DHAKA: French president Francois Hollande’s former partner, Segolene Royal, has joined the government in a major reshuffle by the ruling Socialists.She will serve as environment minister in the cabinet of the new prime minister, Manuel Valls, reports the BBC.Valls was appointed to the

DHAKA: South Korea says it is analysing what it believes to be a North Korean drone that crashed on a border island shortly after an exchange of artillery fire with North Korea.The drone crashed on Baengnyeong island on Monday afternoon.It fell as the two Koreas traded fire into each

DHAKA: African and European leaders will tackle the conflict in the Central African Republic at a special meeting on the sidelines of a summit in Brussels on Wednesday.The European Union has officially launched its military mission to CAR, unveiling plans to send 1,000 troops to bolster

DHAKA: Chile has declared two northern regions hit by a 8.2 magnitude earthquake to be disaster areas.At least six people are known to have died and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated.The quake struck at 20:46 local time (23:46 GMT) about 86km north-west of the mining area of

DHAKA: A Thai court accepted a new case on Wednesday against prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, compounding her many legal problems as she resists pressure to step down over five months of sometimes violent street protest.Twenty-four people have already died in the crisis, including an

DHAKA: The Kremlin confirmed on Wednesday that Russian president Vladimir Putin has finalised the divorce from his wife of 30 years, Lyudmila, following the couple’s sudden split last summer.Putin’s official biography, which described him as recently as March 27 as ‘Married. Wife

DHAKA: US Secretary of State John Kerry cancelled plans to travel on Wednesday to Ramallah after both the Israelis and the Palestinians announced moves likely to scuttle the peace talks.‘We are no longer travelling tomorrow,’ a senior State Department official said, shortly after

DHAKA: Malaysia has warned that the reasons for the Malaysia Airlines plane`s disappearance may never be known, as Prime Minister Najib Razak heads to Australia for talks on the search.Malaysia`s police chief said that their investigation could "go on and on".Ten planes and nine ships

DHAKA: The Malaysian government Tuesday released a transcript of the communications between the cockpit of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and air traffic controllers before the plane disappeared March 8. The transcript covers 54 minutes, from just before the Boeing 777-200 pushed back from

DHAKA: Among the mounds of mud and ripped-down trees, you see an occasional appliance, a tire here and there, the twisted cables that used to be part of the telephone system. What you don`t see are homes.They are gone. And it is difficult to even figure out where they once stood and what

DHAKA: Nato foreign ministers have agreed to suspend all practical civilian and military co-operation with Russia.Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia`s annexation of Ukraine`s Crimea region was the gravest threat to European security for a generation.There could be no

DHAKA: An earthquake of 8.2 magnitude struck off northern Chile, Wednesday, the US Geological Survey says--killing five, injuring three, and triggering a tsunami alert for Latin America`s Pacific coastline.The mayor of Tarapaca in northern Chile attributed the deaths to cardiac arrest.It

DHAKA: China has charged former General Gu Junshan with corruption, misuse of state funds and abuse of power.China state media report, says the BBC.Gen Gu, who was deputy logistics chief in China`s army, is the most senior officer to be tried at a military court since 2006, reports

DHAKA: A Thai anti-government demonstrator was shot dead and four others injured on Tuesday, an emergency official said, when unidentified gunmen fired on a Bangkok protest march, the first fatality of Thailand`s political conflict in several weeks.‘We received three injured protesters

DHAKA: The UN’s refugee agency said Tuesday it was prepared to help evacuate some 19,000 Muslims at risk of attack from mainly Christian militias in the conflict-torn Central African Republic.‘What we don’t want is to stand by and watch people being slaughtered,’ UNHCR spokeswoman

DHAKA: Malaysia’s authoritarian government, which has been under harsh global scrutiny over the handling of its missing-plane drama, said Tuesday it would compile ‘false’ media reports over the crisis and consider filing lawsuits.Transport and defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein

DHAKA: The CIA repeatedly misled the US government over the severity and effectiveness of its interrogation methods.The Washington Post reports, according to the BBC.A long-awaited US Senate report said that the CIA used secret ‘black sites’ to interrogate prisoners using techniques

DHAKA: Nato is not seeing a Russian troop pullout from the border with Ukraine, the military alliance’s chief has said.Speaking ahead of a Nato summit, Anders Fogh Rasmussen again stressed that the best way to solve the crisis was through ‘a political dialogue’, reports the BBC.Nato

DHAKA: Afghan security forces have seized more than 22 tonnes of explosives, enough to make hundreds of bombs, the interior ministry said on Tuesday, four days before a presidential election.Taleban insurgents have declared war on the April 5 vote, calling it a Western-backed sham and

DHAKA: Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday approved holding a series of joint military exercises with NATO countries that would put US troops in direct proximity to Russian forces in the annexed Crimea peninsula.‘This is a good opportunity to develop our armed forces,’ acting defence