BBC – Former captain Mohammad Ashraful has been omitted from Bangladesh’s squad for the Test series against England.The 25-year-old missed last week’s one-day series to try and recapture his form after a poor tour to New Zealand. But he struggled in domestic cricket and only managed scores of one and 30 for Bangladesh A against England. His place in the Test squad has gone to Raqibul Hasan, who hit a century in the same game, and the selectors have also included three left-arm...
BBC – Indonesian security forces say they have killed three suspected militants in two raids near the capital Jakarta.The raids were said to be linked to an ongoing operation against militants in Aceh province that has brought a number of arrests. Police said they could neither confirm nor deny the man killed in the first raid was Dulmatin, a top member of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group. He is wanted over the Bali bomb attacks in 2002 that killed 202 people. ‘Big name’The first...
BBC – China’s foreign ministry has denied that the country has been spying on political refugees living in Sweden.The reaction comes after a Stockholm court jailed a Uighur refugee for 16 months for passing on information about other Uighurs to a Chinese agent. The court said the man had infiltrated the World Uighur Congress, a political body for exiled Uighurs. But a ministry spokesman in Beijing said the allegations were "totally groundless" and had "ulterior motives"....
BBC – Japan has confirmed the existence of a secret Cold War deal allowing the transit of nuclear-armed US vessels through its ports.The move by a government-appointed panel ends decades of official denial – although the existence of the pact was an open secret. The government said that the move was aimed at increasing transparency. But it comes at an unsettled time for the US-Japan relationship, amid a row over US military bases in Okinawa. The secret pact is controversial because...
BBC – Two glass phials said to contain the ghosts of an old man and a young girl have sold for NZ$2,000 ($1,395:£935) in an online auction in New Zealand.The auction, which ended on Monday night, attracted more than 200,000 page views on the Trade Me website. Avie Woodbury said the ghosts had been captured in her Christchurch house by an exorcist and stored in holy water. The top bidder, an electronic cigarette company, said it was looking for ideas on what to do with…
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BBC – US Vice-President Joe Biden has condemned Israel’s approval of 1,600 new homes for ultra-Orthodox Jews in East Jerusalem.Mr Biden, in Israel as part of US attempts to kick-start the peace process, said it was "the kind of step that undermines the trust we need". Israel insisted it was a procedural step not connected to the visit. Mr Biden is now due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank. On Thursday, he travels to...
BBC – A fourth Australian has been named in connection with the assassination of a senior Hamas commander in Dubai, Australian officials say.A false passport bearing the name of Joshua Krycer was used by a suspect who provided surveillance for the the killers of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. The Australian government said it believed Mr Krycer’s passport was duplicated, like others in the plot. It has been reported that the real Mr Krycer lives and works in Israel. "There is no information...
BBC – At least 13 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, police say.More than 60 others were injured when an explosives-laden car targeted a building housing an anti-terrorist wing of the federal investigative agency. The amount of explosives was so large it brought down the two-storey building, correspondents say. Close to the country’s border with India, Lahore has been hit several times by militants over the past year. Pakistan’s...
BBC – Israel has authorised the building of 112 new apartments in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.The move comes as the US announced that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to hold indirect talks. Meanwhile, US Vice-President Joe Biden has arrived in the region, becoming the highest-ranking US official to visit since Barack Obama took office. Israel had promised a 10-month pause in settlement building in the West Bank, not including East Jerusalem. The announcement will place strain...
BBC – The voter turnout in Iraq’s general elections was 62%, officials said, despite attacks that killed 38 people.Preliminary results are not expected for several days but the turnout figure is down from the 75% who voted in the 2005 general elections. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s State of Law Coalition is widely expected to win the most seats. But it is unlikely one party will form a government alone and there may be months of negotiations on a coalition. Officials from the...
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