DHAKA: Saudi Arabia is preparing to spend millions of dollars to arm and train thousands of Syrian fighters in a new national rebel force to help defeat Bashar Al Assad and act as a counterweight to increasingly powerful jihadi organisations.Syrian, Arab and western sources say the

DHAKA: Islamist al Shabaab rebels claimed responsibility on Saturday for a bomb that killed six people outside a popular Mogadishu hotel the day before, and said they deliberately targeted government officials and security forces.Police suspected the militants were behind the blast, the

DHAKA: The US government is working hard to get Congress to restore its Unesco funding, Washington’s ambassador to the UN cultural arm said on Saturday, after its voting rights were suspended over failure to pay up.Unesco’s granting the Palestinians membership two years ago led to the

DHAKA: Britain said on Saturday important issues remain to be resolved at negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme and there was no certainty that a deal could be reached during this round of talks despite ‘very good progress’ so far.‘These negotiations have made very good

DHAKA: Syrian rebels have regained control of a strategic base near Aleppo international airport in fierce fighting that left more than 50 people dead.A monitoring group said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.Troops backed by fighters from Lebanese Shia militant group Hizbollah had

DHAKA: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Geneva on Saturday to take part in the negotiations between the Sextet and Iran.The plane carrying the Russian minister has landed at the Geneva airport, an Interfax correspondent has reported, says The Voice of Russia.Thus, the

DHAKA: Thirteen people were killed Saturday when an Indonesian army helicopter carrying construction workers crashed in the jungles of Borneo as it came in to land.An Indonesian official said, reports The Straits Times.‘Thirteen people died in the crash while the rest suffered burn

DHAKA: More than 120 people have been reported killed by typhoon ‘Haiyan’ in the Philippines, after the massive storm swept through on Friday.Aviation officials said 100 bodies were lying in the streets of the city of Tacloban. Local journalists reported 20 bodies in a church in a

DHAKA: Jordan appears set to take the traditional Arab seat on the UN Security Council after Saudi Arabia rejected the position in protest at the body’s failure to end the Syria war and act on other Middle East issues.Western diplomats said on Friday, gulfnews.com publishes this report

DHAKA: Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe took a ride in several self-driving vehicles on the public roads in the capital on Saturday, showcasing the technology ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show.Abe tried auto-piloting vehicles from Toyota, Honda and Nissan on the roads around Japan’s

DHAKA: France said on Saturday there was no certainty nuclear talks under way with Iran in Geneva would succeed because of major stumbling blocks over an initial proposed text on a deal.‘As I speak to you, I can not say there is any certainty that we can conclude’ the talks, French

DHAKA: US president Barack Obama said on Friday that it may be time for the United States to revise its policies toward Cuba, against which it has had an embargo for more than half a century.‘We have to be creative and we have to be thoughtful and we have to continue to update our

DHAKA: At least six people have been killed after a suspected suicide attack at a hotel in Somalia`s capital, Mogadishu.Interior Minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled told the BBC that 15 people had been injured after a car exploded outside the Hotel Maka.The hotel lies on one of the capital`s

DHAKA: UN cultural agency Unesco has suspended US and Israel voting rights after they skipped a deadline for paying their dues.The US stopped its contributions, which make up about a fifth of the agency`s funding, when Unesco gave the Palestinians membership in 2011.Israel, which halted

DHAKA: Voters in the Maldives are going to the polls to elect a president after two previous rounds failed.Candidates came to a last-minute agreement earlier this week to agree and sign the voter lists required for the election to take place.It is the first vote in the Indian Ocean

DHAKA: Talks in Geneva on Iran`s nuclear programme between Iran and world powers are to enter a third day on Saturday.A US State Department official said at the end of Friday`s talks that "we continued to make progress as we worked to narrow the gaps".Russian Foreign Minister Sergei

DHAKA: At least 100 people have reportedly been killed by Typhoon Haiyan in one city, according to a Philippine official.Capt John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority, said the bodies were lying in the streets of the city of Tacloban.It may be days before the

DHAKA: Palestinian officials say Israel is the ‘only suspect’ in the death of leader Yasser Arafat following a Swiss report that said his remains contained high levels of radioactive polonium.The head of a Palestinian committee set up to investigate Arafat’s 2004 death called it an

DHAKA: Activists from right-wing religious parties led protests in Pakistan on Friday to denounce a US drone strike that killed the leader of the country’s Taliban, after the movement named a notorious hardliner as his successor.Pakistan last week reacted angrily to the drone attack

DHAKA: Any deal negotiated between Iran and world powers at a Geneva conference should solidly address concerns about the Islamic state’s nuclear programme.French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday, reports The Jerusalem Post.‘We want a deal that bring a solid first