Amader Brahmanbaria.com

Fierce fighting has been reported on the outskirts of Baghdad where ISIS militants are attempting to seize control of the Iraqi capital – despite ongoing Western airstrikes against the terror group. The fighting is taking place just one mile to the west of the city, with government forces desperately trying to hold off the militants, who allegedly killed up to ... Read More »

SINGAPORE: When popular Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Inc. admitted that its devices were sending users’ personal information back to a server in China, it prompted howls of protest and an investigation by Taiwan’s government. The affair has also drawn attention to just how little we know about what happens between our smartphone and the outside world. In short: it might ... Read More »

ANTWERP, Belgium: Belgian prosecutors accused 46 members of a group called Sharia4Belgium on Monday of belonging to a terrorist organization and brainwashing young men in Belgium into fighting a holy war in Syria. Only eight of those charged were present in the heavily secured court room in the northern Belgian port city of Antwerp on Monday. The others were still ... Read More »

BEIJING: North Korea has rejected US efforts to discuss the detention of three Americans, a US diplomat said on Monday, adding the secretive state was missing a chance to build relations with Washington. North Korea, which periodically accuses the US of military hostility and conspiracy to overthrow its leadership, has held a number of US citizens in the past, using ... Read More »

TEL AVIV, Israel: It used to be that if you wanted to join one of the world’s most secretive espionage organizations you had to sneak into a foreign embassy, answer a cryptic newspaper ad or show up in a nondescript building in Tel Aviv to meet a shadowy recruiter.  The typically hush-hush Mossad revamped its website last week to include ... Read More »

Popular Bollywood actor, writer and director of yesteryear, Kader Khan, has arrived in Makkah to perform Haj. The Baluchistan-born 78-year-old actor is accompanied by his two sons, Shahnawaz and Sarfaraz and a daughter-in-law. Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak told Arab News on Monday that he is being accorded the customary welcome for important pilgrims. "He was received in Makkah on ... Read More »

They can be seen video recording themselves walking around the Kaaba, kissing the black stone, perched close to the mount of Safa or Marwa, or standing near the green dome of the Prophet’s mosque. Selfie fever has taken pilgrims and visitors to the Two Holy Mosques by storm in recent days, much to the chagrin of scholars and other pilgrims ... Read More »

MURSITPINAR, Turkey: Turkey on Monday deployed tanks and armored vehicles to reinforce its border with Syria amid escalating Islamic State violence, as Parliament is set to consider whether to authorize military action against IS militants. The army moved tanks and armored vehicles to the border town of Mursitpinar which lies across from the key Kurdish town of Ain Al-Arab after ... Read More »

NEW YORK: Jay Z is in a global state of mind: The rap star performed Saturday for thousands in New York’s Central Park and encouraged the crowd to help end world poverty. Jay Z headlined the Global Citizen Festival on the Great Lawn, where Beyonce surprised the audience by performing with her husband. He told the crowd of 60,000 — ... Read More »

HONG KONG: Hong Kong police used tear gas Sunday and warned of further measures as they tried to clear thousands of pro-democracy protesters gathered at government headquarters in a challenge to Beijing over its decision to restrict democratic reforms for the semiautonomous city. After spending hours holding the protesters at bay, police lobbed canisters of tear gas into the crowd ... Read More »

JERUSALEM: It was supposed to be a record-breaking year for tourist visits to Israel. But all that changed when the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas prompted jittery travelers to cancel trips en masse, leaving empty hotel rooms and barren tourist sites in their wake. The summertime fighting delivered a serious hit to Israel’s thriving tourism industry, causing losses of ... Read More »

KARACA, Turkey: All that separates Mohammed Muslim from his village in Syria is a barbed wire fence running along the Turkish border, but the dull thud of artillery and the rattle of machine gun fire suggest he will not be going home anytime soon. Muslim, dressed in a battered suit, his mustache flecked with grey, is among more than 150,000 ... Read More »

Police have arrested an Asian woman for allegedly pickpocketing pilgrims in the mataf, or the circumambulation area, around the Holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Makkah on Sunday. Major Abdul Kareem Al-Zahrani said the woman was found to be in possession of huge amounts of money in different currencies, including 2,500 US dollars, 50,000 Iranian rials, 166 Saudi riyals ... Read More »

TOKYO — A Japanese police official says rescuers have found more than 30 unconscious bodies believed to be dead near the peak of an erupting volcano. The victims have been described as not breathing and their hearts have stopped, which is the customary way for Japanese authorities to describe a body until police doctors can examine it.   Climbers descend Mt. Ontake, ... Read More »

ZURICH — A corruption probe into the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will stay secret, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Friday, rejecting a request from the chief investigator to make his report public.   Blatter said FIFA’s ethics rules state that all such investigations should be confidential, and that no member of his executive committee asked for the ... Read More »