DHAKA: Days of torrential rains have unleashed floods in south-east India that have killed dozens of people and forced the evacuation of more than 70,000 others from hundreds of low-lying villages.As of Saturday, 39 people had died in flood-related incidents in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa

DHAKA: A senior Iranian official has denied reports the Islamic republic has temporarily stopped enriching uranium to the 20 percent level.The state news agency IRNA said on Saturday, gulfnews.com publishes this report on Sunday.‘Iran’s nuclear activities are unchanged and enriching

DHAKA: Former British foreign secretary Jack Straw has said he would step down as a member of parliament at the 2015 general election.Straw, 67, was foreign secretary under prime minister Tony Blair as Britain went to war in Iraq in 2003.The lawmaker for the Labour Party, now in

DHAKA: Six car bombs have exploded in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, leaving at least 19 people dead, security officials say.The bombs were placed in parked cars and detonated over a 30-minute period in busy streets, mainly in Shia areas, reports the BBC.In the deadliest attack, two bombs

DHAKA: Japan’s prime minister Shinzō Abe warned China on Sunday against forcibly changing the regional balance of power, as reports said Tokyo had scrambled fighter jets in response to Chinese military aircraft flying near Okinawa.Verbal skirmishing between Asia’s two biggest

DHAKA: The US has been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone since 2002, according to a report in Der Spiegel magazine.The German publication claims to have seen secret documents from the National Security Agency which show Merkel’s number on a list dating from

DHAKA: Russian president Vladimir Putin is planning a possible state visit to Egypt in order to take advantage of frayed ties between Washington and Cairo and possibly gain access to Egypt’s Mediterranean ports.The Sunday Times reported, says The Jerusalem Post.The United States

DHAKA: The Turkish immigrant credited with inventing the doner kebab has died in Berlin aged 80.Kadir Nurman set up a stall in West Berlin in 1972, selling grilled meat and salad inside a flat bread.He had noticed the fast pace of city life and thought busy Berliners might like a meal

DHAKA: Chinese state media laid into Bo Xilai on Saturday, saying ‘arrogance’ led to his demise, a day after a court rejected the fallen politician’s appeal against his corruption conviction.Bo was condemned to life imprisonment on charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power

DHAKA: The widow of former Yugoslav leader Marshal Tito has been honoured in a state funeral in the Serbian capital.Jovanka Broz, who died of heart failure at the age of 88 last weekend, was buried next to her husband in the elaborate House of Flowers mausoleum.She received full military

DHAKA: The United Nations peace envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said on Saturday he Iran should be invited to peace talks in Geneva.Iran’s English-language Press TV reported, says The Jerusalem Post.‘We believe that the participation of Iran in the Geneva conference is natural and

DHAKA: The United Nations has expressed serious concern for hundreds of Myanmar civilians, many of them children, trapped in a conflict zone in northern Kachin state amid renewed clashes between the army and rebels.It said over a thousand displaced people are thought to be running short

DHAKA: At least one Afghan soldier was killed and a NATO-led international military soldier injured Saturday in an insider attack in the capital, Kabul, officials said.‘There was a verbal dispute between an Afghan and a NATO soldier today, who opened fire on each other,’ said Dawlat

DHAKA: Kurdish militants seized a Syrian border post on the frontier with Iraq early on Saturday, a monitoring group said, after three days of clashes with an al-Qaida-linked group which had held the crossing for more than a year.The Yarubiya post and surrounding areas in the northeast

DHAKA: JP Morgan has reached a $5.1bn settlement with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency over charges it misled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing boom.A separate settlement with the US Justice Department is expected to be announced soon.‘This is a

DHAKA: The Iranian authorities on Saturday hanged 16 ‘rebels’ following overnight clashes in which 14 border guards were killed on the frontier with Pakistan.An Iranian judicial official said, reports The Straits Times.‘Sixteen rebels linked to groups hostile to the regime were

DHAKA: UN aid chief Valerie Amos demanded stronger action by the UN Security Council to get desperately needed aid into Syria, where 2.5 million people in need have not received help for almost a year.Violence and excessive red tape have slowed aid delivery to a trickle in Syria.More than

DHAKA: German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the European Union’s 28 member states to reach a ‘no spy deal’ similar to an agreement France and Germany seek with the United State following allegations Washington tapped her mobile phone.A German government spokesman late on Friday

DHAKA: Japan prime minister Shinzo Abe, in an interview published on Saturday, said Japan was ready to be more assertive in guarding against what he said might be an attempt by China to use force to attain its diplomatic goals.But a top retired Chinese diplomat said any move by Tokyo to

DHAKA: Fresh floods have killed at least 18 people in the same part of eastern India that this month saw the worst cyclone to hit the country in more than a decade.Indian officials said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.Torrential rains made rivers spill their banks in India`s