DHAKA: An Australian family has reclaimed their Guinness World Record by stringing up more than half a million Christmas lights around their suburban home.Guinness World Records official Chris Sheedy confirmed on Monday that the Richards family of Canberra set the record for Christmas

DHAKA: A Chinese government worker in the ancient Silk Road oasis of Kashgar beckons two women to her streetside stand and logs their details under the gaze of a surveillance camera. Their offence: wearing veils.The ‘Project Beauty’ campaign aims to discourage women from covering

DHAKA: Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched through the tense Thai capital on Monday in an escalation of mass street rallies aiming to topple prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s embattled government.The protests against Yingluck and her brother, ousted premier

DHAKA: Canada is ‘deeply sceptical’ about Iran’s intentions, Canadian foreign affairs minister John Baird said.‘Every diplomatic (effort) should be taken to ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon,’ Baird said, reports The Jerusalem Post.He added that effective sanctions

DHAKA: Prominent Iranian-Americans praised the Iranian nuclear deal as a significant first step in what they hope will be a broader rapprochement between Iran and the international community.While the deal will give a psychological boost to many Iranians and provide momentum to moderate

DHAKA: A young Saudi woman on Sunday urged a Yemeni court to let her stay and marry the man she loves, defying norms in both deeply conservative countries.In a case reminiscent of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, Huda al-Niran, 22, defied her family and crossed the

DHAKA: The Taliban on Sunday condemned the endorsement by an Afghan assembly of a security agreement with the United States, calling it a ‘pact of slavery’.The militants said in a statement that the deal, which sets conditions for US troops to stay in Afghanistan after Nato pulls out

DHAKA: A senior western official said on Sunday that relief on EU sanctions on oil shipping insurance was included in a deal between Iran and six world powers over its disputed nuclear programme.‘Insurance on oil shipments is included’ in the agreement reached earlier on Sunday

DHAKA: The United Arab Emirates on Sunday welcomed Iran`s deal with six world powers to restrain its nuclear programme.UAE state news agency WAM said, reports The Jerusalem Post.‘The cabinet hopes this would represent a step towards a permanent agreement that preserves the stability of

DHAKA: In what appears to be a gruesome case of corporal punishment, a three-year-old student of a pre-primary school in Saroornagar was allegedly locked in an empty room for more than four hours for three days.The child is believed to be in a state of shock and depression.The parents

DHAKA: The top commander of the so-called Free Syrian Army Riad al-Asaad went missing in Turkey almost 10 days ago, according to Iranian media reports.The report, which surfaced on Iran’s Al-Alam, said the news was announced by the commander’s family.Asaad was reportedly about to have

DHAKA: French lawmakers will next week consider a bill that punishes the clients of prostitutes and has sparked fierce debate in a country with a long history of liberal attitudes to sex.The bill, which the government says is aimed at preventing violence against women, has come under fire

DHAKA: People in the Middle East will lose sleep over a nuclear deal between global powers and Iran, a Saudi foreign policy adviser said on Sunday, signalling the deep unease Sunni Muslim Gulf states have over Western rapprochement with their Shia foe.At the time the adviser spoke, Saudi

DHAKA: Iran struck a historic deal on Sunday with the United States and five other world powers, agreeing to a temporary freeze of its nuclear programme in the most significant agreement between Washington and Tehran after more than three decades of estrangement.The deal commits Iran to

DHAKA: European Union president Herman Van Rompuy on Sunday hailed the ‘courage’ shown by Iran and world powers in their deal to curb Teheran’s nuclear programme, but also urged its ‘punctual’ implementation.‘It is now crucial to ensure punctual implementation of the agreement

DHAKA: The Saudi health ministry on Sunday announced a new Mers death, raising to 55 the number of people killed by the coronavirus in the country with the most fatalities.A 37-year-old Saudi man died in Riyadh, the ministry said on its website, reports The Straits Times.The World Health

DHAKA: Fierce clashes between regime troops and rebels near an opposition stronghold east of Syria’s capital Damascus has killed more than 70 combatants.A monitoring group reported on Sunday, reports daily Hurriyet.Saturday’s fighting in the Eastern Ghouta region killed 28 jihadists

DHAKA: At least two security personnel were killed and five others wounded on Sunday in a bomb attack on a convoy in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas.The attack came in the Mir Ali area of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region, a hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda

DHAKA: More than 11,000 children have died in Syria’s civil war in nearly three years, including hundreds targeted by snipers, a new report says.Summary executions and torture have also been used against children as young as one, the London-based Oxford Research Group think tank

DHAKA: The Iranian Navy will take delivery of new domestically manufactured warships, hovercrafts, and helicopters next week, the commander of the Navy announced during a press conference held ahead of the National Navy Day, which falls on November 28 this year.Rear Admiral Habibollah