DHAKA: A 27-year-old man from near Tokyo has been arrested for allegedly possessing guns made with a 3D printer. Japan Broadcasting Corporation reports, says the BBC. Five guns, two of which could fire lethal bullets, and a 3D printer were seized from Yoshitomo Imura’s home, police

DHAKA: Prosecutors in South Korea have detained the head of a company that owned the ferry that sank last month with the loss of more than 300 lives. Chief executive of Chonghaejin Marine Kim Han-sik, 72, was taken into custody from his home on Thursday morning, reports the BBC.

DHAKA: Pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine have said they will not postpone a referendum on independence planned for Sunday. The decision comes one day after Russian president Vladimir Putin urged delaying the vote to create the conditions necessary for dialogue. But Ukrainian

DHAKA: Saudi Arabia has identified 18 new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers). It said late on Wednesday, pushing the total number of infections in the country so far to 449, The Straits Times publishes this report on Thursday. Four people died from the disease on

DHAKA: A large explosion in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has destroyed a hotel and several other buildings. Syria state media and activists report, says the BBC. Rebel fighters are believed to have detonated a bomb placed in a tunnel beneath the Carlton Citadel Hotel, near the

DHAKA: US president Barack Obama issued a somber warning that the kidnapping of Nigerian girls and sectarian conflicts worldwide are a sign that ‘we have not extinguished man's darkest impulses’. Obama accepted a humanitarian award from director Steven Spielberg at the University of

DHAKA: Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a shooting by Taliban insurgents, has said the world must not stay silent over the abduction of more than 200 girls in Nigeria. She told the BBC that ‘if we remain silent then this will spread, this will happen more and

DHAKA: The US has spoken out over "dangerous conduct and intimidation" in the South China Sea, after ships from Vietnam and China collided in disputed waters. The collisions came as the Vietnamese ships tried to prevent China setting up an oil rig near the Paracel islands. The incident

DHAKA: Rising levels of CO2 around the world will significantly impact the nutrient content of crops according to a new study. Experiments show levels of zinc, iron and protein are likely to be reduced by up to 10% in wheat and rice by 2050. The scientists say this could have health

DHAKA: A Saudi court has imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi for 10 years for "insulting Islam" and setting up a liberal web forum, local media report. He was also sentenced to 1,000 lashes and ordered to pay a fine of 1 million riyals ($266,000; £133,000). Amnesty International called the

DHAKA: Russian president Vladimir Putin on Wednesday asked pro-Kremlin separatists in southeastern Ukraine to postpone a series of disputed referendums planned for this weekend on declaring greater autonomy or outright independence from Kiev. ‘We ask the representatives of the

DHAKA: Archaeologists in southern Egypt have discovered a 5,600-year-old preserved tomb and mummy predating the First Dynasty of the pharaohs. The antiquities ministry said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times. The tomb was built before the rule of king Narmer, the founder of the

DHAKA: Varanasi, the most hotly contested territory in this election, turned into a flashpoint Wednesday between the Election Commission and the BJP after the party’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, was refused permission for three events on Thursday. A seething BJP said

DHAKA: A bomb blast near a polling booth in Kashmir injured a policeman on Wednesday, amid further stone-throwing protests and a widespread boycott of India’s general election in the mainly Muslim region. Separatists have called on voters to shun the election in India’s northernmost

DHAKA: An attack by Boko Haram Islamist militants in a north-eastern Nigerian town on the Cameroon border has killed hundreds of people. A local senator and witnesses said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times. News of the gruesome attack in Gamboru Ngala emerged hours after the

DHAKA: India’s civil aviation regulator said on Wednesday it has set new rules for local airlines to ensure real time tracking of aircraft, a decision it said was prompted by the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. The new rules will apply to both passenger and cargo

DHAKA: Nigeria’s police have offered a $300,000 cash reward to anyone who can help locate and rescue more than 200 abducted schoolgirls. They were kidnapped more than three weeks ago by armed Islamist militants from their boarding school in the north-eastern state of Borno. Another

DHAKA: The party of the ousted Thai prime minister issued a statement on Wednesday to denounce the constitutional court’s ruling against Yingluck Shinawatra as relentless conspiracy to try to remove the party from power. The Pheu Thai Party also called on the people, who disagreed with

DHAKA: Saudi Arabia’s acting health minister has announced the sacking of the head of a Jeddah hospital where a spike in coronary viral infections among medical staff sparked panic among the public. The move, which Adel Fakieh announced on Twitter late Tuesday, came after he inspected

DHAKA: Monica Lewinsky says she became reclusive during Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign for president in 2008 for fear that she would be used for political purposes and that she feels ‘gun-shy’ even now as Hillary considers another run in 2016. Despite Lewinsky’s trepidation,