DHAKA: A major conference aimed at finding a solution to the three-year conflict in Syria which has left 100,000 dead is starting in Switzerland.The Syrian government and the main opposition are attending the Geneva II summit along with international allies, reports the BBC.UN secretary

DHAKA: A bomb targeting a polio security team in north-west Pakistan has killed six policemen and a boy, police say.The blast occurred near a police van in a market in Charsadda district, injuring at least nine others, reports the BBC.On Tuesday, three health workers taking part in a

DHAKA: Xu Zhiyong, a prominent human rights lawyer who campaigned against corruption, has gone on trial in China. Xu is charged with "gathering crowds to disrupt public order". He is one of several activists from a transparency movement to be tried this week.Rights groups have criticised

DHAKA: An Iranian-American engineer accused of attempting to ship stolen documentation on a high-tech military plane to Iran has been indicted, US authorities say.A grand jury in the US state of Connecticut charged Mozaffar Khazaee, 59, with two counts of transporting stolen goods.He was

DHAKA: A rare blue diamond has been discovered in a mine in South Africa.The 29.6-carat stone was recovered by Petra Diamonds at its Cullinan mine, about 40km (25 miles) north-east of Pretoria, reports BBC."This stone is one of the most exceptional stones recovered at Cullinan during

DHAKA: The subdivisional magistrate, probing the death of Sunanda Pushkar, directed the police on Tuesday to investigate the case thoroughly including the murder and suicide angles after he categorically pin-pointed ‘poisoning’ as the reason behind the sensational

DHAKA: Showing no signs of relenting, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday ruled out negotiations to end the stand-off with the Centre and threatened to flood Rajpath with lakhs of supporters that can disrupt Republic Day celebrations.Demanding action against policemen who

DHAKA: Iraq has hanged 26 people convicted of ‘terrorism’ offences, the Justice Ministry announced on Tuesday, pursuing a practice of mass executions despite international criticism.All those executed on Sunday were Iraqi nationals. Among them was Adel al-Mashhadani, a ‘Sahwa’

DHAKA: The world’s wealthiest people aren’t known for travelling by bus, but if they fancied a change of scene then the richest 85 people on the globe, who between them control as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population put together, could squeeze onto a single

DHAKA: Turkey’s embattled prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan began his first visit to Brussels in five years on Tuesday aiming to reboot his country’s stuttering bid to embrace the European Union.Erdogan’s long-awaited high-profile visit to EU headquarters comes as Turkey faces its

DHAKA: No one in Mandla Maseko’s family has ever stepped outside South Africa, but the young township DJ is set to rocket into space next year.From the dusty district of Mabopane, near Pretoria, 25-year-old Maseko has landed a coveted seat to fly 103 kilometres into space in 2015, after

DHAKA: Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that protests in Ukraine are ‘getting out of control’.He described violent clashes between anti-government protesters and police as ‘scary’ and accused EU politicians of stirring up the situation.There has been a second

DHAKA: Four people were killed in an apparent suicide car bombing in south Beirut on Tuesday, in the latest in a string of attacks targeting strongholds of Lebanon’s Shia movement Hezbollah.The blast was quickly claimed by Al-Nusra Front in Lebanon, a group believed to be linked to

DHAKA: Israel’s government has approved plans to build 381 new settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem.Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now told media on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.‘The Israeli civil administration, which falls under the defence ministry, has published plans

DHAKA: Pakistani police have arrested three men and seized 100 kilograms of explosives in a raid in the capital Islamabad, officers said on Tuesday, following two deadly Taliban attacks on military targets.The swoop on Monday at a house in Tarnol, in the city’s southwest, also recovered

DHAKA: The Thai government has imposed a 60-day state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding provinces from Wednesday to help contain a protest movement that has blockaded parts of the capital to try to force prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to resign.Visarn Techateerawat, the deputy

DHAKA: After spending the night sleeping on a road in the heart  Delhi, the state’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal woke up to rain and chilly winds Tuesday morning but vowed to escalate his sit-in protest against a police force that he describes as ‘compromised’.Kejriwal, 45,

DHAKA: Two people were killed in a suicide car bombing in a south Beirut neighbourhood considered a stronghold of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah.Lebanon’s official news agency said, reports The Straits Times.‘Suicide bomber blows himself up in a car... in Haret Hreik, two people

DHAKA: Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday the United Nations had abruptly withdrawn Tehran’s invitation to highly anticipated peace talks on Syria ‘under pressure’.‘We regret that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has withdrawn the invitation under

DHAKA: Hamas has reportedly deployed hundreds of forces along the border fence with Israel to allegedly deter escalations of violence in the South and prevent further rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel.Israel Radio reports, The Jerusalem Post says.In light of the recent slew of