DHAKA: The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, which provides for creation of an anti-corruption ombudsman.The most prominent of the group of anti-graft bills on the anvil, the Lokpal Bill establishes a lokpal at the central level and asks states to establish

DHAKA: US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden plans to seek political asylum in Brazil in exchange for helping investigate US spying on this country.A newspaper said Tuesday, reports daily Hurriyet.The former contractor expressed his willingness to aid a Brazilian Senate probe in an

DHAKA: The European Union said Tuesday it has warned Israel against any new West Bank settlement construction following an upcoming Palestinian prisoner release, saying it will be held responsible for any resulting failure of the ongoing peace talks.The warning is another sign of

DHAKA: Happy birthday to Pope Francis, who has once again been named ‘Person of the Year’, this time by a leading lifestyle magazine that actively promotes gay rights.The religious leader is the December coverstar of The Advocate magazine, on which he appears with a photoshopped

DHAKA: Two Saudi detainees sent home from the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay will go through the kingdom’s rehabilitation program for militants.Saudi interior ministry said on Tuesday, reports TDS.Muhammad Husayn Qahtani and Hamood Abdulla Hamood were repatriated to Saudi Arabia

DHAKA: Thailand’s main opposition Democrat Party reappointed former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva as its leader on Tuesday but members could not agree on whether to run in an early election or stick with street protesters who want to reform the political system.The protesters, backed by the

DHAKA: India on Tuesday retaliated strongly to the arrest of its deputy consul general in New York by initiating series of steps to strip US diplomats and their families of privileges including withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearances for the embassy.Delhi police on

DHAKA: The Russian parliament on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a wide-ranging amnesty which could free the imprisoned members of the Pussy Riot punk band as early as this week.The lower house of parliament, or State Duma, unanimously passed the amnesty act in its first reading,

DHAKA: Four pro-Kurdish lawmakers plan to go on hunger strike in the Turkish parliament from Tuesday to denounce a court ruling against the release of jailed MPs with suspected links to Kurdish rebels, their party said.Last week, a journalist and lawmaker from the opposition Republican

DHAKA: A British surgeon, imprisoned in Syria for over a year, has died in detention his family has told the BBC.Dr Abbas Khan, a 32-year-old orthopaedic surgeon from Streatham, south London, travelled to the city of Aleppo last year to help civilians.His brother Afroze said the Syrian

DHAKA: An intra-court appeal was submitted on Tuesday in the Islamabad High Court against the formation of a special court to try former president Pervez Musharraf for treason.The appeal filed by Riaz Hanif Rahi said that the special court was formed in violation of the Constitution and

DHAKA: A Turkish military helicopter crashed on the edge of the capital Ankara on Tuesday, killing four soldiers on board.The helicopter was on a training flight when it hit high tension cables and crashed into a field about 18 km south of the city centre, the media reports said,

DHAKA: UN’s special envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi says the conference on Syrian peace will open on January 22 in a Swiss town of Montreux.This is according to the UN’s tweet which has confirmed the exact place and date of the long-awaited peace talks, reports The Voice of Russia.On

DHAKA: Militants torched a tanker carrying fuel for US and Nato troops in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district on Tuesday, a levies official said.Muhammad Riaz, a levies official told Dawn.com motorcycle-riding gunmen opened indiscriminate fire at a tanker near Wadh tehsil of Khuzdar

DHAKA: A car bomb struck a stronghold of the Shia Hezbollah group in eastern Lebanon early on Tuesday, causing a number of casualties.Lebanon’s state-run news agency said, reports gulfnews.com.A Lebanese official and the group’s Al Manar TV confirmed the blast and said it occurred

DHAKA: Turkish police detained the sons of three cabinet ministers as part of an investigation into alleged bribery linked to public tenders on Tuesday.Turkish newspapers reported, says The Straits Times.Police carried out dawn raids in the main commercial city Istanbul, detaining at

DHAKA: A feud within the late Nelson Mandela’s family raged even as the peace icon lay in state, with members arguing over access to his rural homestead.A report said on Tuesday, according to The Straits Times.The Times daily reported that family members had ‘pushed out’ Mandla

DHAKA: India on Tuesday hardened its stance further against the US for the humiliation meted out to its deputy consul general in New York Devyani Khobragade with Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi refusing to meet a visiting US congressional

DHAKA: Two children were among at least 13 people killed in new airstrikes on a rebel-held district of Syria’s main northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, activists said.It was the third straight day of air raids on the eastern Shaar neighbourhood of the city, Syria`s commercial hub before

DHAKA: Japan on Tuesday approved a plan to increase defence spending by 5 percent over the next five years to purchase its first surveillance drones, more jet fighters and naval destroyers in the face of China’s military expansion.The revised 5-year defence plan was adopted by the