Senior envoys from world and regional powers gathered once again in Vienna on Tuesday in an effort to salvage stumbling efforts to halt Syria’s civil war. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov—diplomacy’s odd couple, at loggerheads over much else in the world—are chairing the meeting, which began shortly after 0700 GMT. At the gathering, the 17-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG) will renew its call for a nationwide ceasefire and immediate humanitarian access to besieged areas, reports AFP. But headaches were likely to persist over the third plank of the plan—a call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the rebels to agree on a framework for a political transition. US officials travelling with Kerry say Washingto...

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) among the D-8 (developing eight) member countries would be signed soon to use the potentiality of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The decision came on the proposal of Bangladesh Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu at the concluding session of the 5th Ministerial Meeting on D-8 Industrial Cooperation at Cairo in Egypt yesterday, said a press release here today. Prime Minister of Egypt Sherif Ismail was present as the chief guest on the occasion. Amir Hossain Amu said the D-8 membe...

Tokyo businessman Randal Furudera isn’t about to swap his German-made BMW M5 for a “boring” Japanese car, although he’ll give them some grudging respect for their ho-hum dependability. Deep-pocketed buyers like Furudera are driving sales in Japan of high-end foreign brands, which dominate the niche sector in a car market long seen as all but shuttered to overseas automakers, AFP reports. “Most Japanese cars these days are sort of becoming moving appliances,” the 54-year-old told AFP. “They’re very reliable, they’re good quality, they never break and all that, but they’re not very