Nawaz Sharif, poised for a record third term as Pakistan Prime Minister after his party's emphatic win in the landmark general elections, has vowed to pursue better relations with the US while seeking "warmer ties" with India.

Moscow mayor's office has refused to authorize a gay pride parade planned for May 25 and will thwart any unsanctioned action, an official said. Gay activists filed a request earlier this week to stage a parade in the Russian capital, but Moscow authorities said their application was unlikely to be approved.

Defence Minister AK Antony on Tuesday remained non-committal whether India had agreed to withdraw its troops from a key post in Chumar area in Ladkah as was being demanded by China.

The BJP on Thursday demanded that diplomatic ties with Pakistan be scaled down and the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan should be asked to return after the death of Sarabjit Singh in Lahore.

India says Sarabjit Singh’s death will be a ‘setback’ to the efforts to build relations with Pakistan and that there will be a ‘pause’ in the engagement with it.

South Korea on Friday withdrew its last remaining workers from a joint industrial zone in North Korea at risk of permanent closure due to soaring military tensions.  

The border row created by incursion of Chinese troops 19 kms inside the Indian Territory does not seem to die down soon. In an article published on Thursday in a state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times, China has slammed the Indian government, Opposition and media.

Sarabjit Singh was not fortunate enough like Purushottam Singh and Surjit Singh who were released by the Pakistani authorities after languishing several years in jails. Expressing unhappiness over the government’s lackadaisical attitude, they said that had the ruling dispensation at the Centre made efforts for bringing Sabarjit back to the country, he would have been alive. Recalling his old days, Purushotam Singh of Ludhiana said that he had joined the Army as a spy in 1973. In the very next year, the Pakistani Rangers had arrested him while he was returning from Bhikhiwind Kalra post to the country.  

Mounting pressure on the ruling dispensation at the Centre for brining Sarabjit Singh back to India, his sister Dalbir Kaur went on hunger strike at Wagah border.

The family of Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner battling for life in Pakistan, returned to India on Wednesday.