DHAKA: Asian stock markets have risen on hopes the US will reach a deal on raising its debt ceiling, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.This was after US Republicans offered President Obama a short-term increase in the debt limit to stave off default.Stock indexes in Japan,

DHAKA: The very severe cyclonic storm “Phailin” (with estimated central pressure 960 hPa) over west central bay and adjoining east central bay moved slightly northwestwards over the same area.It was centered at 9 am Friday about 790 kms southwest of Chittagong port, 715 kms southwest

DHAKA: A fire broke out Friday at a hospital in Fukuoka, Japan, killing 10 people and injuring five, a fire department spokesman said.The fire at the orthopedics hospital started early in the morning and burned for roughly 2 1/2 hours.Four of the injured suffered serious injuries, the

DHAKA: Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai and a Congolese doctor who helped rape victims are among this year`s Nobel Peace Prize favourites.The winner of the most coveted of the Nobel honours will be revealed in Olso at 11:00 local time (0900 GMT) Friday.This year`s record

DHAKA: Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan, freed by former rebels who seized him from a hotel at dawn, said on Thursday on Twitter that his captors had wanted him to step down.‘I am fine, thank God. If the aim of the kidnapping operation was for me to present my resignation, then I

DHAKA: Four US whistleblowers who have met with former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden say he is settling into life in Russia and expresses no regrets about leaking highly classified information.The whistleblowers were the first Americans known to have met Snowden

DHAKA: Egyptian officials say a suicide bomber has rammed his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint outside a coastal city in volatile Sinai Peninsula, killing three soldiers and a policeman.The security officials say the attack happened on Thursday outside the city of al-Arish, reports

DHAKA: Ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor is to serve his 50-year war crimes sentence in the UK.UK Justice Minister Jeremy Wright has confirmed, reports the BBC.Sweden and Rwanda had also offered to imprison him following the rejection of his appeal last month by a UN-backed special

DHAKA: Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan has been released, several hours after being seized by militiamen, say government sources.Zeidan was taken from his hotel in the capital, Tripoli, by armed men in the early hours of Thursday morning.A former rebel group loosely allied to the

DHAKA: British foreign secretary William Hague demanded Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan, who was seized by a former rebel faction on Thursday, be set free.‘I condemn the abduction of the Libyan prime minister in Tripoli this morning and call for his immediate release,’ Hague said in

DHAKA: NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen has expressed ‘great concern’ at reports of Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan’s abduction, and called for his release.‘If it’s confirmed that prime minister Zeidan has been abducted, I call for the prime minister’s immediate

DHAKA: Libya prime minister Ali Zeidan is in ‘good health and will be treated well as a Libyan citizen’, and is being held at the interior ministry’s anti-crime department.A Libyan official with the department told the state news agency, reports The Jerusalem Post.Zeidan was seized

DHAKA: Egypt has criticised a decision by the US to suspend a large part of the $1.3bn in aid it receives.Egypt foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said the decision was wrong and Egypt would ‘not surrender to American pressure and is continuing on its path towards democracy’,

DHAKA: Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has told the BBC he is open to "serious talks" with the government but says he has not yet been approached.In a rare interview, he denied carrying out recent deadly attacks in public places but said he would continue to target "America and

DHAKA: Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been seized by militants from his residence in the capital Tripoli, a well-placed source in his media office has told the BBC.Mr Zeidan has been taken to an unknown destination by a group of men believed to be former rebels, the government

DHAKA: Lawyers representing victims of a cholera epidemic in Haiti have filed a lawsuit against the United Nations at a court in New York.They say UN peacekeepers introduced cholera to Haiti in 2010. The disease killed more than 8,000 people and made hundreds of thousands sick.The lawyers

DHAKA: The US is suspending a large part of the $1.3bn (£810m) in aid it gives to Egypt`s military.The delivery of large-scale military systems as well as cash assistance to the Egyptian government would be withheld, said the state department.It said "credible progress" must be made

DHAKA: The global chemical weapons watchdog has called for a ceasefire in Syria to enable it to destroy the stockpiles.The organisation’s chief, Ahmet Uzumcu, said the deadline for destroying equipment was ‘extremely tight’, but was possible if truces were agreed.Some early work of

DHAKA: The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have trained more than 30,000 Hezbollah fighters in training camps in Iran and Lebanon.Saudi newspaper Al Watan reported on Wednesday, reports The Jerusalem Post.The Hezbollah fighters have undergone ‘intensive training’ since the 80s in the use

DHAKA: Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans has apologised to Moscow for the arrest and detention of a Russian diplomat.The incident prompted a diplomatic row, with Russia complaining police had held Dmitri Borodin for several hours and beaten him.Neighbours had called the police over