Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister is in Pakistan on a critically timed visit amid a crisis between Tehran and Washington and ahead of next week’s emergency Arab League meeting called by Saudi Arabia as regional tensions escalate.

Mohammad Javad Zarif was holding talks on Friday with his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Ahead of his arrival in Islamabad, Pakistan’s foreign ministry had called on “all sides to show restraint, as any miscalculated move, can transmute into a large-scale conflict.”

Islamabad, May 21; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Career diplomat Moin-ul-Haq has been appointed as Pakistan's new  High Commissioner to India to start a new process of engagement with the country where a new government will be formed soon, amid strained relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday approved appointments of over two dozen ambassadors in various countries including India, China and Japan.

Dawatoi, NORTH WAZIRISTAN: May 18 (APP): Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited troops on forward posts along Pak-Afghan Border at Dawatoi in North Waziristan on Saturday.

The COAS was briefed about progress on border fencing, sanitisation operation, socio-economic development projects and rehabilitation of TDPs, said a press release issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).

This is the area where due to cross border terrorist attack from Afghanistan on fencing party, three Pakistan Army soldiers had embraced martyrdom on May 1.

PESHAWAR, May 18 (APP): Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday said the government had resolved to improve public sector hospitals as per international standards and there was no plan to privatize them.

A handful of doctors were out to sabotage the health reforms undertaken by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, he said while addressing a fund-raising Iftar dinner of Shuakat Khanum Memorial Hospital Peshawar.

ISLAMABAD, May 19 (Xinhua): Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa said that a display of patience, determination and unity is required to bring ultimate peace in the country, the military's media wing said in a statement.

LAHORE, May 17 (APP): The upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 will see the winners of the 10-team tournament earn a purse of $4 million, the highest prize money to date, along with the trophy that they will lift at Lord’s on 16 July.

The total prize pot of $10 million will see the runners-up assured of $2 million and the losing semifinalists $800,000 each at the end of the 46-day tournament, being played across 11 venues from May 30, said the information made available here by the International Cricket Council here on Friday.

ISLAMABAD, May 18 (Xinhua): The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has delivered benefits to both China and Pakistan, a Pakistani official said, questioning the double standards of certain countries on investment and rebutting the "debt trap" allegations.

The unfounded charges hurled at China's investment in foreign countries are designed to create ill feelings among people by attempting to cast aspersions on motives of Chinese investment, said Asad Umar, chairman of Pakistan's National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance.

LAHORE, May 16 (APP): The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday announced that AJ Sports are their kit sponsor for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, which will be played in England and Wales from 30 May to 14 July.

Established in 1987, AJ Sports is an ICC-approved manufacturer, which has also previously sponsored and supplied clothing and cricket equipment to the Pakistan cricket team for various series and also to the Bangladesh and Sri Lanka cricket teams for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003.

ISLAMABAD, May 16 (Xinhua): At least nine terrorists were killed and four policemen injured in an operation by counter-terrorism department (CTD) of police in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Thursday, local reports said.

The operation was carried out on an intelligence tip-off regarding presence of suspected militants in a compound being used as terrorists' camp in Mustang district of the province, ARY News reported.

ISLAMABAD, May 16 (APP): As many as 572 Pakistani prisoners in various jails of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are set to be released during Ramazan under amnesty announced by the UAE president.

The Pakistanis were among the 3,005 prisoners who were pardoned by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan as an act of kindness during the blessed month of Ramazan, Foreign Office Spokesman Muhammad Faisal said at a weekly press briefing here at the Foreign Office (FO).