DHAKA: A light aircraft crashed and burst into flames on a beach in eastern Indonesia on Sunday after being hit by lightning, killing all four people on board.An Indonesian official and eyewitness said.The Piper Seneca turboprop was flying from the eastern region of Papua to Tual city in

DHAKA: Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said in Damascus on Sunday he has no intention of giving up power and the issue is not up for discussion.Russian agency Interfax reported, says The Straits Times.‘If we wanted to give up, we would have done so at the very beginning. We are on

DHAKA: The death toll from the first storm to batter the disaster-prone Philippines this year has climbed to 40, officials said on Sunday, as forecasters warned more heavy rain was on its way.‘Lingling’, a tropical depression - has wreaked havoc across the southern island of Mindanao,

DHAKA: Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor’s close friend Zarine Khan is devastated with her untimely demise. ‘We had first met the two at Delhi’s Couture Week a few years ago, where Sunanda had told us about their friendship’.Saturday morning, still reeling from the tragic news, Zarine told

DHAKA: Explosions injured almost 30 people in central Bangkok on Sunday during a continuing ‘shutdown’ protest aimed at toppling the Thai government.An emergency centre said, reports The Straits Times.Twenty-eight people were taken to several hospitals across the city, according to

DHAKA: At least 20 soldiers have been killed in north-western Pakistan in a bomb blast that struck an army convoy, sources in the security forces say.At least 24 others were injured in the explosion near the town of Bannu, with fears the death toll will rise, reports BBC.The source of the

DHAKA: President Barack Obama has said he will not let controversial surveillance by US intelligence services undermine Washington`s ties with Germany.Speaking to Germany`s ZDF TV, he indicated that US bugging of Chancellor Angela Merkel`s mobile phone had been a mistake and would not

DHAKA: The Syrian National Coalition, the main umbrella opposition body in exile, has agreed to participate in long-awaited peace talks planned for January 22 in Geneva.The Syrian National Coalition`s media office said on Saturday that of 75 voters, 58 voted in favour of attending the

DHAKA: Sunanda Pushkar, wife of India’s union minister Shashi Tharoor, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances at a five star hotel in New Delhi Friday night, was cremated on Saturday.The last rites of Pushkar, 52, were performed at the Lodhi Road crematorium, reports The

DHAKA: A South African teacher being held hostage in Yemen and whose kidnappers had threatened to kill him is still alive but in poor health.An organisation working to free him said on Saturday, reports The Straits Times.English teacher Pierre Korkie, 56, was abducted along with his wife

DHAKA: Close to 400 priests were defrocked in only two years by the former Pope Benedict XVI over claims of child abuse, the Vatican has confirmed.The statistics for 2011 and 2012 show a dramatic increase compared with previous years, according to a document obtained by the Associated

DHAKA: In a breezy Bangkok park rimmed by high-end hotels and shopping malls, immaculately-dressed women cradle lit candles and sing John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’.‘Respect my vote,’ they declare on the home-made placards they hold high, reports The Straits Times.Just 400m down the

DHAKA: An Iranian diplomat was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting outside the ambassador`s residence in the Yemeni capital on Saturday.A Yemeni medic said, reports The Straits Times.‘The Iranian diplomat has died of his wounds,’ the medic at Sanaa’s German Modern Hospital

DHAKA: The wife of Indian minister Shashi Tharoor, found dead in a Delhi hotel room on Friday, died a ‘sudden and unnatural death’, an autopsy has found.Doctors said there were ‘injury marks’ on Sunanda Pushkar’s body, but did not say if they were linked to her death, reports

DHAKA: The opposition Syrian National Coalition is due to discuss whether it will attend a peace summit in Geneva next week, after the Syrian government said it had offered a limited ceasefire and prisoner swap in anticipation of talks.The SNC was due to meet on Saturday in Istanbul, a

DHAKA: Myanmar’s army has freed 96 children and young people from its armed forces, the United Nations said on Saturday, hailing a ‘historic step’ towards ending the use of child soldiers in the formerly junta-run nation.The move was the largest single release of child recruits

DHAKA: Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups have tightened their grip on Fallujah, defying the Shia-led Iraqi government’s efforts to persuade local tribesmen to expel them from the Sunni Muslim city.Falluja residents and officials say, reports TDS.Despite an army siege, fighters and

DHAKA: The death toll in days of floods and landslides in Indonesia has climbed to 23, an official said Saturday, as torrential rain pounded the capital.Families in Jakarta neighbourhoods waded through murky chest-high flood waters, clutching their belongings, while others were ferried to

DHAKA: South Korean president Park Geun Hye on Saturday ordered the military to boost border security to protect the country against potential provocations by North Korea, unswayed by Pyongyang’s latest peace overture.Park’s orders followed the North’s surprise offer on Thursday for

DHAKA: United States president Barack Obama has directed the National Security Agency not to listen in on the phone calls of the foreign heads of friendly countries.Delivering a speech outlining a raft of reforms to the NSA’s controversial intelligence collection practices, he said he