Down.com, Washington
Describing the India-Pakistan relationship as “tough and very complicated”, the United States has urged the two neighbours not to give up their pursuit for peace.
At a US State Department briefing on Monday afternoon, spokesman John Kirby said that when Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Jan 9, the two leaders also talked about an expected meeting between Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries in Islamabad on the 15th.
15 killed in Pak blast near polio centre
AFP, Quetta
At least 15 people were killed in a blast apparently targeting police outside a polio vaccination centre in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday, according to officials.
The officers had been gathering outside the centre to accompany polio workers for the third day of a vaccination campaign in the province of Balochistan, of which Quetta is the capital.
Turkey detains 3 Russians in raid
Reuters, Istanbul
Turkish authorities detained three Russian nationals suspected of links with Islamic State following a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul that killed 10 tourists, media reports said on Wednesday.
A suicide bomber thought to have crossed recently from Syria killed nine German and one Peruvian tourists on Tuesday in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet Square, a major tourist draw, in an attack Turkey blamed on Islamic State. Fifteen people were also hurt in the attack.
Iran to sell heavy water to US
AFP Tehran
Iran will sell part of its stock of heavy water to the United States under its nuclear deal with world powers, its deputy atomic chief said Tuesday.
Ali Asghar Zarean also denied reports Iran had dismantled the core of its Arak nuclear reactor, a key step in the deal that is to see sanctions lifted in exchange for limits on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
