Fourteen people have gone on trial in Saudi Arabia over the crane collapse in Mecca that killed 111 pilgrims and injured hundreds more days before the start of last year's hajj pilgrimage.

Parveen Rafiq closed her hands around the neck of her youngest daughter, Zeenat, and squeezed and squeezed until the girl was almost dead.

A woman in Pakistan burned her 17-year-old daughter alive to punish her for marrying against the family’s wishes, the latest in a series of so-called “honour killings” that claim the lives of nearly 1,000 women every year in the conservative Muslim country.

A sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers from Pakistan and Bangladesh led to more than a doubling of applications for refugee status in Ireland last year.

Greek authorities say the 202 migrants and refugees who had not applied for asylum in Greece and were returned to Turkey included people from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Congo.

Hours before Greece was due to begin returning migrants to Turkey, little sign of preparation was evident on Lesbos, the island through which hundreds of thousands of people have poured into Europe since last year.

Eleven people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked the entrance to a court in north-western Pakistan, police said.

A number of Pakistanis and a Syrian have been attacked in Cologne amid tensions over New Year’s Eve assaults in the city that have been blamed largely on foreigners, German police said.

Hundreds of Moroccans, Algerians, and Pakistanis tried to storm the border between Greece and Macedonia, tearing down part of the barbed wire fence at the crossing and demanding to be allowed to carry on into northern Europe.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

Having lived in Pakistan I can state the actions of a mature PhD student in hugging a female student at UCC as “thank you” is something that would be completely unacceptable in his own culture (Irish Examiner, ‘Judge rules that student’s ‘thank you’ hug was sexual assault). 

Austria said 71 refugees including a baby girl were found dead in an abandoned freezer truck, while Libya recovered the bodies of 82 migrants washed ashore after their overcrowded boat sank on its way to Europe and scores more were feared dead.

Al Qaeda’s Yemen offshoot could bring down a transatlantic passenger plane at any time, a new book by a former CIA leader has warned.

People being investigated in a counter-terrorism investigation in Italy may have been planning an attack against the Vatican, one of the prosecutors leading the probe said.

The number of foreign nationals applying for asylum last year increased 53%, although Ireland still has a comparatively low inflow rate of refugees within the EU.

Your spoiler free guide to tonight's TV.

Taliban claim attack that targeted military school in Pakistan

It began like any other morning in Pakistan’s Army Public School in the north-western city of Peshawar. Students pored over their books. Teachers ruffled through notes and gave lectures.

A bomb which exploded near a Pakistani paramilitary checkpoint has killed at least 45 people near the country’s eastern border with India, in an attack suspected to be the work of a suicide bomber.

British National Party leader Nick Griffin has been ousted as an MEP – but said Ukip supporters were racists who would turn back to his party when they realised Nigel Farage would not “send them all home”.

The leader of the Pakistani Taliban was one of three people killed in a suspected US drone strike, intelligence officials say.

Angry Pakistani Christians have denounced the deadliest attack ever in the country against members of their faith as the death toll from a church bombing climbed overnight to 81.

Pakistani television is screening what many call its most controversial contest yet in a ruthless quest for ratings: a talk show host who gives away babies live on air.

Wonder Woman and Supergirl now have a Pakistani counterpart in the ranks of female superheroes — and one who shows a lot less skin.

A suspected US drone strike has killed seven militants near the Afghan border, according to Pakistani intelligence officials

Newly elected members of Pakistan’s National Assembly were sworn in today, officially marking the first transition of power between democratically elected civilian governments in the nearly 66-year history of the coup-prone country.

Defying the danger of militant attacks, Pakistanis streamed to the polls today for a historic vote pitting a former cricket star against a two-time prime minister and an unpopular incumbent.

Pakistan is holding historic elections today, pitting former cricket star Imran Khan against a two-time prime minister once exiled by the army and an incumbent blamed for power blackouts and inflation.

Five people have plunged to their deaths trying to escape a burning government building in eastern Pakistan.

France has claimed that al-Qaida-linked extremists have been defeated in the key city of Gao in north-eastern Mali.

THE new year began — just as 2012 ended — with young people on the march.

Thousands of anti-government protesters rallied in the streets of the Pakistani capital for a second day despite clashes with police.

Pakistani militants killed at least 41 people in two separate incidents, officials yesterday said, challenging assertions that military offensives have broken the back of hardline Islamist groups.

Twenty-two hostages held captive for nearly three years by Somali pirates have been rescued by troops who raided a hijacked ship.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has written letters to top political and religious leaders in Pakistan, denouncing the Taliban attack on a Pakistani teenager who is promoting girls’ education and asking them to help battle extremism in both countries.

Schools in Pakistan's Swat Valley have closed in protest as anger erupted across the country over the Taliban attack on a 14-year-old activist famed for promoting girls' education.

Three people have been killed and dozens injured as protests by tens of thousands of Pakistanis infuriated by an anti-Islam film descended into deadly violence.

Hundreds of Pakistanis protesting over an anti-Islam film broke through a barricade near the US consulate in Karachi, sparking clashes with police in which one demonstrator was killed and more than a dozen injured.