on Saturday declaring the appointment of a pro-Russia premier in the Crimea region illegal.Sergei Aksyonov was appointed in Crimea this week after armed men took over the regional parliament. The presidential decree said the decision had

DHAKA: German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned on Saturday that developments in Ukraine over the past few hours were dangerous and urged Russia to explain its intentions regarding its troops in the Crimea region.‘The situation in Crimea in particular has become

DHAKA: The Pakistani Taliban have announced a month-long ceasefire aimed at reviving stalled peace talks with government.Spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said all Taliban fighters had been urged to ‘refrain from any activity during this period’, reports the BBC.The talks broke down last

DHAKA: Iran’s president said the Islamic Republic has decided not to develop nuclear weapons out of principle, not only because it is asked to do so by treaties.Hassan Rouhani told defence ministry officials on Saturday that if Iran wanted weapons of mass destruction, it would be easier

DHAKA: British foreign secretary William Hague will visit Kiev on Sunday for talks with the interim Ukrainian government as tensions rise with Russia over Crimea.A Foreign Office spokesman said, reports The Straits Times.The spokesman had no further details about the trip, but Hague

DHAKA: At least 12 people have been killed in three separate bomb attacks targeting a polio vaccination team in northwestern Pakistan.The bombs went off in Lashora area of Jamroud Tehsil in Khyber Agency on Saturday, reports Press TV.More than ten other people were also injured in the

DHAKA: A referendum to determine whether residents in Ukraine’s flashpoint peninsula of Crimea want greater autonomy has been pushed forward to March 30.The spokeswoman of the region’s newly-chosen prime minister Sergiy Aksyonov said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.The vote had

DHAKA: The Russian foreign ministry said on Saturday that Moscow is ‘extremely concerned’ about the recent developments in Ukraine’s Crimea, which it said confirm the desire of Kiev’s politicians to destabilise the situation on the peninsula.‘In Russia, we are extremely

DHAKA: The newly-chosen prime minister of the Ukrainian southern region of Crimea on Saturday called on Russian president Vladimir Putin to help restore ‘peace and calm’ to the Black Sea peninsula, amid a standoff with the new authorities in Kiev. ‘Taking into account my

DHAKA: US President Barack Obama has warned Russia there will be "costs" for any military intervention in Ukraine.He said he was deeply concerned by reports of Russian military movements inside the country.Ukraine`s acting president has accused Russia of deploying troops to Crimea and