Afghanistan-Pakistan earthquake leaves hundreds dead

By BBC

More than 260 people have died, mostly in Pakistan, after a magnitude-7.5 earthquake hit north-eastern Afghanistan.

Tremors from the quake were also felt in northern India and Tajikistan.

At least 12 of the victims were Afghan schoolgirls killed in a crush as they tried to get out of their building.

Are Pakistan’s female medical students to be doctors or wives?

By BBC News

In Pakistan's prestigious medical schools, female students outshine and outnumber their male counterparts. However, many do not end up as practising doctors - and now there are calls to limit their numbers, the BBC's Amber Shamsi in Islamabad reports.

Suspect in Pakistan school massacre arrested

By CNN

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN)Pakistani authorities have arrested a suspect in the December 16 attack on a public school in Peshawar that left more than 140 people dead, most of them children.

Taj Muhammad, also known as Rizwan, is accused of commanding one of the Taliban units that laid siege to the Army Public School. The military says he has confessed to other attacks in the same area.

Taliban militants ambushed the school, explosives strapped to their bodies, and burst into an auditorium filled with students taking exams.

They sprayed bullets rapidly, killing 145 people. Of those, 132 were children, authorities said.

The terror group had warned Muslims to avoid places with military ties, saying it carried out the attack to avenge the deaths of children allegedly killed by the nation's army strikes in tribal areas.

The army school is home to about 1,100 students and staff, most of them sons and daughters of army personnel from around Peshawar.