DHAKA: The UN has asked for $16.4bn for its aid operations in 2015, with the largest single sum - $7.2bn - going to help Syrian refugees. Its last annual humanitarian appeal was for $13bn, making the new request a record for the organisation. The request comes as aid agencies warn they

DHAKA: India Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to bring prosperity to Indian Kashmir and told people not to be intimidated against voting, as he hit the campaign trail Monday after a string of attacks in the region. Modi’s Hindu nationalist party is making an unprecedented bid for

DHAKA: China sentenced eight people to death for their roles in two knife and bomb attacks this spring in the country’s violence-plagued western region of Xinjiang. China state media reported on Monday, reports The Straits Times. In April, a knife and bomb attack at a train station in

DHAKA: An opposition party worker was shot dead in Pakistan on Monday, officials said, as hundreds of activists clashed with riot police armed with water cannon in the central city of Faisalabad. The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice or PTI) led by

DHAKA: The Delhi city government said Monday it has banned Uber after a passenger accused one of the online taxi service’s drivers of raping her. ‘(The) Transport Department has banned all activities relating to providing any transport service by the www.Uber.com with immediate

DHAKA: EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is in Turkey to urge it to participate fully in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.Mogherini and other top EU officials will urge Turkey to stop the flow of foreign fighters across its borders.She will emphasise

DHAKA: Typhoon Hagupit has weakened as it continues to slowly sweep across the Philippines, causing some damage.At least three people have been killed since the storm made landfall on Saturday but it does not appear to have been as severe as many had feared.Around a million people have

DHAKA: At least 17 people were killed, 50 injured as an overcrowded bus has plunged off a mountain road in Nepal.Police official Kesh Bahadur Shahi said Monday that the bus veered off the road near Pokharakada village Sunday night and rolled 600 meters (about 2,000 feet) down a

DHAKA: At least 70 people were killed as a boat carrying African migrants has sunk off Yemen’s al-Makha port in western coast.The Yemeni officials said this which reports the BBC.The boat, carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants, sank off due to strong winds and rough waves, security

DHAKA: A woman in India says she was raped by a taxi driver after booking the cab using the popular Uber smartphone app.The 26-year-old from Delhi told police she dozed off in the taxi and when she woke up the vehicle was parked in a secluded part of the capital.A medical examination

DHAKA: A majority of Germans want Angela Merkel to run for a fourth term as Chancellor and nearly three in four believe she would like to remain in office beyond 2017, when her current term ends.A new poll shows, reports The Straits Times.Last year some leading German commentators

DHAKA: Authorities in Saudi Arabia said on Sunday they have arrested 135 suspects, including 26 foreign nationals, for ‘terrorism’ offences.The foreigners included ‘16 Syrians and three Yemenis’.Official Saudi Press Agency said citing interior ministry spokesman General Mansour

DHAKA: A senior member of Al-Qaeda and three other suspected militants were killed in Pakistan on Sunday when a US drone attacked a house they were in.Pakistani military officials and Taliban said, reports The Straits Times.The attack came a day after Pakistani forces killed a major

DHAKA: German chancellor Angela Merkel accused Russia on Sunday of interfering in the domestic affairs of numerous countries that are seeking closer ties to the European Union.‘Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine are three countries in our eastern neighbourhood that have taken sovereign

DHAKA: Sri Lanka slashed cooking gas prices on Sunday just one day after the cost of diesel and petrol was also cut ahead of next month’s presidential election.The ministry of internal trade said it was reducing the price of a standard cylinder of gas used for cooking by 11.6

DHAKA: Typhoon Hagupit is sweeping across the eastern Philippines, toppling trees and power lines and threatening coastal areas with a powerful sea-surge.More than half a million people have fled coastal villages in the area, which was still recovering from Typhoon Haiyan last

DHAKA: US Republicans have increased their majority in the Senate after a runoff from the mid-term elections ended in defeat for the Democrats in Louisiana. Republican Bill Cassidy’s win against Senator Mary Landrieu swells their ranks in the 100-seat chamber to 54. Republicans have

DHAKA: French president Francois Hollande told Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Saturday that Moscow and the West must prevent new walls from separating them, as the two met to discuss the Ukraine crisis. ‘I think we must prevent other walls from separating us,’ Hollande said in Moscow,

DHAKA: An Egyptian court has sentenced to death seven men, including prominent Islamist militant Adel Habara, charged with killing 25 policemen last year in an attack near the border with Israel.Judicial sources said on Saturday, reports The Jerusalem Post.The attack took place in

DHAKA: A senior Iranian official has confirmed his country carried out air strikes in neighbouring Iraq against the Islamic State (IS) group at the request of Iraqi authorities. Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported, says The Straits Times. It quoted Iran deputy foreign minister