DHAKA: Qayoum Karzai, the older brother of Afghanistan`s President Hamid Karzai has dropped out of the race for next month’s presidential elections.Thursday’s announcement comes after weeks of speculation that the elder Karzai would bow out in favour of Zalmai Rassoul, his brother`s

DHAKA: At least five soldiers from the Afghan army have been killed in a Nato air strike in eastern Afghanistan.They were killed in the early hours of Thursday in the Charkh district of Logar province.Nato confirmed the "unfortunate incident" and said it was investigating the

DHAKA: Venezuela`s President, Nicolas Maduro, has broken diplomatic relations and frozen economic ties with Panama.The decision comes after the Central American nation requested a meeting at the Organization of American States (OAS) to discuss Venezuela`s crisis, BBC reported.Maduro was

DHAKA: US Secretary of State John Kerry has described a meeting with his Russian counterpart over Ukraine as "tough", but promised to continue talking.Kerry said he was committed to working with Moscow to ease the crisis, reports BBC.Russia`s Sergei Lavrov refused to meet his Ukrainian

DHAKA: US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday held direct talks on Ukraine in Paris on the sidelines of an international meeting on Lebanon.A diplomatic source said, reports The Straits Times.Kerry and Lavrov held discussions along with

DHAKA: Violent clashes erupted between BJP and AAP workers in New Delhi, Lucknow and Khari village in Gujarat on Wednesday after AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal was briefly detained by police during his Gujarat tour.Police said that Kejriwal was detained for allegedly violating the model code

DHAKA: Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that photographs from Crimea of military vehicles with Russian number plates and video of an armed man claiming he is Russian were a ‘provocation’ and ‘nonsense’.Shoigu was responding to questions about photographs

DHAKA: Diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in Ukraine are gathering pace as US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov prepare to hold crucial talks in Paris.The US wants independent observers in the flashpoint region of Crimea and direct talks between

DHAKA: Israel’s military said it intercepted a ship carrying Iranian ‘advanced weaponry’ bound for Gaza in the Red Sea between Eritrea and Sudan on Wednesday.‘Earlier today, the IDF (Israeli army) prevented an attempt to smuggle an Iranian shipment of advanced weaponry intended

DHAKA: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have said they are withdrawing their ambassadors to Qatar because Doha had not implemented an agreement among Gulf Arab countries not to interfere in each others’ internal affairs.The three countries said the move was necessary

DHAKA: All sides in Syria’s civil war are using shelling and siege tactics to punish civilians and big powers bear responsibility for allowing such war crimes to persist.UN human rights investigators said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.In their latest report documenting

DHAKA: Lawyers representing Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in a landmark treason case said on Wednesday they had been threatened with beheading, and urged a new venue for the trial.They also urged the court to let Musharraf, who last month became the first former army

DHAKA: The world’s oldest woman was celebrating her 116th birthday on Wednesday in a Japanese nursing home with a cake and candles.Misao Okawa, a descendant of kimono merchants in the city of Osaka, western Japan, received a visit from town mayor Takehiro Ogura earlier this week ahead

DHAKA: India will vote for its next government starting April 7.  Voting will be held on nine days, ending with May 12.  The results will be declared on May 16. 814 million people are eligible to cast their votes -- 100 million more than in the last elections in 2009, NDTV

DHAKA: Thousands of protesters in Venezuela have marched through the streets of Caracas shouting slogans against the socialist government of Nicolas Maduro.They also demanded the release of dozens of activists detained since demonstrations began a month ago, reports BBC.Tension is high

DHAKA: China announced a growth target of 7.5% and revealed plans to raise its defence budget by 12.2%, as it opened its annual parliament session in Beijing.Issues such as targeting corruption and the environment are also on the agenda at the National People`s Congress, reports

DHAKA: A US judge has upheld Chevron`s allegations that an Ecuadorian court decision ordering it to pay $9.5bn for oil pollution in the Amazon jungle was fraudulently obtained.US District Judge Lewis Kaplan concluded on Tuesday that plaintiffs in the 2011 case and their lawyers committed

DHAKA: US President Barack Obama has urged Russia to move its troops in Ukraine`s Crimea region back to their bases and set up a monitoring mission there, White House officials say.The offer to Russian President Vladimir Putin was made as Moscow remained in de facto control of the

DHAKA: Suicide bombers attacked the city council headquarters in the Iraqi city of Samarra on Tuesday, took employees hostage and eventually blew themselves up, killing a total of five people.The attack, which followed a similar operation last December, illustrates the impunity with which

DHAKA: Syria has shipped out about a third of its chemical weapons stockpile, including mustard gas, for destruction abroad.The global chemical arms watchdog said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague said