DHAKA: Sri Lanka’s opposition parties formally launched their bid Sunday to topple long-serving president Mahinda Rajapakse at January elections, with prayers and public meetings in the island’s old capital of Polonnaruwa.Main opposition presidential candidate Maithripala

DHAKA: At least 50 extremists of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have been killed in the past 24 hours in clashes, suicide bombings and US-led air strikes in Syria’s Kobane.A monitor said Sunday, reports The Straits Times.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the

DHAKA: Focusing on security issues in Assam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said his government will go ahead with the land swapping agreement with Bangladesh for a permanent solution to the infiltration problem.“I know Assam’s problems. I assure you all that there will be

DHAKA: LUCKY black cat Dyson plunged 150ft from his tower block home and survived.Owner Joanna Kane, 39, said: “Dyson was playing with the curtains near an open window and before I could do anything to stop him he disappeared out of it.“I heard him hit the concrete outside and

DHAKA: Leading gold buyer India has announced it has eased controls on imports of the yellow metal after its current account deficit narrowed sharply.India, the world’s second-biggest gold buyer after China, imposed the import restrictions last year to avert a trade deficit crisis

DHAKA: Taiwan’s warmer relations with China were called into question on Sunday after the island’s Beijing-friendly ruling party suffered a massive defeat at local elections, sparking the resignation of premier Jiang Yi-huah. The major rout came as the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party

DHAKA: A US lawmaker's communications director was facing social media calls she be sacked after her Facebook rant about President Barack Obama's daughters prompted widespread anger. Elizabeth Lauten, spokeswoman for Republican Congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, wrote a scathing

DHAKA: The mother of a victim of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has begun legal proceedings against Ukraine at the European Court of Human Rights, accusing Kiev of failing to close the country's airspace, a German daily reported Sunday. The woman, who lodged her complaint at the

DHAKA: Darren Wilson, the police officer whose deadly shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old prompted months of protest in Ferguson of America’s Missouri, resigned from his job on Saturday after avoiding prosecution by the state. Wilson, 28, said in a resignation letter that he could not

DHAKA: Pope Francis prayed silently alongside a senior Islamic cleric in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque on Saturday, in a gesture of inter-religious harmony in a country bordering the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Pope Francis took off his shoes as he entered the huge mosque, before bowing his

DHAKA: Taiwan’s premier Jiang Yi-huah resigned on Saturday after the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party suffered a landslide defeat at the island’s biggest-ever local elections. Jiang announced that he had stepped down at a hastily called brief press conference, saying that he took

DHAKA: There could be between 10,000 and 13,000 victims of slavery in the UK, higher than previous figures. Analysis for the UK Home Office suggests, reports the BBC. Modern slavery victims are said to include women forced into prostitution, ‘imprisoned’ domestic staff and workers

DHAKA: Fifteen people have been killed and 14 others wounded during a terrorist attack in China’s mostly Muslim Xinjiang region. China’s official news agency said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times. Xinjiang is frequently hit by unrest sparked by fierce tensions between

DHAKA: A court in Cairo has cleared former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 uprising against his rule. The courtroom erupted in cheers when the judge concluded Mubarak’s retrial by dismissing the charges which relate to the deaths of

DHAKA: Pope Francis is due to arrive in Istanbul on the second day of his three-day visit to Turkey.He will meet Muslim and Christian leaders of the city, which as Constantinople was Byzantine’s capital until the Ottoman conquest in 1453.The Pope will also visit a mosque and hold

DHAKA: An Egyptian court is expected to deliver its verdict in the retrial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak on charges of conspiring in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising.Last year, an appeals court overturned an initial life sentence given to Mubarak in 2012 on

DHAKA: A new human being, the first case this winter in the southern province of Guangdong in China, was found infected of deadly H7N9 avian influenza virus.A 31-year-old woman surnamed Deng, from the provincial city of Dongguan, was confirmed on Friday to have been infected with the

DHAKA: At least 81 people were killed and 150 others injured as two bombs exploded outside the central mosque of north Nigeria's biggest city, Kano, just as residents were packing into the area for Friday prayers.The blasts occurred outside the Emir's Palace Mosque.Witnesses said they

DHAKA: Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron has passionately urged other EU leaders to support his ‘reasonable’ proposals for far-reaching curbs on welfare benefits for migrants.Cameron said lower EU migration would be a priority in future negotiations on the UK’s membership

DHAKA: Austrian police have arrested 13 people suspected of radicalizing young people and recruiting them to fight in Syria.The prosecutors said this which reports BBC on Friday.Reports in the Austrian media said 500 police were involved in searches at mosques, flats and prayer rooms in