Sunday, 22 Dec, 2024

International

Saudi Arabia ‘to give Lebanon army $3bn grant’

DHAKA: Saudi Arabia is to give Lebanon’s army a grant of $3bn.Lebanese president Michel Sleiman made the announcement in a televised address after the funeral of a senior Lebanese politician killed in a car bomb attack.He said it would help fight terrorism, reports the BBC.Mohamad

Al-Jazeera journalists arrested in Cairo

DHAKA: Egyptian police have arrested three journalists working for the Al-Jazeera broadcaster in the capital Cairo.They include the TV network’s Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and former BBC correspondent Peter Greste.The interior ministry said the journalists had held illegal

Weather halts Antarctic ship rescue

DHAKA: A ship stranded in East Antarctica since Tuesday remained stuck as the latest rescue efforts were thwarted by fierce winds and poor visibility.An Australian icebreaker trying to reach the Russian scientific mission ship was forced to turn back, reports BBC.Earlier attempts by

New bomb strikes kill 15 in Russia

DHAKA: At least 15 people have been killed and 23 others hurt in a suspected terrorist attack on a trolleybus in the Russian city of Volgograd, officials say.The blast comes a day after 17 people died in a suicide bombing at the central station in the city, reports BBC.Security has been

Syrian govt evacuates embattled town

DHAKA: The Syrian government has evacuated about 5,000 people from an embattled industrial town near the capital Damascus, where rebels linked to al-Qaeda have been battling government troops for more than two weeks.The evacuation on Sunday comes as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

16 killed in Russia Suicide bombing

DHAKA: A suicide attack on a train station in Russia`s southern city of Volgograd has killed 16 people, officials say.Initial official claims that the bomber was a lone woman have been replaced by uncertainty about who carried it out, reports BBC.President Vladimir Putin has ordered

Barrel bombs kill 517 in Aleppo since 15 Dec

DHAKA: Barrels packed with explosives and dropped from Syrian aircraft have killed 517 people in the northern province of Aleppo since 15 December, activists say.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 151 were children and 46 women, reports the BBC.The city of Aleppo has been the

Iran keeping new centrifuges offline

DHAKA: Iranian state TV is quoting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear chief as saying the country has not put into operation a new generation of centrifuges for enriching uranium.The Sunday report quoted Ali Akbar Salehi as saying that Iran decided because of a November deal with world

Bomb hits Egypt intelligence building

DHAKA: A bomb targeting an Egyptian military intelligence building in the Nile Delta wounded four people on Sunday, an army official said.Two security officials said the blast in Belbeis in Sharkiya province had been caused by a bomb.The state-run Nile News TV station said it had been

Army backs Musharraf over treason ‘vendetta’

DHAKA: Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Sunday denounced treason charges against him as a ‘vendetta’, and said he had the backing of the country’s powerful army.The 70-year-old told reporters the ‘whole army’ was upset with the treason allegations, in his

Russia train station blast killing reaches 18

DHAKA: A female suicide bomber set off a blast on Sunday in a train station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd that killed at least 18 people.News reports and officials said, according to The Straits Times.A National Anti-Terror Committee official told the RIA Novosti news agency

Thousands of Cambodians rally to demand PM steps down

DHAKA: Tens of thousands of Cambodian opposition supporters, backed by striking garment-factory workers, rallied on Sunday to demand long-serving prime minister Hun Sen step down and call an election.The garment workers have in recent days joined the opposition protests to press their

Israel names Palestinian prisoners to be released

DHAKA: Israel has announced the names of 26 long-serving Palestinian prisoners it will release this week.Israel released the list late Saturday. All were convicted in connection to the killing of Israelis.The Israeli government said the crimes were committed prior to the beginning of the

Bahrain frees opposition chief, bans him from travel

DHAKA: Bahrain freed opposition leader Ali Salman on Sunday, a day after his arrest, although it slapped a travel ban on the head of the Shia Al-Wefaq bloc.The prosecution said, reports The Straits Times.Salman, head of the opposition Al-Wefaq bloc, had been questioned over accusations of

10 killed in explosion at Russia train station

DHAKA: An explosion ripped through a train station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd on Sunday, killing at least 10 people.Russian news agencies said, reports The Straits Times.There was no immediate claim of responsibility after Sunday’s explosion.The cause of the blast was not

One million US jobless to lose financial aid

DHAKA: More than a million Americans will lose their unemployment benefits after an emergency federal programme expired on Saturday.Lawmakers failed to agree on an extension of the scheme before the US Congress began its winter recess.Former President George W Bush introduced the

Israel fires artillery shells into Lebanon

DHAKA: The Israeli military fired about 20 shells into southern Lebanon on Sunday without causing any damage after rockets were launched in the opposite direction.A Lebanese security official said, reports The Voice of Russia.The barrage came after the Israeli military said it had

‘Assad blocks political solution for Syria’

DHAKA: There is ‘no political solution in Syria’ with the presence of president Bashar al-Assad.French president Francois Hollande told pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper, reports Al Arabiya.‘Assad is not fighting Islamists, he is placing blame on armed Islamist extremists to pressure the

Arvind seeks 10 days to resolve problems of people in Delhi

DHAKA: A day after he took over as the chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal Sunday sought ten days’ time to formulate a system to address grievances and problems of the people in Delhi.He said that he would accept the applications of the people visiting him only after a system is in

Pressure mounts for South Sudan ceasefire

DHAKA: International pressure is bearing down on the two sides in South Sudan`s bloody conflict to launch peace talks, in an effort to keep the young nation from sliding into civil war.The push comes as 25,000 young men comprising a tribal armed group known as the White Army were