DHAKA: Twenty women have won seats in municipal councils in Saudi Arabia as the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom allowed females to vote and run as candidates for the first time in history in an election on Saturday.The 20 elected females represent just under one percent of the roughly

DHAKA: At least 45 civilians were killed on Sunday in heavy bombardment of a besieged Syrian rebel stronghold east of Damascus that also struck a school.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rockets fired by regime forces rained down on the towns of Douma, Harasta, Saqba and Arbin

DHAKA: A woman has won a seat on a municipal council for the first time in Saudi Arabia, after the kingdom lifted its bar on women taking part in elections.Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi won a seat in Mecca province in Saturday’s vote, the electoral commission said, BBC reports on

DHAKA: Election workers in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) were counting votes after the country’s first-ever election open to both female voters and candidates, in a tentative step towards easing restrictions on women.Saturday’s municipal poll, which was hailed by many as historic, saw

DHAKA: At least 21 people have been killed and about two dozens injured in a fire at a neurological hospital in Russia’s central Voronezh region. Two remain unaccounted for as authorities scour the rubble of the wooden structure which was destroyed by the blaze, reports the

DHAKA:  The 31-page document that details a landmark agreement reached on Saturday could be a turning point in the struggle to contain global warming, according to several experts who have been scrutinizing the small but momentous changes to the document’s wording.Here are some

DHAKA: A deal to attempt to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2C has been agreed at the climate change summit in Paris after two weeks of intense negotiations.The pact is the first to commit all countries to cut carbon emissions, reports the BBC.The agreement is partly

DHAKA: France has submitted a draft climate deal to delegates at the UN climate change conference aimed at curbing emissions of the heat-trapping gases that threaten to wreak havoc on Earth's climate system.Describing it as ‘a historic accord’, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius

DHAKA: At least 34 bodies have been found lying in the streets of Burundi’s capital as unrest worsens.A BBC reporter saw 21 in one district of Bujumbura and local officials spoke of 13 in another. Most appear to be young men killed by gunfire, some with their hands tied behind their

DHAKA: Late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son Hannibal has been freed after being briefly kidnapped by an armed group in Lebanon.Security sources say, reports the BBC.In a video shown on Lebanese TV, the captive businessman was seen appealing for more information concerning the 1978

DHAKA: Organisers of the climate talks in Paris say a final text has been agreed after nearly two weeks of intensive negotiations.An official in the office of French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the AFP news agency the draft would be presented to ministers at 10:30 GMT.No details

DHAKA: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in New Delhi on a three-day visit amid expectations that a pact will be firmed up on India's first bullet train and over progress in the talks on a civil nuclear deal.Abe will hold the annual summit meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi

DHAKA: New Zealanders have picked a blue and black design with the silver fern as the preliminary winner in a referendum on a possible new national flag.The runner-up is a similar-looking red, white and blue design, reports the BBC.The final result will be announced on Tuesday after late

DHAKA:  A Spanish policeman was killed in an attack near the country's embassy in Kabul on Friday, prime minister Mariano Rajoy said in a statement on his party's Twitter account.Rajoy had said earlier the policeman had been wounded in the attack and had been transferred to a nearby

DHAKA: Saudi Arabia will go to the polls on Saturday in unprecedented municipal elections in which women will cast a ballot for the first time.Women are able to stand as candidates, despite the fiercely conservative kingdom being the only nation where women are not allowed to drive,

DHAKA: At least 22 people were killed by three truck bombs in a Kurdish-controlled town in northeastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday.It said the death toll from the attack in Tel Tamer late on Thursday was likely to increase, reports the Jerusalem

DHAKA: A decision on a global climate deal will not be made until Saturday, international media report.It had been hoped a deal would be announced by Friday evening after French Foreign Minister and chair of the Paris talks, Laurent Fabius, said agreement was "extremely close".An

DHAKA: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $300m loan on Thursday to help clean Beijing’s notoriously polluted air, as it pledged to support Chinese government efforts to reduce coal use in and around the capital.Beijing officials issued their first “red alert” on Monday

DHAKA: The finance chief of so-called Islamic State has been killed in air strikes by the US-led coalition, a US military spokesperson has said.Muwaffaq Mustafa Mohammed al-Karmoush, aka Abu Salah, and two other senior leaders were killed in the strikes which took place in "recent weeks",

DHAKA: North and South Korea are holding high-level talks in the Kaesong joint industrial zone on the North Korean side of the border.It is the latest in a series of steps to improve relations after a tense standoff in August, reports the BBC.The confrontation began when two South Korean