DHAKA: Groundwater radiation levels at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have soared near a tank that leaked 300 tonnes of toxic water in August, struggling operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said.Tepco said water samples collected from a well on Thursday contained 400,000

DHAKA: A Milan court on Saturday ruled that former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi should be barred from holding public office for two years following a conviction for tax fraud.But, since Berlusconi is a senator, the court’s decision will have no immediate effect, and his expulsion

DHAKA: At least 20 people were killed and 44 injured on Saturday in a pile-up on an unlit highway in the Philippines involving three buses and four trucks, police said.Pictures of the accident in Atimonan, 120km south-east of Manila, aired on ABS-CBN television showed at least 10 of the

DHAKA: At least 16 Syrian soldiers have been killed in a suicide bombing and fighting that followed in a Damascus suburb, activists say.The blast triggered clashes at a checkpoint near the mainly-Christian area of Jaramana, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.State media blamed

DHAKA: A senior Chinese official has denounced the Dalai Lama’s long-standing pursuit of autonomy for Tibet, describing it as equivalent to advocating Tibetan independence.China state media said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.The comments by Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the ethnic

DHAKA: The electoral commission had made a last-minute announcement that the vote would be held as planned on Saturday.But commission head Fuwad Thowfeek said police had entered his offices and were stopping officials distributing election materials.Two candidates had sought to have the

DHAKA: The United Nations has said that at least 450 civilians may have been killed by US drone strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, a figure which the US has previously downplayed.A UN report, obtained by Al Jazeera on Friday, stated that Pakistan’s government had confirmed at

DHAKA: On Thursday, the 193 countries making up the U.N. General Assembly held a secret ballot to select new members of the Security Council. Each year, the Assembly elects five new countries to serve two-year rotating posts; competition is keen, and countries lobby years in advance for a

DHAKA: A fire in Brazil`s largest port has burnt some 180,000 tonnes of raw sugar, damaging six warehouses and pushing international prices to a one-year high.The authorities in the port of Santos said it took six hours to bring the fire under control.The cause of the blaze is still being

DHAKA: The US has urged the Syrian government to allow immediate aid convoys to starving civilians cut off in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus.Washington said the army`s months-long siege left many people in desperate need of food, water and medicine.It also cited "unprecedented reports" of

DHAKA: Two charred bodies pulled from Kenya`s Westgate shopping centre on Thursday are "highly likely" to be two of the attackers, an MP has told the media.Ndung`u Gethenji, chairman of the parliamentary committee investigating the attack, also said the body of a Kenyan soldier had been

DHAKA: One of the greatest mysteries of the Himalayas may have finally been solved.Genetic testing has led scientists to believe that the abominable snowman - the Yeti, actually existed but it was actually a cross between an ancient polar bear and brown bear.Hair samples from what is

DHAKA: A series of major wildfires are burning in the Australian state of New South Wales with fears that hundreds of homes have been destroyed.Fire crews are still tackling the blazes on the outskirts of Sydney, despite temperatures and winds easing.One man has died while trying to

DHAKA: The man being investigated by Norwegian police over the attack on Kenya`s Westgate shopping centre is Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow.The 23-year-old Norwegian citizen of Somali origin is suspected of helping to plan and carry out the attack.BBC Newsnight has spoken to a relative of his in

DHAKA: Suspected Maoists on Thursday struck again in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra in India and killed three policemen in a landmine blast and a gunbattle at Jhilia village, bordering Chhattisgarh, some 300 km from eastern part of Maharashtra.Two jawans were reported to have been

DHAKA: Islamist militants killed two Tunisian policemen in clashes on Thursday in the northeastern city of Goubellat.A Tunisian security source told media, reports The Jerusalem Post.Gunmen linked to groups such as Ansar al-Sharia carry out occasional attacks on security forces in

DHAKA: Talks this week between Iran and six global powers over Tehran’s nuclear programme were ‘very tough but quite, quite promising’.Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday, reports The Jerusalem Post.He sounded more upbeat than deputy foreign

DHAKA: Palestine president Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday invited Pope Francis to visit the Holy Land, matching a standing invitation from Israel.The pontiff, who has made many appeals for peace in the Middle East since his election in March, has already accepted an invitation from Israeli

DHAKA: The US Congress on Wednesday approved an 11th-hour deal to end a partial government shutdown and pull the world’s biggest economy back from the brink of a historic debt default that could have threatened financial calamity.Capping weeks of political brinkmanship that had unnerved

DHAKA: A Canadian national working for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights has been released.Syrian state television reported on Thursday, eight months after he was reported to have been captured by rebel fighters, says The Jerusalem Post.The television channel