Gastronomic diplomacy has its place in world history and it’s gratifying to see India and Pakistan engage in it with such passion. Prime Minister Modi did it at the Hannover Messe — exposing Germany to India’s soft power.  And now, it is Pakistan’s turn to reach out to Indian hearts via the stomach. A happy stomach is the precursor of congenial diplomacy. 

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised that the UK will accept up to 20,000 more Syrian refugeesby 2020. To help fund this, Chancellor George Osborne says that money should be used from the foreign aid budget to provide support for local councils. He said there should be a "fundamental rethink" of how the aid budget is used.

The Ambassador to Germany is a career diplomat who has had vast experience of representing the country in various countries of the world; including China. He is considered an authority on Chinese soft power and its role in the emergence of that economy as a global superpower.

President Mamnoon Hussain on Wednesday said Pakistan is home to rich cultural heritage and stressed that patronage of arts and literature can promote the country’s positive image abroad. The President expressed these views at the inauguration of an exhibition of Arabic calligraphy organized by Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Pakistan and India have a history of holding non-starter talks which goes back to 1960s when the then foreign ministers Swaran Singh and ZA Bhutto held successive rounds of negotiations without any output. It is therefore the need of the hour that the Foreign Office, in consultation with all the stakeholders, should prepare a well defined agenda to discuss issues at the NSA level rather than discussing peripheral non-issues.

Afghanistan has summoned Pakistan's ambassador to explain fighting between the two countries' security forces that killed up to eight Afghan border police, the latest blow in ties that took a plunge this month during a surging Taliban offensive. Pakistan has condemned the recent attacks and blamed "spoilers and detractors" for trying to create mistrust between the two countries.

The photographer, Brandon Stanton, usually chronicles everyday New Yorkers on the popular blog Humans of New York. This month, however, he visited Pakistan and posted images and the stories of the people he encountered there — including Syeda Ghulam Fatima, a campaigner against what's known as bonded labor.

A joint statement, issued after talks between PM Modi and UAE Crown Prince, asked countries to abandon the use of terrorism against others and dismantle terror infrastructures on their soil.