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

DHAKA: Ukrainian troops will remain in Crimea, the country’s defence minister said Monday even as media reported the separatist peninsula planned to disband Ukrainian units there.‘Troops that are deployed (in Crimea) will stay there,’ Ukraine defence minister Igor Tenyukh told a

DHAKA: India remains the biggest buyer of arms in the world, importing nearly three times as many weapons as its nearest competitors China and Pakistan over the last five years.A Swedish think tank said on Monday, reports NDTV.The total volume of arms sales was up 14 percent in 2009-13

DHAKA: Crimea’s regional assembly on Monday declared independence from Ukraine and applied to join Russia.The assembly said all Ukrainian state property on the peninsula would be nationalised, reports The Straits Times.‘The republic of Crimea appeals to the United Nations and to all

DHAKA: Malaysia drew a fresh round of scathing criticism from China on Monday over conflicting information on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, with state media and social media users voicing increasing scepticism as the search enters its 10th day.Malaysian prime minister Najib

DHAKA: EU foreign ministers are due to discuss further sanctions against Russia after a Moscow-backed referendum in Crimea backed a split from Ukraine.The 28-member bloc is considering a visa ban and an asset freeze against a number of Russian officials, BBC reported.More than 95% of

DHAKA: Hundreds of police will monitor traffic in Paris on Monday after pollution levels prompted the French government to impose major restrictions.Only motorists whose cars have odd-numbered registration plates will be allowed to drive, reports BBC.On Tuesday, if the restrictions remain

DHAKA: A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Chile`s Pacific coast Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.The quake`s epicenter was 60 kilometers (37 miles) west-northwest of Iquique, Chile, and its depth was 20 kilometers (12.4 miles), the USGS said, reported CNN.There were no immediate

DHAKA: Some 25 countries are now involved in a vast search operation for the missing airliner that disappeared over a week ago, Malaysian officials say.The search area - from central Asia to the southern Indian Ocean - takes in large tracts of land and sea, reports BBC.An already complex

DHAKA: Some 95.5% of voters in Crimea have supported joining Russia, officials say, after half the votes have been counted in a disputed referendum.Crimea`s leader says he will apply to join Russia on Monday. Russia`s Vladimir Putin has said he will respect the Crimean people`s wishes,

DHAKA: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and United States secretary of state John Kerry agreed on Sunday to seek a solution to crisis in Ukraine by pushing for constitutional reforms there.The Russian foreign ministry said, reports The Straits Times.It did not go into details on the

DHAKA: Thousands of pro-Russian protesters in the east Ukrainian city of Donetsk rallied on Sunday in support of Crimea’s right to join Russia and to press for their own referendum.‘Donetsk, Crimea, Russia,’ chanted the crowd massed in front of a towering statue of Lenin in the main

DHAKA: Ukrainian prime minister Arseny Yatseniuk vowed on Sunday to track down and bring to justice all those promoting separatism in its Russian-controlled region of Crimea ‘under the cover of Russian troops’.‘I want to say above all ... to the Ukrainian people: Let there be no

DHAKA: An angry mob of dozens of Muslims set fire to a Hindu temple in a southern Pakistani city over the alleged desecration of a Koran.Officials said on Sunday as police were deployed to quell tensions, reports The Straits Times.The arson took place on Saturday night in Larkana, the

DHAKA: At least 100 people were killed in weekend attacks on three villages in central Nigeria.Local officials said on Sunday, reports The Straits Times.‘We have at least 100 dead bodies from the three villages attacked by the gunmen’ overnight Friday to Saturday, Yakubu Bitiyong, a

DHAKA: North Korea Sunday test-fired ten rockets into the sea, South Korea’s defence ministry said, the latest in a series of launches that have provoked criticism from Seoul and Washington.The rockets were fired off the North’s east coast and flew about 70 kilometres into the Sea of

DHAKA: Crimea is voting on whether to re-join Russia or stay with Ukraine, a referendum condemned as ‘illegal’ by Kiev and the West but backed by Moscow.Russian troops have taken de facto control of the majority ethnic-Russian region, and voters are expected to support leaving

DHAKA: Ukraine’s former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, urged Western powers Sunday to unite on a hard line against Russian president Vladimir Putin in the Crimea crisis.‘This aggressive striving for power with regard to Ukraine represents not only a danger for the Ukrainian state,

DHAKA: No groups have made any demands over the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370, acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said, even as he refuted rumours that the plane has landed somewhere.He also declined to comment on speculation that it could be a 9/11 style attack, saying only

DHAKA: A whopping Rs 30,000 crore is likely to be spent by the government, political parties and candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, making it by far the most expensive electoral exercise in Indian history.The projected expenditure to elect the 16th Lok Sabha is set to rival