DHAKA: The US has spoken out over "dangerous conduct and intimidation" in the South China Sea, after ships from Vietnam and China collided in disputed waters. The collisions came as the Vietnamese ships tried to prevent China setting up an oil rig near the Paracel islands. The incident

DHAKA: Rising levels of CO2 around the world will significantly impact the nutrient content of crops according to a new study. Experiments show levels of zinc, iron and protein are likely to be reduced by up to 10% in wheat and rice by 2050. The scientists say this could have health

DHAKA: A Saudi court has imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi for 10 years for "insulting Islam" and setting up a liberal web forum, local media report. He was also sentenced to 1,000 lashes and ordered to pay a fine of 1 million riyals ($266,000; £133,000). Amnesty International called the

DHAKA: Russian president Vladimir Putin on Wednesday asked pro-Kremlin separatists in southeastern Ukraine to postpone a series of disputed referendums planned for this weekend on declaring greater autonomy or outright independence from Kiev. ‘We ask the representatives of the

DHAKA: Archaeologists in southern Egypt have discovered a 5,600-year-old preserved tomb and mummy predating the First Dynasty of the pharaohs. The antiquities ministry said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times. The tomb was built before the rule of king Narmer, the founder of the

DHAKA: Varanasi, the most hotly contested territory in this election, turned into a flashpoint Wednesday between the Election Commission and the BJP after the party’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, was refused permission for three events on Thursday. A seething BJP said

DHAKA: A bomb blast near a polling booth in Kashmir injured a policeman on Wednesday, amid further stone-throwing protests and a widespread boycott of India’s general election in the mainly Muslim region. Separatists have called on voters to shun the election in India’s northernmost

DHAKA: An attack by Boko Haram Islamist militants in a north-eastern Nigerian town on the Cameroon border has killed hundreds of people. A local senator and witnesses said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times. News of the gruesome attack in Gamboru Ngala emerged hours after the

DHAKA: India’s civil aviation regulator said on Wednesday it has set new rules for local airlines to ensure real time tracking of aircraft, a decision it said was prompted by the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. The new rules will apply to both passenger and cargo

DHAKA: Nigeria’s police have offered a $300,000 cash reward to anyone who can help locate and rescue more than 200 abducted schoolgirls. They were kidnapped more than three weeks ago by armed Islamist militants from their boarding school in the north-eastern state of Borno. Another

DHAKA: The party of the ousted Thai prime minister issued a statement on Wednesday to denounce the constitutional court’s ruling against Yingluck Shinawatra as relentless conspiracy to try to remove the party from power. The Pheu Thai Party also called on the people, who disagreed with

DHAKA: Saudi Arabia’s acting health minister has announced the sacking of the head of a Jeddah hospital where a spike in coronary viral infections among medical staff sparked panic among the public. The move, which Adel Fakieh announced on Twitter late Tuesday, came after he inspected

DHAKA: Monica Lewinsky says she became reclusive during Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign for president in 2008 for fear that she would be used for political purposes and that she feels ‘gun-shy’ even now as Hillary considers another run in 2016. Despite Lewinsky’s trepidation,

DHAKA: As India held the latest round of its election Wednesday, 97-year-old Shyam Saran Negi once again trudged several kilometers to vote, a tradition he has kept up since independence in 1947. The retired teacher, from a remote village high in the Himalayas, has voted in 16 general

DHAKA: The United States said it will soon start issuing work visas to the spouses of some foreign workers as part of a drive to retain highly skilled people. The change will affect the spouses of people with so-called H-1B visas, a limited-term working visa that employees obtain when

DHAKA: A Thai court found prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra guilty on Wednesday of violating the constitution and said she could no longer serve as caretaker premier, a decision likely to increase tensions in the bitterly divided nation. Judges delivering the verdict said Yingluck had

DHAKA: South Africans voted in the first ‘Born Free’ election on Wednesday, although polls suggest the allure of the ruling African National Congress as the conqueror of apartheid will prevail even among those with no memory of white-minority rule. Polling stations opened at 0500

DHAKA: Two morbidly obese Colombian babies, who weigh a dangerously unhealthy 91 pounds combined, have come together to lose weight – and live longer, report New York Post. The 10-month-olds, Santiago Mendoza and Isabela Caicedo, are following a special weight loss program with the

DHAKA: A team of US experts has been sent to Nigeria to help find more than 200 schoolgirls abducted last month by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. US President Barack Obama said the team comprised personnel from military, law enforcement and other agencies. He said he hoped the

DHAKA: Voting begins in 64 seats across seven states in the penultimate round of the Lok Sabha elections Wednesday.  The Congress appears to have an uphill task to perform with the whole of Seemandhra and parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal casting their vote, NDTV reprted.