DHAKA: The leader of the Islamic State jihadist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, purportedly ordered all Muslims to obey him in a video released on Saturday on social media. The hitherto elusive Baghdadi, who on June 29 proclaimed a ‘caliphate’ straddling Syria and Iraq, made his appeal

DHAKA: The military chief of Syria's main Western-backed rebel group is warning that the country risks a ‘humanitarian disaster’ if allies do not send more aid to help his moderate forces stop advancing Islamic militants. Brig. Gen. Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir, commander of the Free Syrian

DHAKA: A Pakistani court on Saturday indicted five men, including a father and two brothers, for the brutal murder of a woman bludgeoned to death for marrying against their wishes. Farzana Parveen was battered to death outside the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore in May by more

DHAKA: Egypt has drastically raised fuel prices overnight to tackle a bloated subsidy system, in a potentially unpopular move that might blow back on newly elected president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. With the economy battered by three years of unrest, successive governments have said the

DHAKA: Jihadists who overran Mosul last month have demolished ancient shrines and mosques in and around the historic northern Iraqi city. Residents and social media posts said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times. At least four shrines to Sunni Arab or Sufi figures have been

DHAKA: An Iranian pilot has been killed while fighting in Iraq, state media reported Saturday, in what is thought to be Tehran’s first military casualty during battles against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadists. Iran’s official IRNA news agency did not say whether the

DHAKA: A suicide car bomb has killed at least four people near Somalia’s parliament, police and Somali media say. Reports say the bomb went off outside the main gate of parliament after guards shot at the bomber, according to the BBC. One report quoted al-Shabab militants praising the

DHAKA: A strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck western Indonesia on Saturday, US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The quake struck at 4.39pm (0939 GMT) at a depth of 30 kilometres, 88 kilometres southeast

DHAKA: Saudi-owned al-Arabia television said on Saturday that two suspected al Qaida militants who had been surrounded inside a government building in southern Saudi Arabia after an attack on a border post with Yemen blew themselves up early on Saturday. The satellite channel gave no

DHAKA: Initial autopsy findings from the body of a Palestine youth from east Jerusalem who was kidnapped and killed by far-right Jews showed that he was burned alive. The Palestinian attorney-general is reported as saying, The Jerusalem Post. ‘The direct cause of death was burns as a

DHAKA: An Egyptian court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 36 other Islamists to life in prison Saturday, and confirmed death sentences for 10 others, most of them on the run. Badie, convicted of involvement in deadly protests, had already received death sentences in

DHAKA: Most of pro-Russian rebels and their top commander had fled their eastern stronghold of Slavyansk in Kiev’s biggest success of the nearly three-month campaign. Ukraine’s interior minister said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times ‘This morning, intelligence reported that

DHAKA: Aung San Suu Kyi’s Myanmar opposition party faced calls to inject new blood into its ageing top ranks as it opened a landmark conference on Saturday dedicated to its youth wing. The Nobel Peace Prize winner’s National League for Democracy (NLD), founded after a bloody

DHAKA: A special Air India flight with 137 people on board, including the 46 nurses freed by insurgents in Iraq, arrived in Kochi on Saturday morning at 11.57 am, spelling relief for the Indian government and families of the stranded Indians. The plane reached Mumbai at 8.47am for

DHAKA: More than 400 trucks carrying fuel and oil were burning on roads west of Kabul, Afghanistan, police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanekzai said Saturday. Emergency crews tried to contain the damage, he said. Residents and local news reporters posted images online of a line of red fire

DHAKA: The German authorities have summoned the US ambassador in Berlin after a man was arrested on suspicion of spying. The US diplomat "was asked to help in the swift clarification" of the case, the foreign ministry said. German officials confirmed the arrest but released no other

DHAKA: Some 46 Indian nurses who were freed by militants in war-torn Iraq have returned on Saturday.     Indian newspapers published the report quoting Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.    But fate of 10 Bangladeshi nurses, who were with the 46 Indian women in Iraq, is unknown as

DHAKA: All 46 Indian nurses held captive by Sunni insurgents in Iraq have been freed and will return to India on Saturday. The nurses are with Indian officials and are being taken to Erbil airport, from where they will return to Kerala on a special flight. Kerala chief minister Oommen

DHAKA: Hamas has offered to halt its rocket attacks if Israel stops its air raids on the Gaza Strip. A source with the Palestinian militant group said Egyptian intelligence officials had brokered a potential ceasefire, after escalating clashes. Israel says sporadic shelling from Gaza

DHAKA: At least 17 suspected militants were killed Thursday in security raids in Rafah city of Egypt’s North Sinai province.A security source confirmed the matter, reports the New Indian Express.Egyptian troops killed 12 militants, who are believed to be members of Al Qaeda-inspired