DHAKA: Lawyers for seven Pakistanis accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks said on Monday that the case against them ‘lacks evidence’, a day before the fifth anniversary of the assault that left 166 people dead.The three-day onslaught by 10 heavily-armed men on high-profile

DHAKA: The White House says National Security Adviser Susan Rice is in Afghanistan to meet with government officials, including president Hamid Karzai, and visit US troops for the American harvest holiday of Thanksgiving.The visit announced on Monday is Dr Rice’s first overseas trip as

DHAKA: Sri Lanka’s military on Monday announced a ban on any commemoration of the island’s defeated Tamil Tiger rebels following reports that sections of the ethnic Tamil minority were planning to hold events.The military said any event was banned because the Liberation Tigers of

DHAKA: A handwritten envelope sent by Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong to the father of fallen politician Bo Xilai and another military leader has fetched more than $1.35 million at a Beijing auction.The envelope, inscribed in black brushstrokes ‘To Mr Fu Yisheng and Mr Bo Yibo’

DHAKA: Syrian government and opposition negotiators will meet for the first time since start of the country’s 32 month-old war in Geneva from January 22.The United Nations announced on Monday, reports The Straits Times.UN leader Ban Ki Moon called the landmark conference ‘a mission of

DHAKA: Malaysia should reverse a ban on a Christian newspaper using the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God, a UN official said on Monday about a decision that fanned religious tension in the mainly Muslim country.Malaysia’s second highest court ruled in October that the Catholic

DHAKA: A group of young Saudi men have launched a smile campaign, saying that it is a revival of a tradition by Prophet Mohammad (SM).Carrying placards that said ‘Smile! It is a sunnah’, the young men used the Corniche in the Red Sea city of Jeddah to promote better feelings and

DHAKA: Afghan government officials have proposed reintroducing public stoning as a punishment for adultery, Human Rights Watch said, even though the practice has been denounced both inside and outside the country as one of the most repugnant symbols of the Taliban regime.The sentence for

DHAKA: France’s foreign minister said Monday the European Union would likely lift some sanctions on Iran in December, as part of a hard-won deal that curbs Tehran’s nuclear programme.Laurent Fabius also said Israel, which blasted Sunday’s agreement as a ‘historic mistake’, was

DHAKA: Fierce clashes broke out on Monday between army special forces and fighters from Libya’s top jihadist group in the eastern city of Benghazi, killing at least five soldiers, officials said.The army declared a ‘state of alert’ and ordered all soldiers to report for duty at

DHAKA: Washington’s point man on North Korea on Monday hinted at more sanctions against Pyongyang over its atomic weapons programme in the wake of Iran`s nuclear deal with world powers.Glyn Davies, the US special representative for North Korea policy, said he hoped quickening diplomacy

DHAKA: Rescuers on Monday searched for 25 sailors missing after two cargo ships sank off China’s east coast in separate incidents, killing at least one crew member.A ship with 14 crew members that was registered in the eastern port city of Tianjin sank early on Monday because of large

DHAKA: A quake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck the South Atlantic south-east of Britain`s Falkland Islands on Monday.The United States Geological Survey said, reports The Straits Times.The USGS put the epicentre of the quake 320km south-east of Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, which

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