Asia

    As many 140 Afghan soldiers were killed on Friday by Taliban attackers apparently disguised in military uniforms in what would be the deadliest attack ever on an Afghan military base, officials said. One official in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where the attack occurred, said on Saturday at least 140 soldiers were killed and many others wounded. Other officials said the toll was likely to be even higher. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the government has yet to release official casualty figures. A US official in Washington on Friday had put the toll at more than 50 killed and wounded. As many as 10 Taliban fighters, dressed in Afghan army uniforms and driving military vehicles, talked their way onto the base and opened fire on soldiers eat...

    The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday revived the conspiracy charge in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case against senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti, among others. Restoring the conspiracy charge, a bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman also transferred their trial from Rae Bareli to Lucknow. Pronouncing the judgment, Justice Nariman said that since Kalyan Singh is currently the Governor of Rajasthan and enjoys constitutional immunity from being prosecuted, the trial court would proceed against him the day he ceases to be Governor. The court also said that the trial court in Lucknow would frame additional charges against Advani and others and proceed against them. The court said that there...

    Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday unveiled the plaque of foundation stone of Chancery of Bangladesh Embassy at Hejo in Bhutan’s Thimphu. The prime minister unveiled the plaque through a colorful function in the presence of Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay. Earlier, an agreement on the allotment of land for Bangladesh Embassy at Hejo was inked between the two countries. Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and Bhutanese Foreign Minister Lyonpo Damcho Dorji signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments. Later, Bangladesh Ambassador in Thimphu Jishnu Roy Chowdhury and National Land Commission Secretary of Bhutan Pema Chewang signed the deed of allotment of land on behalf of their respective s...

    South Korea’s ousted President Park Geun-Hye was Monday charged with bribery involving millions of dollars over the corruption scandal that sparked her downfall. Park, whose impeachment was confirmed by Seoul’s top court last month, also faces charges of abusing her powers and leaking state secrets, Seoul prosecutors probing the scandal said in a statement. We have formally charged Park... with multiple offences including abuse of power, coercion, bribery and leaking state secrets,’ they said after wrapping up the months-long investigation. Park is accused of colluding with her confidante Choi Soon-sil, who is already on trial, in coercing local conglomerates into donating a total of 77.4 billion won ($68 million) to two non-profit foundations. Choi allegedly used some of ...

    China and Russia have dispatched spy vessels to shadow a US aircraft carrier group heading to North Korean waters, Japanese media said, amid rising tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. Beijing sought Russian help in averting a crisis over North Korea last week, as concerns grow in China that Donald Trump is seeking to confront North Korea over its weapon’s program. The US president sent a navy group led by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson into the region, in what is being seen as a signal to Pyongyang. Mr Trump described the force as an “armada” and said that submarines were being sent which were far more powerful than the aircraft carrier. The Yomiuri Shimbun, citing multiple sources of the Japanese government, said China and Russia had dispatched intelligence-gat...

    North Korea launched a missile early on Sunday morning, but the weapon failed shortly after it was fired from a site near the port city of Sinpo. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said analysts have not yet identified the type of missile that was launched, but it comes just a day after the North Korean military paraded through the streets of Pyongyang with an array of weapons that included what might be a new generation of intercontinental ballistic missile that is capable of striking the American mainland. The parade was part of celebrations marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the North Korean state, and included a total of 56 missiles of 10 different models. They included Pukkuksong-1 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which th...

    North Korea's vice foreign minister on Friday blamed President Donald Trump for escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula through his tweets and expansion of military exercises, saying the U.S. was becoming more vicious and more aggressive under his leadership than it had been under President Barack Obama. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press in Pyongyang, Vice Minister Han Song Ryol also warned the U.S. against provoking North Korea militarily. We will go to war if they choose, he said. Now we are comparing Trump's policy toward the DPRK with the former administration's and we have concluded that it's becoming more vicious and more aggressive, Han said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "Whatever com...

    Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday stressed the importance of signing the Teesta water‐sharing deal at the earliest saying the India‐Bangladesh relations will undergo another transformation once it happens. On Teesta issue, Prime Minister Modi once again reiterated his government’s strong resolve to conclude the water‐sharing treaty at the soonest. Once it happens, the face of Indo‐Bangladesh relations will undergo another transformation, she said. The Prime Minister said this while delivering her speech at a reception accorded to her at The Imperial hotel here by India Foundation. She said Bangladesh strongly believes that the common water resources must act as a uniting force. A comprehensive, basin‐wide solution with an in‐built solution to water sharing of all the ...

    The US Navy said on Saturday it had sent a carrier-led strike group to the Korean peninsula in a show of force against North Korea’s reckless nuclear weapons programme. The move will raise tensions in the region and comes hard on the heels of a US missile strike on Syria that was widely interpreted as putting Pyongyang on warning over its refusal to abandon its nuclear ambitions. North Korea denounced Thursday’s strike as an act of intolerable aggression and one that justified a million times over the North’s push toward a credible nuclear deterrent. US Pacific Command ordered the Carl Vinson Strike Group north as a prudent measure to maintain readiness and presence in the Western Pacific, said Commander Dave Benham, spokesman at US Pacific Command. The number one threat i...

    An Indian TV presenter has been praised as extremely brave after she reportedly read out the breaking news of her husband’s death in a car accident on a 24-hour popular news channel. Supreet Kaur read out the news bulletin after a reporter phoned in details of a fatal accident, which had killed three of the five people travelling in a Renault Duster. The 28-year-old to realise quickly realised her husband was likely to be one of those killed as he was meant to travel in a Renault Duster along the same route and at the same time with four companions, the Hindustan Times reports. A news anchor for Chhattisgarh’s IBC-24 channel for nine years, Ms Kaur kept her composure throughout the news bulletin. It was only after the news hour, when she walked out of the TV studio, that s...