Pakistan

Pakistan orders Afghan asylum seekers out of country by November

A spike in attacks along the two countries' border, which Islamabad blames on Afghanistan-based operatives, has escalated tensions this year.

It has also fuelled resentment in Islamabad, which on Tuesday announced a crackdown on "illegal" migrants.

The Taliban government urged Pakistan to rethink its "unacceptable" move.

Afghanistan's rulers have repeatedly denied providing refuge for militants who target Pakistan.

Last week, a blast at a mosque in Mastung city, near the border with Afghanistan, killed at least 50 people during a religious celebration.

Pakistan passenger train derails killing 30

Several carriages of the Hazara Express overturned near Sahara railway station in Nawabshah, about 275 kilometres from the largest city Karachi.

Wounded passengers were moved to nearby hospitals. Rescue teams are trying to free people from the twisted wreckage.

Accidents on Pakistan's antiquated railway system are not uncommon.

Railway Minister Saad Rafiq said initial investigations showed the train was travelling at normal speed and they were trying to establish what led to the derailment.

India, Pakistan evacuate more than 170,000

More than 170,000 people in the two countries were evacuated to safety before the arrival of Cyclone Biparjoy.

Forecasters say it could be the area's worst storm in 25 years and warned it threatens homes and crops in its path.

The cyclone is due to barrel through parts of India's Gujarat state and Sindh province in Pakistan.

Cyclone Biparjoy - meaning "disaster" in Bengali - is forecast to hit the coast near Jakhau port, between Mandvi in Gujarat and Keti Bandar in Sindh.

Pakistan avalanche kills 11 people from nomadic tribe

The snow struck as the group crossed a mountainous area in the Shounter Pass with their goat herds.

A further 25 people have been injured and a rescue operation is ongoing.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the deaths, and said incidents such as avalanches were increasing due to climate change.

The avalanche happened in the early hours of Saturday in part of the pass that bridges the Astore district of the Gilgit Baltistan region to neighbouring Azad Kashmir, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Imran Khan: Pakistan's Supreme Court rules arrest was illegal

The court ordered Mr Khan's immediate release. His lawyers had argued that his detention from court premises in Islamabad on Tuesday was unlawful.

At least 10 people have been killed and 2,000 arrested as violent protests have swept the country since he was held.

BBC reports Tuesday's arrest escalated growing tensions between him and the military.

The opposition leader, ousted in a confidence vote in April last year, was brought to court on the orders of Pakistan's top judge.

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan's arrest sparks fighting, at least one dead

BBC reports Protests are erupting nationwide, and at least one person has been killed in the city of Quetta.

The United States and UK have called for adherence to the "rule of law".

Khan was arrested by security forces at the High Court in the capital, Islamabad.

Dramatic footage showed dozens of officers arriving and detaining the 70-year-old, who was bundled into a vehicle and driven away.

Pakistan: Explosions kill 12 in Swat Valley counter-terror office

Police said that there is no evidence of an attack and that it could have been as a result of an electrical fault igniting ammunition in the centre.

Most of the dead are police officers.

The explosion happened in the Swat valley, which was controlled by Islamist militants before they were forced out in 2009.

More than 40 people were injured and buildings have collapsed.

A spokesman for provincial police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which neighbours Afghanistan, said that ammunition caught fire, "most probably due to an electric short-circuit".

Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's ex-president, dies aged 79

The former leader - who was president between 2001 and 2008 - died in Dubai after a long illness, a statement from the country's army said.

He had survived numerous assassination attempts, and found himself on the front line of the struggle between militant Islamists and the West.

He supported the US "war on terror" after 9/11 despite domestic opposition.

In 2008 he suffered defeat in the polls and left the country six months later.

Pakistan mosque blast: Police targeted in attack that kills 59

The mosque is within the tightly-guarded police headquarters area.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said "terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who perform the duty of defending Pakistan".

No group has said it carried out the attack, but it has been linked to the Pakistan Taliban.

The group ended a ceasefire in November, and violence has been on the rise since.

In December it targeted a police station - like Peshawar, in the north-west of the country - leading to the deaths of 33 militants.

Two policemen guarding vaccinators shot dead

The team of two vaccinators was unharmed, police said.

Local polio vaccination teams are often targeted by anti-vaccine militants, some of whom claim vaccination is a Western plot to sterilise Muslims.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where polio, which in severe cases can be fatal or leave patients paralysed, remains endemic.

The two gunmen had been hiding near a small water channel before opening fire on the guards from a "very close range", local police said.