DHAKA: Thailand has registered the first clash between pro- and anti-government demonstrators as crowds blocked off state agencies across the country, calling on the prime minister to step down.The clash took place Thursday in the central province of Pathum Thani where a hundred of

DHAKA: UN Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has admitted that there will be no cease-fire in Syria as sides wait to attend the long-awaited Geneva peace conference.Brahimi said both sides of Syria’s civil war now agreed that there was no military solution to the conflict.‘Some time

DHAKA: Russian investigators on Thursday brought criminal charges against former defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who was fired a year ago in a major corruption scandal.The once influential minister was charged with negligence for ordering the refurbishment of a private holiday

DHAKA: Six civilians were killed and some injured on Thursday when two bombs exploded in eastern Afghanistan, a local official said.‘A bomb was placed in a car and second one was a roadside bomb, but it is not yet clear if they were remotely detonated,’ said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a

DHAKA: The managing editor of Indian investigative magazine Tehelka quit Thursday after coming under fire over her handling of allegations that the publication’s founder sexually assaulted a reporter.In an email to staff, Shoma Chaudhury denied being part of a ‘cover-up’ to protect

DHAKA: Iran unveiled its newest domestically manufactured phased array radar system, named the Asr (Era), in a ceremony held in Tehran on Wednesday.The commander of the Navy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, and the deputy commander of the Iranian Armed Forces, Brigadier General

DHAKA: With one thunderous crash, Brazil’s troubled preparations for the World Cup are thrown in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, just as soccer gears up for the high-profile setting of the schedule for next year’s big event.Part of the stadium that will host the

DHAKA: Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls’ education, has been named as Britain’s most influential Asian by a weekly publication in the UK.At the ‘GG2 (Garavi Gujarat2) Leadership Awards 2013’ last night, Malala,

DHAKA: Turkey’s ambassador to Cairo has returned home after being expelled in a diplomatic spat over Ankara’s support for Egypt’s ousted Islamist president.Turkey’s foreign ministry said Thursday, reports daily Hurriyet.The row erupted at the weekend after Turkish prime minister

DHAKA: Iran plans to increase its production of uranium enriched at a low level, its official news agency reported Thursday.IRNA quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s nuclear department, as saying machines which were earlier producing 20 percent enriched uranium will be engaged in

DHAKA: Japan’s coastguard said on Thursday it had flown through China’s newly declared air zone, with pilots meeting no resistance from Beijing’s jets.‘We’ve not changed our normal operation of patrolling the area where China declared its defence zone without reporting flight

DHAKA: Australia on Thursday refused to back down from its criticism of China’s newly declared air defence identification zone, denying it had overstepped the mark.Canberra on Tuesday summoned Beijing’s ambassador to voice opposition to the zone over the East China Sea, which includes

DHAKA: An Egyptian court sentenced on Wednesday 14 Muslim Brotherhood girls to 11 years in prison each after convicting them of blocking roads, possessing bladed weapons and vandalism, according to judicial sources.The Misdemeanor Court in the coastal city of Alexandria also ordered seven

DHAKA: A few years ago, Suthep Thaugsuban was a suit-and-tie wearing deputy prime minister of Thailand and a senior executive of the country’s oldest political party.Now, the 64-year-old career politician has ditched his office attire, distanced himself from the opposition Democrat

DHAKA: Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has survived a no-confidence vote in parliament, amid major street protests in the capital, Bangkok.The motion was brought by the opposition Democrat Party, but Yingluck’s Pheu Thai party dominate the chamber and voted it down.Yingluck’s

DHAKA: The foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran called Wednesday for a ceasefire in Syria before proposed peace talks in Geneva scheduled for January 22.‘All our efforts are to end the conflict and for a ceasefire if possible, even before the Geneva 2 conference takes place,’ said

DHAKA: The Philippines’ post-typhoon reconstruction could take as long as 10 years, with the leadership of president Benigno Aquino put to a test amid complex problems such as property rights, missing title deeds and land zoning.Experts said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.The

DHAKA: At least 20 people were killed and 35 wounded in bombings and shootings in Iraq on Wednesday, police and medical sources said, the latest in a string of attacks that threaten to tilt the country back into all-out sectarian warfare.Four suicide bombers targeted a police station in

DHAKA: Women refugees who escaped Syria’s conflict to find sanctuary in neighbouring Lebanon have been sexually harassed by employers, landlords and an employee of a local aid group.Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.The organisation said it interviewed a

DHAKA: Latvia’s PM Valdis Dombrovskis has announced his resignation, and thereby the fall of his government, over the deadly collapse of a Riga supermarket.He made the announcement at a meeting with president Andris Berzins.‘Considering the tragedy and all related circumstances... a