DHAKA: More than 500 Chinese lawmakers accused of election fraud have been forced from office, the country`s official Xinhua news agency reported.The officials were disqualified, dismissed or resigned on Saturday following elections in Hunan at the Hengyang municipal people`s congress,

DHAKA: In a message to Pope Francis, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his government is ready to participate in next month`s peace talks but noted outside countries must stop supporting what he called terrorist groups in the country`s civil war, Syria`s state-run news agency said

DHAKA: Three foreign workers, including a Bangladeshi national, went missing after capsize of security platform in Alsafania coastal area of Saudia Arabia on Friday (Saudi Arab time).The identity of the missing person could not be known immediately but other two foreign workers are Indian

DHAKA: A Syrian government airstrike on a crowded market in the northern city of Aleppo has killed at least 21 people, activists say.Videos uploaded by activists showed extensive damage to the market and corpses being pulled from cars.Many more were reported wounded in the

DHAKA: Bahrain police have arrested Ali Salman, head of the main Shia opposition bloc Al-Wefaq that has spearheaded protests against the authorities in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.The group said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.‘Al-Wefaq can confirm that sheikh Ali Salman has been

DHAKA: India is checking the tax status of Americans working at schools in the country, after the arrest this month of an Indian diplomat in New York.Devyani Khobragade was handcuffed and strip-searched while in custody.Her detention on charges of visa fraud and underpayment of her

DHAKA: US state secretary John Kerry will return to the Middle East next week for talks with Palestinian and Israeli officials on the peace process.A Palestinian official said on Saturday.‘Mr Kerry has told the Palestinian Authority he will return to the region on January 4 to discuss

DHAKA: The removal of deadly toxins from Syria under an international effort to rid the nation of its chemical arsenal will likely miss a December 31 deadline.The global chemical arms watchdog said, reports TDS.Bad weather and shifting battlefronts in Syria’s civil war have delayed the

DHAKA: Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Australia has asked Canberra for asylum, lashing out at her country’s ‘illegitimate’ government and voicing fears for her safety if she returns home at the end of her posting next week.Jacqueline Zwambila said July elections in Zimbabwe had been

DHAKA: Twenty-five thousand young men who make up a tribal militia known as the ‘White Army’ are marching toward a contested state capital in South Sudan, an official said on Saturday, dimming hopes for a cease-fire.Seeking an end to the nearly two-week crisis in which an estimated

DHAKA: Afghan security forces captured two Taliban commanders from Khinjan district of Baghlan province with Pul-e-Khumri as its capital 160 km north of Kabul on Friday night.Provincial police chief Aminullah Omarkhil said Saturday.‘Acting upon intelligence report, our police launched

DHAKA: Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has sent Pope Francis a private message, the Vatican said on Saturday, without disclosing its contents.The Vatican said a delegation headed by Joseph Sweid, a Syrian minister of state, held talks in the Vatican with the pope’s secretary of state,

DHAKA: A student was killed and 60 arrested as Egyptian police entered a Cairo university on Saturday to confront Islamist protesters who torched a building, amid an intensifying crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.Egypt officials said, reports The Straits Times.The unrest followed

DHAKA: Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party vowed on Saturday to contest crucial elections in 2015 even if the constitution is not amended first to allow her to become president.The military-drafted charter blocks anyone whose spouse or children are overseas

DHAKA: Tribesmen on Saturday blew up a major oil pipeline in southeastern Yemen operated by foreign companies bringing production to a halt.Government and industry officials said, reports The Voice of Russia.‘Gunmen belonging to an alliance of Hadramawt tribes blew up the oil pipeline

DHAKA: All four US military personnel detained in Libya have been released, according to a US defence official.The four were detained Saturday and were believed to have been taken while looking into possible evacuation routes for diplomats.The New York Times said, reports The Jerusalem

DHAKA: Wearing his trademark white cap, Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as the chief minister of Delhi today, as thousands of people cheered for him at Ram Lila Maidan, a massive public park in the heart of the city.The bespectacled 45-year-old rode the metro to the ceremony.  His decision

DHAKA: If it`s cold outside and you have electricity, consider yourself lucky.Thousands of people in the Northern United States and southeastern Canada have endured at least four days without power because of ice-related outages. And for some, the heat might not come back on until this

DHAKA: At least one person killed and three injured overnight as a gunman opened fire at a group of protesters near Chamai bridge in Bangkok.Earlier on Friday, Thailand`s army chief urged both sides in the country`s bitter political dispute to show restraint, but did not explicitly rule

DHAKA: A 21-year-old woman tourist in Puducherry of India was raped by least six men in two separate groups on Christmas Eve. She is recovering in a local hospital.Of 15 suspects who either raped her or enabled the attack, 12 are in police custody, reports NDTV.The woman was first