DHAKA: UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met US and Russian officials on Tuesday to discuss convening long-delayed Syrian peace talks this year despite disputes over president Bashar al-Assad’s future and whether his ally Iran can attend.Hours earlier, Damascus reiterated that Assad will stay in

DHAKA: UN nuclear agency chief Yukiya Amano is expected to visit Tehran on November 11, Iranian state television said on Tuesday, a possible sign of progress in a long-stalled investigation into suspected nuclear arms research by Tehran.After years of worsening confrontation with the

DHAKA: The Democratic Republic of Congo’s M23 rebel group has declared an end to its 20-month rebellion, saying it is ready to disarm and demobilise troops and pursue a political solution to end the crisis in the east of the country.The M23 declaration was issued hours after government

DHAKA: They work hard, sniffing out crime with only the occasional pat on the nose in gratitude.But police dogs deserve better, according to the police and crime commissioner in the English county of Nottinghamshire, who wants to reward them with ‘pensions’ on retirement.Paddy Tipping

DHAKA: The West has been exploring a plan to offer Iran a portion of the country’s frozen oil revenues to advance nuclear talks set for later this week.The Times of London reported overnight Monday, The Jerusalem Post publishes this report on Tuesday.According to the report, the

DHAKA: The Philippine defence chief says disagreements in negotiations between US and Filipino officials may prevent an early conclusion of an accord allowing an increase in American military presence in the country.US and Filipino officials began negotiations in August on a defence

DHAKA: China and India began a joint anti-terrorism drill on Tuesday, the first such exercise by the Asian powers, which have a sometimes-fraught relationship, for five years.The world’s two most populous countries each sent one company of soldiers to Chengdu, in the southwestern

DHAKA: A mortar round hit the Vatican embassy in Damascus on Tuesday morning, damaging the building but causing no casualties.A diplomatic source said, reports The Voice of Russia.‘A mortar round fell this morning at 6:30am (0430 GMT) on the embassy rooftop, causing only material

DHAKA: Russia insisted on Tuesday that Iran must be invited to peace negotiations on Syria that world powers hope to hold in Geneva later this month.‘All those who affect the situation must be invited to the conference,’ Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters, says

DHAKA: Heavy shooting from guns and anti-aircraft weapons erupted early on Tuesday in the Libyan capital Tripoli.The fighting occurred between militias in the eastern Suq al-Juma area, said a militia source with government ties, adding that he had no further information.Media reporters in

DHAKA: China says its top nuclear envoy is in North Korea to discuss stalled six-nation talks aimed at ending that country’s nuclear programme.China foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Tuesday that Wu Dawei arrived in North Korea a day earlier for a ‘work discussion’.He says

DHAKA: India launched its first rocket to Mars on Tuesday, aiming to put a satellite in orbit around the red planet at a lower cost than previous missions and potentially positioning the emerging Asian nation as a budget player in the global space race.The Mars Orbiter Mission blasted off

DHAKA: Three people were killed on Monday when a man armed with a knife hijacked a bus in western Norway, police said.The suspected hijacker, a man in his 50s of foreign origin, has been arrested, police officer Joern Lasse Foerde Refsnes told the TV2 Nyhetskanalen news channel.‘For

DHAKA: India is preparing to launch a robotic spacecraft towards the Red Planet, a first for the South Asian country.The head of India’s space agency told the BBC the mission would demonstrate the technological capability to reach Mars orbit and carry out experiments.The Mars Orbiter

DHAKA: When Vernon Maynard’s friends asked him what he wished he had done in his 100 years of life, the Southern California man said he had always wanted to jump from a plane with a parachute.The retired car dealer got the chance to mark his centenarian birthday on Monday by doing just

DHAKA: Some 1,500 secret files, dating back to the years of military rule in Argentina, have been discovered in Buenos Aires.They were found in an abandoned wing of the Air Force headquarters.The files contain the transcripts of all meetings held by the military junta, which ruled the

DHAKA: A shopping centre in the US state of New Jersey has been evacuated after multiple shots were heard, with some people locked down inside stores.Some witnesses said the shooting happened in front of the Garden State Plaza in the northern New Jersey town of Paramus around closing time

DHAKA: A cache of 1,500 works of art -- including masterpieces by Picasso, Matisse and Chagall -- confiscated by the Nazis and missing for more than 70 years has been found in Germany.The huge haul of paintings, estimated to be worth more than $1 billion, was discovered in an apartment in

DHAKA: Some 9.3 million people in Syria - or about 40% of the population - now need outside assistance, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has said.This figure has risen by 2.5m from the 6.8m total the UN gave in September.The Syria crisis "continues to deteriorate rapidly and

DHAKA: Six people were killed on Sunday when residents of a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg attacked a group of suspected gang members, South African police said.Some of the victims were burned alive and two were stoned to death by groups of vigilantes who struck after 400 men