DHAKA: The office of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad denied comments attributed to him Sunday by a Russian news agency which quoted him as saying his departure is not up for discussion.‘What the Russian news agency Interfax has published as comments made by president Assad are

DHAKA: Deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi will face trial on charges of insulting the judiciary, a judicial source said on Sunday, a signal that Egyptian authorities have no intention of easing a crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood.Egypt has been stepping up pressure on the movement

DHAKA: Malaysia’s King gave his backing on Sunday to a court ruling barring non-Muslims from using the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God, weighing in for the first time on an issue that has fanned religious tensions in the multi-cultural country.Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam, whose role

DHAKA: A proposed new Egyptian constitution has been backed by 98.1% of people who voted in a referendum, officials say.Turnout was 38.6% of the 53 million eligible voters, the election committee said.The draft constitution replaces one introduced by Islamist president Mohammed Mursi

DHAKA: The personal data of at least 20 million bank and credit card users in South Korea has been leaked, state regulators said on Sunday, one of the country’s biggest ever breaches.Many major firms in South Korea have seen customers` data leaked in recent years, either by hacking

DHAKA: Iraqi military has launched a major operation on Ramadi to expel armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda and end their weeks-long partial control of parts of the city.Troops on Sunday, backed by helicopter cover, imposed a ban on movement within the city, military spokesman Mohammed

DHAKA: India’s foreign ministry said on Sunday it has reassured ambassadors of some 20 African nations that authorities are not targeting their nationals, after an incident over a suspected prostitution ring.A senior ministry official met the ambassadors on Saturday night over the

DHAKA: A light aircraft crashed and burst into flames on a beach in eastern Indonesia on Sunday after being hit by lightning, killing all four people on board.An Indonesian official and eyewitness said.The Piper Seneca turboprop was flying from the eastern region of Papua to Tual city in

DHAKA: Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said in Damascus on Sunday he has no intention of giving up power and the issue is not up for discussion.Russian agency Interfax reported, says The Straits Times.‘If we wanted to give up, we would have done so at the very beginning. We are on

DHAKA: The death toll from the first storm to batter the disaster-prone Philippines this year has climbed to 40, officials said on Sunday, as forecasters warned more heavy rain was on its way.‘Lingling’, a tropical depression - has wreaked havoc across the southern island of Mindanao,

DHAKA: Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor’s close friend Zarine Khan is devastated with her untimely demise. ‘We had first met the two at Delhi’s Couture Week a few years ago, where Sunanda had told us about their friendship’.Saturday morning, still reeling from the tragic news, Zarine told

DHAKA: Explosions injured almost 30 people in central Bangkok on Sunday during a continuing ‘shutdown’ protest aimed at toppling the Thai government.An emergency centre said, reports The Straits Times.Twenty-eight people were taken to several hospitals across the city, according to

DHAKA: At least 20 soldiers have been killed in north-western Pakistan in a bomb blast that struck an army convoy, sources in the security forces say.At least 24 others were injured in the explosion near the town of Bannu, with fears the death toll will rise, reports BBC.The source of the

DHAKA: President Barack Obama has said he will not let controversial surveillance by US intelligence services undermine Washington`s ties with Germany.Speaking to Germany`s ZDF TV, he indicated that US bugging of Chancellor Angela Merkel`s mobile phone had been a mistake and would not

DHAKA: The Syrian National Coalition, the main umbrella opposition body in exile, has agreed to participate in long-awaited peace talks planned for January 22 in Geneva.The Syrian National Coalition`s media office said on Saturday that of 75 voters, 58 voted in favour of attending the

DHAKA: Sunanda Pushkar, wife of India’s union minister Shashi Tharoor, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances at a five star hotel in New Delhi Friday night, was cremated on Saturday.The last rites of Pushkar, 52, were performed at the Lodhi Road crematorium, reports The

DHAKA: A South African teacher being held hostage in Yemen and whose kidnappers had threatened to kill him is still alive but in poor health.An organisation working to free him said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.English teacher Pierre Korkie, 56, was abducted along with his wife

DHAKA: Close to 400 priests were defrocked in only two years by the former Pope Benedict XVI over claims of child abuse, the Vatican has confirmed.The statistics for 2011 and 2012 show a dramatic increase compared with previous years, according to a document obtained by the Associated

DHAKA: In a breezy Bangkok park rimmed by high-end hotels and shopping malls, immaculately-dressed women cradle lit candles and sing John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’.‘Respect my vote,’ they declare on the home-made placards they hold high, reports The Straits Times.Just 400m down the

DHAKA: An Iranian diplomat was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting outside the ambassador`s residence in the Yemeni capital on Saturday.A Yemeni medic said, reports The Straits Times.‘The Iranian diplomat has died of his wounds,’ the medic at Sanaa’s German Modern Hospital