DHAKA: High wind and heavy rain lashed the coastal belt of Odisha on Saturday disrupting normal life, as `very severe` cyclonic storm Phailin advances from the Bay of Bengal. The cyclone is expected to make landfall by Saturday evening, officials said.Authorities continued their efforts

DHAKA: US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have met Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai in the Oval Office.The Obamas thanked Malala, 16, who was shot in the head last year by the Taliban, for her "inspiring and passionate work" for girls` education.The

DHAKA: The government of Guyana says the Venezuelan navy has entered its territorial waters and detained a US-operated ship.Guyana said the Venezuelan actions in the disputed Essequibo region constituted "a serious threat to peace in the region".The ship belongs to Texas-based Company

DHAKA: Preparations are under way on India`s east coast ahead of Saturday`s expected landfall of a massive cyclone now gathering strength in the Bay of Bengal.Tropical Cyclone Phailin is expected to make landfall somewhere near the border of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states in India.The

DHAKA: Pakistani Taliban commander Latif Mehsud in Sararogha in south A top-level Pakistani Taliban leader was captured by U.S. forces in military operation, a State Department spokesman said Friday.The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), confirmed Friday that its

DHAKA: For the second time in a week, a smugglers` boat overloaded with migrants capsized in the Canal of Sicily on Friday as it made the perilous crossing from Africa to Europe. At least 31 people drowned, but 221 people were rescued in a joint Italian-Maltese operation, officials

DHAKA: At least 12 migrants drowned and some 116 were rescued after their boat capsized near the Egyptian port of Alexandria.The boat sank early on Friday. The survivors, mostly Palestinians and Syrians, were taken to a naval base.The incident comes a week after at least 311 migrants died

DHAKA: The OPCW, the body overseeing destruction of Syria`s chemical weapons, has won the Nobel Peace Prize.The Nobel Committee said it was in honour of the OPCW`s "extensive work to eliminate chemical weapons".The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was

DHAKA: Cyclonic storm "Phailin", classified as "very severe", is heading for coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh at wind speeds averaging 200 km per hour and is expected to hit the states on Saturday evening. Some weathermen are describing it as potentially India`s version of `hurricane

DHAKA: Asian stock markets have risen on hopes the US will reach a deal on raising its debt ceiling, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.This was after US Republicans offered President Obama a short-term increase in the debt limit to stave off default.Stock indexes in Japan,

DHAKA: The very severe cyclonic storm “Phailin” (with estimated central pressure 960 hPa) over west central bay and adjoining east central bay moved slightly northwestwards over the same area.It was centered at 9 am Friday about 790 kms southwest of Chittagong port, 715 kms southwest

DHAKA: A fire broke out Friday at a hospital in Fukuoka, Japan, killing 10 people and injuring five, a fire department spokesman said.The fire at the orthopedics hospital started early in the morning and burned for roughly 2 1/2 hours.Four of the injured suffered serious injuries, the

DHAKA: Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai and a Congolese doctor who helped rape victims are among this year`s Nobel Peace Prize favourites.The winner of the most coveted of the Nobel honours will be revealed in Olso at 11:00 local time (0900 GMT) Friday.This year`s record

DHAKA: Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan, freed by former rebels who seized him from a hotel at dawn, said on Thursday on Twitter that his captors had wanted him to step down.‘I am fine, thank God. If the aim of the kidnapping operation was for me to present my resignation, then I

DHAKA: Four US whistleblowers who have met with former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden say he is settling into life in Russia and expresses no regrets about leaking highly classified information.The whistleblowers were the first Americans known to have met Snowden

DHAKA: Egyptian officials say a suicide bomber has rammed his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint outside a coastal city in volatile Sinai Peninsula, killing three soldiers and a policeman.The security officials say the attack happened on Thursday outside the city of al-Arish, reports

DHAKA: Ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor is to serve his 50-year war crimes sentence in the UK.UK Justice Minister Jeremy Wright has confirmed, reports the BBC.Sweden and Rwanda had also offered to imprison him following the rejection of his appeal last month by a UN-backed special

DHAKA: Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan has been released, several hours after being seized by militiamen, say government sources.Zeidan was taken from his hotel in the capital, Tripoli, by armed men in the early hours of Thursday morning.A former rebel group loosely allied to the

DHAKA: British foreign secretary William Hague demanded Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan, who was seized by a former rebel faction on Thursday, be set free.‘I condemn the abduction of the Libyan prime minister in Tripoli this morning and call for his immediate release,’ Hague said in

DHAKA: NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen has expressed ‘great concern’ at reports of Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan’s abduction, and called for his release.‘If it’s confirmed that prime minister Zeidan has been abducted, I call for the prime minister’s immediate