DHAKA: A national state of calamity has been declared in the Phillipines as the country reels from the destruction of Typhoon Haiyan, with an expected death toll expected to reach tens of thousands.The president, Benigno Aquino, on Monday declared emergency measures to get aid to the many

DHAKA: A tropical cyclone that hit the north-eastern Somali region of Puntland over the weekend killed up to 100 people.Puntland`s President Abdirahman Farole said thousands of livestock had also died and hundreds of homes had been destroyed.The semi-autonomous region was hit by strong

DHAKA: One of the most senior leaders of the Haqqani militant network has been shot dead near the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, security sources say.Nasiruddin Haqqani, who was in his early 30s, was the group`s financier and a son of its founder Jalaluddin.Reports say his body has been

DHAKA: Four men charged in connection with Kenya’s Westgate mall massacre in September appeared in court on Monday, with defence lawyers and prosecutors arguing over if they should be granted bail.All four have pleaded not guilty to the charges of ‘supporting a terrorist group’, as

DHAKA: Failure to reach a peace deal with Israel would be better than inking an agreement which allows it to continue its settlement building.A top Palestinian negotiator said on Monday, reports The Straits Times.‘In the absence of political will from the Israeli side to take the

DHAKA: The United Nations atomic energy watchdog and Iran on Monday signed a joint statement on future cooperation to resolve remaining nuclear issues.The agreement is a step towards resolving concerns of the International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran’s nuclear activities and opens

DHAKA: Sectarian tension between Shia and Sunni Muslims is probably the most serious threat to world security, according to Iran’s foreign minister.Speaking to the BBC, Mohamed Javad Zarif blamed some Sunni countries for what he called ‘fear-mongering’.‘Some people have fanned the

DHAKA: Sectarian tension between Shia and Sunni Muslims is probably the most serious threat to world security, according to Iran’s foreign minister.Speaking to the BBC, Mohamed Javad Zarif blamed some Sunni countries for what he called ‘fear-mongering’.‘Some people have fanned the

DHAKA: Nations launched a new round of talks on Monday for a 2015 deal to cut Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions in the aftermath of a deadly Philippines typhoon the UN`s climate chief labelled ‘sobering’.The 12-day United Nations talks opened amid a slew of warnings about

DHAKA: One of the most senior leaders of the Haqqani militant network has been shot dead near the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, reports say.Nasiruddin Haqqani, who was in his early 30s, was the group’s financier and a son of its founder Jalaluddin.Reports say his body has been taken for

DHAKA: India’s Mars spacecraft suffered a brief engine failure Monday as scientists tried to move it into a higher orbit around Earth, but controllers denied any setback to the ambitious low-cost mission.The Mars Orbiter Mission, which blasted off on November 5 for an 11-month trip to

DHAKA: Indian foreign minister Salman Khurshid is optimistic about future relations with fellow Asian power China, with Delhi viewing Beijing as ‘rivals who are also partners’.But in an interview with The Australian newspaper published on Monday, Khurshid said a festering Himalayan

DHAKA: The United States, Australia and the United Nations are mobilising emergency aid to the Philippines as the scale of the devastation unleashed by super typhoon Haiyan emerges.The Pentagon is sending military personnel and equipment to assist with the relief effort following the

DHAKA: The head of the United Nations atomic energy agency, Yukiya Amano, said he hoped to finalise a technical agreement with Iran during a trip to Tehran on Monday.Iranian media reported, says The Jerusalem Post.‘I hope that today we can have a joint statement based on understandings

DHAKA: US state secretary John Kerry said on Monday Washington was ‘not (in) a race’ to complete talks with Iran on its nuclear programme.Speaking at a news conference with United Arab Emirates foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan in Abu Dhabi, Kerry said Washington

DHAKA: Japan switched on the first turbine at a wind farm 20km off the coast of Fukushima on Monday, feeding electricity to the grid tethered to the tsunami-crippled nuclear plant onshore.The wind farm near the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant is to eventually have a generation

DHAKA: Syria’s main opposition alliance says it will attend planned peace talks, if a number of conditions are met.After a vote early on Monday, the National Coalition reiterated that president Bashar al-Assad would ‘have no role in the transitional period’, reports the BBC.It also

DHAKA: Education officials in Pakistan have banned the memoir of Malala Yousafzai, the teenager shot by the Taliban, from 40,000 schools as she `represents the West`.Adeeb Javedani, president of the All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association, said his group had banned the book

DHAKA: Four people have died and eight others injured after a seven-storey building caught fire in Vikhroli, a Mumbai suburb. The fire, according to officials, was noticed around 3 am and could have started in the electric meter cable box and spread through the network of cables from

DHAKA: The European Space Agency`s (Esa) Goce satellite has re-entered the Earth`s atmosphere, burning up in the process.Early estimates suggested any surviving debris could have fallen somewhere along a path through East Asia and the Western Pacific to Antarctica.Dubbed the "Ferrari of