Sunday, 22 Dec, 2024

International

Thai police remove HQ barricades

DHAKA: Thai police have removed barriers around their headquarters, after protesters said they were targeting the police building.The move to defuse tensions came as anti-government protests in Bangkok entered their tenth day, reports BBC.The mood in the capital now appears calmer, with

Italian coastguard reaches stricken migrant ship

DHAKA: Italian coastguards have reached a small boat packed with migrants adrift off the coast of southern Italy.They say around 120 Syrian migrants were picked up from the vessel, which had encountered rough seas, reports the BBC.Large waves and gales meant that for 24 hours, coastguard

Ukraine protesters blockade government sites

DHAKA: Demonstrators are blockading government buildings in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, as they step up their campaign for the resignation of the government.Protesters have put up barricades on Independence Square, while others are entrenched inside city hall.The unrest was triggered in

Syria crimes evidence ‘indicates’ Assad role

DHAKA: The United Nations human rights chief says there is mounting evidence that Syrian government officials including president Bashar Assad are responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes.Navi Pillay says a UN panel investigating abuses in Syria`s civil war has produced

France arrests 45 in intl arms traffic sweep

DHAKA: France on Monday arrested 45 people in a vast sweep against international arms traffickers.French police said, reports The Straits Times.In a statement, police said some 300 officers had been involved in the operation, which focused on hundreds of military-grade arms, pieces of

‘China has right to set another air zone’

DHAKA: China’s envoy to the Philippines says her country has a sovereign right to establish a maritime air defence zone over the East China Sea and replicate it over another disputed region.Chinese ambassador Ma Keqing defended Beijing’s decision to establish the Air Defense

China dismisses Canada spy allegations

DHAKA: Beijing on Monday dismissed as ‘groundless’ allegations that a Canadian naval engineer is a Chinese spy.Qing Quentin Huang, 53, was charged at the weekend under Canada’s Security of Information Act with two counts of attempting to communicate classified information to a

British envoy to visit Tehran after 2 years

DHAKA: Britain’s new envoy to Tehran visits Iran Tuesday for the first time since a thaw in relations between the two countries who severed ties two years ago, his Iranian counterpart said Monday.Hassan Habibollah-Zadeh told the official IRNA news agency that following that visit he

Biden on delicate mission to defuse tensions in East Asia

DHAKA: US vice president Joe Biden will seek a delicate balance between calming military tensions with China and backing ally Japan against Beijing on a trip to Asia this week that is being overshadowed by a territorial row in the East China Sea.Japan reiterated on Monday that Tokyo and

‘Iran too close to nuclear bomb’

DHAKA: Former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden said that Iran is ‘far too close’ to obtaining an atomic weapon and the international community must now push back the threshold of a possible weaponised nuclear Iran.In an interview with ‘Fox News Sunday’, the retired US general

Police raise death toll to 9 in Scotland crash

DHAKA: Police have raised the death toll to nine in the police helicopter crash at a pub in Scotland.Officials said on Monday that another body had been found in the wreckage of The Clutha pub in Glasgow, where the helicopter crashed on Friday night.Police have warned that more bodies may

Palestinian envoy calls strong cultural ties with Iran

DHAKA: The Palestinian ambassador to Iran Salah Zawawi called on Monday for the strengthening of bilateral cultural relations between Tehran and the Palestinians.Iranian IRNA news agency reported, says The Jerusalem Post.Zawawi made the remarks during a meeting with the Head of the

10 killed in bus accident in Pakistan’s Kashmir

DHAKA: At least 10 people were killed on Monday when a passenger bus plunged into a ravine in Pakistan’s Kashmir region, close to the disputed border with India.The bus travelling from the garrison city of Rawalpindi to the frontier town of Forward Kahuta, fell down the 150m slope early

Saudi diplomat found dead in swimming pool

DHAKA: A Saudi diplomat posted in Sri Lanka was found dead in a swimming pool in the capital Colombo.The local police however said preliminary investigations did not suspect foul play in the death of Hussain Mohsin Al Haj who had been posted in Colombo since 2011.Saudi news site Sabq said

Ukrainian protesters block main government building

DHAKA: About 1,000 protesters blocked off the Ukrainian government’s main headquarters on Monday and surrounding streets, preventing employees getting to work, in further protests at Kiev’s policy U-turn away from integration with Europe.In response to an opposition call for a

Iran HIV cases increase dramatically

DHAKA: Iran: Iranian state television is reporting that the number of HIV-positive citizens in the country has skyrocketed over the last decade.On Sunday, state television quoted health minister Hassan Ghzaizadeh as saying there has been a nine-fold growth in the number of HIV/AIDS

Zarif urges Saudi Arabia to work jointly for ‘stability’

DHAKA: Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif appealed Monday to Saudi Arabia to work together with his government toward achieving regional ‘stability’, in remarks to media during a visit to Oman.‘I believe that our relations with Saudi Arabia should expand as we consider

Thai PM for talks as police use rubber bullets on protesters

DHAKA: Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Monday she would ‘open every door’ to find a peaceful solution to the current political crisis, as thousands of protesters took to the streets of the capital seeking to topple her government.She told a news conference that police

7 killed in Italy factory fire

DHAKA: At least seven people have died and two are badly injured after fire swept through a Chinese-owned clothing factory in the Italian town of Prato.The blaze broke out in a loft where 11 people were sleeping, causing part of the roof to collapse, fire officials said.The cause of the

Croatians vote against same-sex marriage

DHAKA: A majority of Croatians voted in a referendum on Sunday to ban gay marriages in what is a major victory for the Catholic Church-backed conservatives in the European Union`s newest nation.The state electoral commission, citing initial results, said 65 percent of those who voted