More than 50 people have been admitted to hospital in southern Iran after air pollution levels spiked, an Iranian newspaper reported.

Buddha statues have joined Barbie dolls and characters from The Simpsons as banned items in the conservative Muslim nation of Iran.

IT will cost an Iranian man convicted of throwing acid in the face of a fellow student €2 million to escape a court-ordered blinding, the Arman newspaper quoted his victim as saying.

Afghan police had no word today on the fate of an Italian hostage after the deadline passed in the purported kidnapper’s threat to kill her unless his demands were met – but a senior officer said authorities did not believe the ultimatum was serious.

A man claiming to have kidnapped an Italian aid worker in the Afghan capital threatened today in an interview on local television to kill her unless his demands were immediately met.