DHAKA: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called US President Barack Obama after receiving information that the US may have spied on her mobile phone.A spokesman for Mrs Merkel said the German leader "views such practices... as completely unacceptable".Mrs Merkel called on US officials

DHAKA: A military training exercise ignited the largest of the wildfires that have ravaged Australia’s most populous state over the past week.Investigators said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.More than 100 fires have killed one man and destroyed more than 200 homes in New South

DHAKA: Chinese state media hailed the ‘huge potential’ of ties with Russia Wednesday after a US$85 billion oil deal, with analysts saying the cooperation masks Moscow’s unease at Beijing’s surging influence in Central Asia.The framework arrangement between Rosneft, the world’s

DHAKA: Accusing BJP of fanning communal flames, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the party’s ‘politics of hatred’ was damaging the country’s fabric and apprehended he may also be assassinated like his grandmother and father, who had fallen victim to it.Striking an emotional chord,

DHAKA: Pakistani media on Wednesday urged the government to do more to show it is sincere about its desire to end US drone strikes in the country’s tribal regions.An Amnesty International report on the US drone campaign on Tuesday warned some of the strikes may amount to war crimes,

DHAKA: A Yemeni father has burned his 15-year-old daughter to death for keeping in touch with her fiancé, police said, sparking further outrage in Yemen, where an eight-year girl died from internal bleeding on her wedding night a month ago.Police said a 35-year-old man had been arrested

DHAKA: A Thai company owned by consumer goods giant Unilever apologised on Wednesday over a competition that promoted its skin whitening product by offering cash prizes to students, saying it did not intend ‘racial discrimination’.Citra Thailand said the campaign asking female

DHAKA: Syrian authorities have released 10 women jailed for helping the opposition, the first batch of 126 women expected to be freed in the final stages of a three-way hostage swap.Syria rights activists said on Wednesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.The women’s release was the main

DHAKA: India on Wednesday accused Pakistani troops of firing guns and mortars on at least 50 Indian border posts overnight in disputed Kashmir, calling it the most serious cease-fire violation between the nuclear-armed neighbours in a decade.The attacks began Tuesday night in southern

DHAKA: Palace officials say Prince William and his wife Kate have asked seven people to be godparents to their son, Prince George.The announcement came on the day George is to be christened at a major royal family gathering.The godparents include close friends from their university days,

DHAKA: Pope Francis on Wednesday called for a more humane justice system, saying God too was ‘a prisoner’ of the world’s injustices and was in every cell.‘God is a prisoner too. He is inside the cell,’ Pope Francis said at an audience with Italian prison chaplains in the

DHAKA: Gunmen and suicide bombers using explosives-packed vehicles launched a wave of coordinated attacks in Iraq’s Anbar province overnight, killing around 25 members of the security forces and three civilians.A suicide bomber detonated a tanker truck packed with explosives at a

DHAKA: Australian prime minister Tony Abbott denied on Wednesday that devastating bushfires in Australia were linked to climate change, accusing the United Nations climate chief of ‘talking through her hat’ on the issue.UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said on Tuesday that while

DHAKA: India and China agreed to focus on growth and strengthening of relationship between the two countries.When India and China shake hands, the world notices, India prime minister Manmohan Singh said after talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang on Wednesday.The two premiers

DHAKA: Money might not grow on trees, but scientists have confirmed that gold is found in the leaves of some plants.Researchers from Australia say that the presence of the particles in a eucalyptus tree`s foliage indicates that deposits are buried many metres below.They believe that the

DHAKA: A senior US intelligence official has stated that reports the US collected data on French citizens` telephone calls are "false".Director of National Intelligence James Clapper challenged recent reports in Le Monde newspaper detailing US surveillance programmes in France.The

DHAKA: Sri Lanka has suspended final approval for two casinos involving a total investment of around a billion dollars after protests from within the ruling coalition’s ranks.A Bill giving the two separate casino hotels the go-ahead and granting them a 10-year tax holiday was due to be

DHAKA: Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief has said the kingdom will make a ‘major shift’ in dealings with the United States in protest at its perceived inaction over the Syria war and its overtures to Iran.A source close to Saudi policy said on Tuesday, reports The Straits

DHAKA: Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate and long-time political prisoner, has finally collected the European Union’s 1990 Sakharov Prize for human rights.In Tuesday’s stirring ceremony, European Parliament president Martin Schulz said that ‘23 years later, we

DHAKA: An Egyptian prosecutor on Tuesday ordered the arrest of four police officers accused of killing 38 members of the Muslim Brotherhood during their detention last August.Egypt security sources and state media said, reports The Straits Times.The Islamists suffocated after teargas was