DHAKA: China underestimated its growing defence budget by nearly 20 percent with its spending likely nearing US$145 billion last year. The Pentagon said on Thursday, The Straits Times publishes this report on Friday. In an annual report required by Congress, the Pentagon said that

DHAKA: When India’s former deputy prime minister LK Advani reached his office in Parliament during the lunch-break on Thursday, he was confronted with a humiliating situation.The plaque with his name at the door of the room allotted to him in the 15th Lok Sabha - which said that he is

DHAKA: Lunar rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts more than 40 years ago contain evidence of a Mars-sized planet that scientists believe crashed into Earth and created the moon.New research shows, reports The Straits Times.German scientists using a new technique said they detected

DHAKA: A lawmaker from Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party has described rape as a social crime, saying ‘sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong’, in the latest controversial remarks by an Indian politician about rape.The political leaders of Uttar Pradesh, the

DHAKA: Hundreds of people are feared dead in a suspected Boko Haram attack on four villages in northeast Nigeria, in the latest upsurge in violence claiming increasing numbers of civilian lives.Some community leaders put the death toll from the attacks in the Gwoza district of Borno state

DHAKA: Cairo’s most important Western allies plan to send low-level representatives to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s presidential inauguration, officials said, a diplomatic snub meant to convey ongoing concerns about the state of Egyptian democracy.The government that Sisi installed after he

DHAKA: United States president Barack Obama suggested that Scotland would be better off as part of Britain, and urged the British to stay in the European Union.Stepping into a febrile debate over Scotland’s independence referendum on September 18, Obama said the decision was ‘up to

DHAKA: BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan will be the Speaker of India’s 16th Lok Sabha with senior leaders from all parties, including prime minister Narendra Modi, moving motions on Thursday proposing her name for the high office.Mahajan’s was the only name that was proposed as the time for

DHAKA: Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has sent a white sari for the mother of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.Modi had gifted a shawl to the Sharif’s mother, when the Pakistani leader visited India last week.Modi thanked Sharif in a tweet Thursday, ‘Nawaz Sharif ji has sent

DHAKA: China’s campaign to bulldoze mountains to create land to build on could cause extensive environmental problems.Scientists say, reports the BBC.Researchers from Chang’an University in China have warned that dozens of mountains have already been flattened - and this is causing

DHAKA: Newly elected Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi will undertake his first visit to Bhutan this month, reported The Indian Express. It has been reliably learnt that an official team will be leaving for Thimphu on Friday to set up the visit and work out the relevant logistics. 

DHAKA: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama could hold their first bilateral meeting in September, when Modi travels to the US for a UN meeting, sources have told NDTV. According to reports, the bilateral meeting could be held in Washington likely between

DHAKA: Sumitra Mahajan, senior BJP leader and one of the most experienced Parliamentarians, looks set to be the next Lok Sabha Speaker. According to sources, the 71-year-old leader from Madhya Pradesh has been sounded by party chief Rajnath Singh about the new assignment. The election

DHAKA: Leaders of the G7 industrial nations meeting in Brussels say they are prepared to impose further sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine. A joint statement condemned Moscow for its "continuing violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty. The summit is the first since Russia was

DHAKA: A manhunt is under way in the Canadian city of Moncton, New Brunswick, after three officers have been shot dead and two wounded. Police said they were searching for Justin Bourque, 24, who was "armed and dangerous", and tweeted a picture of a suspect with weapons. Officials have

DHAKA: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has won a landslide victory in presidential poll securing 88.7 percent of the vote, parliament speaker Mohammad al-Laham has said. The two other candidates, Hassan al-Nouri and Maher Hajjar, won 4.3 percent and 3.2 percent respectively. The

DHAKA: A US military jet has crashed into homes in the California desert, about 90 miles (144km) east of San Diego. Television reports show at least one home on fire on a residential street in the city of Imperial, following the crash on Wednesday evening. The sole pilot ejected safely,

DHAKA: Gunmen killed a Swiss national working in Libya for the International Committee for the Red Cross when they intercepted his car in the city of Sirte. The Red Crescent said, reports The Straits Times. ‘The ICRC’s head of mission in Misrata was killed today as he was carrying

DHAKA: EU Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday that the European Union was ready to organise talks next month to set up a donor’s conference for the new government in Ukraine. ‘We stand ready to organise a donors’ coordination meeting in Brussels in July,’

DHAKA: US secretary of state John Kerry arrived in Beirut on Wednesday, beginning an unannounced visit that is the first by a US secretary of state to Lebanon in five years. A journalist said, reports The Straits Times. Kerry is in Beirut to announce US$290 million in aid to boost UN