DHAKA: Nelson Mandela`s coffin is due to set off for his ancestral home in Qunu, where his state funeral will be held on Sunday ending a week of commemorations.After leaving the mortuary, the coffin will be taken to an air base for a farewell ceremony for ANC members.At least 100,000

DHAKA: India has summoned US Ambassador Nancy Powell to lodge a strong protest against what it has called the "unacceptable treatment" of its high-ranking diplomat Devyani Khobragade, who was arrested and handcuffed in public in New York on Thursday for an alleged visa fraud.The Indian

DHAKA: European leaders should be ashamed by the paltry numbers of refugees from Syria they are prepared to resettle, human rights group Amnesty says.Only 10 member states have offered to take in refugees and even then only 12,000, it complains. The UK and Italy have offered no places at

DHAKA: A bomb has exploded near the entrance of a security forces camp in the northern Egyptian city of Ismailiyah, killing at least one policeman and injuring at least 18 other people, including six civilians, security sources have told Al Jazeera.The bomb was planted on the gates of the

DHAKA: At least 13 people have been killed on their way to a wedding in Yemen by a suspected United States drone strike, local officials have said.The air strike occurred on Thursday in the village of Qaifa, in Yemen`s central al-Bayda province.A military official told Associated Press

DHAKA: The once-powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was executed after being purged for corruption, state news agency KCNA reports.Chang Song-thaek was dramatically removed from a Communist Party session by armed guards earlier this week.It was the biggest upheaval since Mr

DHAKA: A plague spread by rats has killed 39 people in recent weeks in Madagascar, the health ministry said on Thursday."There is an epidemic in Madagascar which is currently affecting five districts (out of 112). Eighty-six people have been inflicted by the plague, of which 39 have

DHAKA: Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych intends to sign an association accord with the European Union after all, EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton has said.Despite Yanukovych ditching the deal last month under Russian pressure, Ashton said on Thursday after returning to Brussels

DHAKA: Somalia`s president has appointed a new prime minister as the second prime minister of the horn of Africa has had in 14 months.Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed was named prime minister in a press conference held on Thursday at Villa Somalia the heavily guarded presidential palace in the

DHAKA: Former Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has been formally charged with murder in connection with a crackdown on demonstrators in 2010.More than 90 people died in clashes during the 2010 protests.Abhisit, who leads the opposition Democrat Party, denied the charges and was

DHAKA: Russian president Vladimir Putin, in a thinly veiled criticism of the United States, portrayed Russia on Thursday as a force for peace and morality that had no desire to be a global superpower.‘We do not aspire to be called some kind of superpower, understanding that as a claim

DHAKA: A South African deputy Cabinet minister says ‘a mistake happened’ in the hiring of a sign-language interpreter for the Nelson Mandela memorial service who experts say was signing gibberish on stage next to world leaders.Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu said on Thursday that government

DHAKA: Former Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has been formally charged with murder in connection with a crackdown on demonstrators in 2010.More than 90 people died in clashes during the 2010 protests.Abhisit, who leads the opposition Democrat Party, denied the charges and was

DHAKA: The South African government said on Thursday it would not release photographs of Nelson Mandela lying in state, and urged people to shun a purported image of the dead president posted on the internet.While tens of thousands queued to file past the democracy icon’s open coffin in

DHAKA: Anti-government protesters cut off electricity to the prime minister’s office compound on Thursday and demanded that police abandon the premises, piling pressure on the government amid a political crisis that has dragged on for weeks.The protesters, seeking to force the

DHAKA: Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh branded suicide bombers as ‘criminals’ who will go to ‘hell’.Al-Hayat daily reported Thursday, says TDS.Suicide bombings are ‘great crimes’ and bombers are ‘criminals who rush themselves to hell by

DHAKA: The sign language interpreter accused of using fake hand signals at Nelson Mandela’s memorial has said he suffered a schizophrenic episode.Thamsanqa Jantjie, 34, told South African media he ‘started hearing voices’ and began hallucinating, reports the BBC.Deaf viewers at

DHAKA: A huge fire broke out on Thursday afternoon at a plastic manufacturing factory in Sharjah.Civil Defence rushed to battle the flames after receiving a report at 2.40pm.Officials were still at the scene late into the afternoon, reports gulfnews.com.The factory, in the industrial area

DHAKA: Egyptian police have raided the office of the Qatari news TV in Cairo and arrested 11 Qataris allegedly for illegal operation and residence amid tensions between the two Arab countries.The late Wednesday crackdown, the latest on the station’s bureau in Egypt, came upon a tip-off

DHAKA: Severe winter weather delayed the start of the first United Nations airlift of aid items from Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region to neighbouring Syria.A spokesman said on Thursday, reports TDS.‘It appears... the weather in Qamishli has delayed the start of the airlift, as well