PAKISTAN

Iran's foreign minister was in Pakistan for talks Monday, as both nations sought to ease tensions after deadly cross-border strikes threatened diplomatic relations.

The rare military actions in the porous border region of Baluchistan -- shared between the two countries -- have further stoked regional tensions already enflamed by the Israel-Hamas war.

US President Joe Biden said Thursday that air strikes by Pakistan and Iran on each other's territory showed Tehran was not "well-liked", as the White House warned against any escalation.

Pakistan denounced the strike, near the nations' shared border late on Tuesday, as "completely unacceptable", saying it was unprovoked.

Pakistan said Wednesday that Iran carried out an air strike on its territory that killed two children, after Tehran launched attacks in Iraq and Syria against what it called "anti-Iranian terrorist groups".

Pakistan has banned New Year's Eve celebrations to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the government said late Thursday, urging people to instead "observe simplicity".

Pakistan's newly appointed ambassador to Russia Muhammad Khalid Jamali confirmed Islamabad's plans to join the group under Russia's presidency in 2024.

Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott believes the "sky's the limit" for his young stars who shone and then shattered mighty Pakistan at the Cricket World Cup on Monday.

The Beijing-hosted global gathering was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Kenyan President William Ruto, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Argentinan President Alberto Fernandez, among others.

At least two unknown assailants entered the mosque in the Daska town of Pakistan, and fatally shot 53-year-old Shahid Latif and another mosque-goer.

Clad in a Barbie-pink shalwar kameez, influencer and doctor Mehrub Moiz Awan reels off endless examples of harassment she's received since becoming the sharp-tongued figurehead of Pakistan's queer community.

Sadia Amjad's father died for his faith, stabbed in the street by an Islamist who discovered he was part of the minority Ahmadiyya sect that has been persecuted for decades in Pakistan.

Eying each other across a stream of traffic, rival Pakistani biryani joints vie for customers, serving a fiery medley of meat, rice and spice that unites and divides South Asian appetites.

The Election Commission of Pakistan said Thursday that the national parliamentary polls, due to be held in November, will take place in the last week of January.

Richard Olson, a former US ambassador to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, was sentenced to three years of probation on Friday for violating federal ethics laws.

In June, IMF provided a $3 billion bailout package to cash-strapped Pakistan. At the time, Pakistani officials nodded to a significant increase in electricity costs as part of the bailout package.

The South Asian country blamed the quality of Russian crude for suspending the imports. It noted the refining process of Russian oil yielded more furnace oil than petrol. Refineries in Pakistan have also reportedly refused to process any more Russian crude.

Little-known senator Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar was set to be sworn in Monday as Pakistan's caretaker prime minister to see the country through to an election due in months.

Gazing up from K2 Basecamp, Sajid Ali Sadpara sees Earth's second-highest mountain, his father's final resting place, and a blight of litter on the furthest reaches of the natural world.

Lawyers for Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan were Tuesday set to file a bail application for him, as he languished in a small cell of a century-old prison at the start of a three-year jail term for graft.

Tortured and imprisoned by Islamist militants for nearly five years, Shahbaz Taseer says he forgot how it felt to smile.