News brief: Big stories of the day

As a peace gesture we are releasing captured Indian pilot tomorrow, says Pak PM Imran Khan

Prime Minister Imran Khan told the National Assembly today that the Pakistan government would be releasing the captured pilot tomorrow. The development comes after a media report said foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was willing to consider returning the Indian pilot if it led to "de-escalation".

Pakistan resorts to ceasefire violation on seventh consecutive day, fires mortars in Poonch

The Pakistani Army Thursday heavily shelled forward posts along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch and Rajouri districts, committing repeated ceasefire violations but drawing "strong" retaliation from the Indian Army, an official said.

To keep eye on China, Indian Army shifts Mountain Strike Corps’ headquarters from Jharkhand to West Bengal

In the backdrop of Pakistan’s intrusion into the Indian air space on Wednesday, the Indian Army has decided to shift the headquarters of Mountain Strike Corps from Ranchi to Panagarh in West Bengal to keep a close watch on China.

Trump says deal with Kim thwarted by North Korean sanction demands

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had failed to reach an agreement due to North Korean demands to lift punishing US-led sanctions.

Mass grave found in last Islamic State bastion: Syrian Democratic Forces

A mass grave containing the bodies of dozens of people who may be Yazidis enslaved by Islamic State has been found in territory recently seized by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an SDF official said on Thursday.