DHAKA: President Barack Obama has said a potential US government shutdown is "entirely avoidable" as only a few hours remain to avert it.Mr Obama criticised Republicans for trying to refight the last election as they seek to link the budget to delaying his health care law.If no agreement

DHAKA: If Iranian president Hassan Rohani’s dream of reaching a deal with world powers on Tehran’s nuclear programme in six months comes true, Oman, an important intermediary in the dispute, could be a big winner.There have been too many false dawns in Iran’s decade-old standoff

DHAKA: Car bombs exploded in several predominantly Shia Muslim neighbourhoods of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 54 people and wounding dozens.Police and medical sources said, reports daily Hurriyet.The deadliest single attack took place in Sadr City, where a man parked a white car

DHAKA: Saudis have expressed disbelief following a report that a Yemeni who had spent close to 10 years begging in Saudi Arabia offered his wife a four-wheel drive vehicle and a plot of land for supporting him.According to the report, first published by a Yemeni website, the Yemeni

DHAKA: The commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that president Hasan Rohani should have spurned to take last week’s historic telephone call from US counterpart Barack Obama.‘The president took a firm and appropriate position during his stay’ in New York

DHAKA: Britain, France and China will be involved in a peace conference on Syria due in Geneva in November.French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said Monday, reports Hurriyet.The US-Russia peace initiative, dubbed Geneva 2, will involve all five permanent members of the UN Security

DHAKA: United Nations chemical weapons inspectors in Syria to investigate allegations of chemical and biological weapons use during the country’s ongoing civil war departed from Damascus on Monday, witnesses said, ending their second mission in two months.A convoy of four United Nations

DHAKA: Dozens of suspected al-Qaida militants captured a Yemeni army base on Monday in the south-east of the Arabian peninsula country.A military official said, reports The Jerusalem Post.The militants had taken some military personnel hostage at the base in the city of al-Mukalla, the

DHAKA: A mortar shell hit the Chinese embassy in Syria’s capital Damascus on Monday, damaging the building and wounding one person.Chinese state media reported, says The Jerusalem Post.Insurgents fighting to topple president Bashar Assad have launched mortar and rocket attacks on the

DHAKA: An Egyptian court upheld a one-year prison sentence against former prime minister Hisham Kandil, who was appointed by deposed president Mohamed Mursi, and ordered his arrest.Kandil was handed the sentence in April, when he still headed the government, for failing to implement a

DHAKA: Iran plans to build a new domestically designed warship, named the Persian Gulf.The commander of the Iranian navy said in an interview with the Fars News Agency published on Sunday, Tehran Times prints this report on Monday.Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari also said that the process

DHAKA: Terrified Muslims hid in their homes in northwest Myanmar on Monday after armed police dispersed a Buddhist mob that torched houses and surrounded a mosque in the latest outbreak of sectarian tension.Clashes between majority Buddhists and Muslims have killed at least 237 people and

DHAKA: Mortified that the world may be warming up to Iran, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking an unpopular message to the White House and the United Nations this week, don’t be fooled by Tehran’s new leadership.Netanyahu contends Iran is using conciliatory gestures as

DHAKA: Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII will be declared saints on 27 April in 2014, Pope Francis has announced.The Pope said in July that he would canonise his two predecessors, after approving a second miracle attributed to John Paul.Polish John Paul, the first non-Italian pope for

DHAKA: Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has begun announcing far-reaching political reforms aimed at benefiting Kurds and other minorities.He has proposed lowering the 10% electoral threshold, which currently prevents Kurdish and other smaller parties entering

DHAKA: Russia successfully launched an unmanned Proton-M booster rocket on Monday, the first since the same type of rocket crashed in flames shortly after lift-off in July.The space agency said, reports The Jerusalem Post.Carrying a communications satellite for Luxembourg-based SES , the

DHAKA: Malaysia’s prime minister has defended a proposal to bring back detention without trials.Speaking during an overseas trip, prime minister Najib Razak said the amendment was aimed at fighting organised crime and would not be abused to squelch political challenges.‘We will make

DHAKA: Australia’s new prime minister Tony Abbott begins a visit to Indonesia on Monday for talks on his tough refugee policies that have sparked anger in Jakarta, as his government also faced criticism over a deadly asylum boat accident.Abbott will meet president Susilo Bambang

DHAKA: Tens of thousands of people were being evacuated from high-risk areas in central Vietnam on Monday as a typhoon that sank at least two Chinese fishing ships neared the coast.A total of 75 fishermen are missing after three vessels encountered strong winds near the Paracel Islands,

DHAKA: In a body blow to RJD before next year`s Lok Sabha polls, its president Lalu Prasad was on Monday convicted by a special CBI court here in the fodder scam corruption case. The conviction disqualifies him from Parliament and renders him ineligible for contesting elections for at