Nawaz Sharif gets third attempt at running Pakistan
His should be a stable government for he will not need any other party bloc to form a coalition; a few independents will do.
Sharif appears to have completed astonishing comeback
Nawaz Sharif appears to have completed an astonishing political comeback in Pakistan's general election.
Pakistani voters stick with what they know
After an invigorating election campaign, voters here in Pakistan have decided to stick with the familiar by electing Nawaz Sharif.
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Bomb on Pakistan women's university bus kills 11
A Pakistan police official has confirmed a bomb on a women's university bus has killed 11 in the southwest of the country.
Report findings show 'failure' to protect vulnerable
David Tucker, head of policy at the NSPCC, said the Home Affairs Select Committee report into the targeting of young white girls for sexual exploitation was a "damning indictment of systemic failure to protect vulnerable children and young people".
He continued:
Obvious signs of abuse were missed by a number of agencies and there is no excuse for the way these girls were let down, often by the very people who were meant to protect and care for them.
The victims in recent child sexual exploitation cases were too often ignored or treated as troublemakers.
There now needs to be a culture change among police, CPS, the judiciary, and all child protection professionals, so they better understand how grooming gangs operate, and how young people's behaviour could be a sign they are at risk of, or suffering, sexual exploitation.
There must also be tougher action against predatory sex offenders who deliberately target the most vulnerable children, including sentences that reflect the seriousness of the crimes committed and act as a strong deterrent to anyone thinking about sexually exploiting children and young people.
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Councils 'inexcusably slow' to react to child grooming
The Home Affairs Select Committee said councils in Rochdale and Rotherham, which has also seen similar serious claims of child abuse grooming, were "inexcusably slow" to realise that sexual abuse was taking place on their doorstep.
Both councils had a "woeful lack of professional curiosity" and must be accountable for the "appalling consequences of their indifference to the suffering of vulnerable children".
The Committee called on the Ministry of Justice to put in place a number of reforms to court processes such as introducing specialist courts for child exploitation cases.
In addition, sufficient funding must be ensured for prevention and intervention for children at risk of sexual exploitation.
MPs send out warning over child abuse grooming
A model of Pakistani-heritage men targeting young white girls for sexual exploitation does exist and authorities must be able to freely raise concerns without fear of being labelled racist, an influential group of MPs has concluded.
Police, social workers and others must acknowledge this issue, which featured in recent high-profile grooming cases in Rochdale and Oxford, the Home Affairs Select Committee said.
However, the Committee added that there was no simple link between race and child sexual exploitation and warned against stereotyping offenders.
After its inquiry into localised grooming, that is when a group of abusers target vulnerable children, the Committee said it believes there are still places in the UK where victims are being failed by statutory agencies.
Committee chair Keith Vaz said: "This has been a harrowing inquiry in which we have heard of children being treated in an appalling way not just by their abusers but, because of catastrophic failures by the very agencies that society has appointed to protect them."
Report: Pakistani Taliban's number two killed
Pakistani Taliban's number two Wali-Ur-Rehman has been killed in a drone strike, security officials have told Reuters.
Report: Teacher among those killed in Pakistan bus fire
A female teacher was among the dead when a fire broke out aboard a school bus in Pakistan, according to the AFP news agency.
At least 16 children were killed in the incident near the city of Gujrat in the east of the country.
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Report: Gas canister from school bus found intact
A police chief has said that a gas canister on board a school bus that burst into flames in Pakistan has been found intact and was not the cause of the fire, the AFP news agency reports.
Initial reports suggested that the canister, similar to that found in millions of vehicles in Pakistan, had caused a fatal explosion.
The police chief, identified as Dar Ali Khattak, said the fire was caused by a spark when the driver switched from using gas to the petrol engine.
He added that the children were aged between five and 15.
17 children dead in Pakistan bus explosion
Seventeen Pakistani children burnt to death on Saturday when a gas cylinder on the bus taking them to school exploded, media said.
Ten children were injured in the blaze on the outskirts of Gujrat, 100 miles (170 km) southeast of Islamabad, DawnNews said.
Many vehicles in energy-starved Pakistan are powered by relatively cheap compressed natural gas and cylinder blasts are common.
Gas cylinder blast on Pakistan school bus kills 17 children
A gas cylinder blast on a school bus has killed at least 17 children in Pakistan.
Police officer Mohammed Rasheed said that seven children were also injured in the explosion.
"This is a very sad incident. According to our information, at least 17 children were burned to death.
"The school bus caught fire after the blast. We have transported all the victims to a nearby hospital."
UK 'should have listened' to warnings over Pakistan
Britain must share the blame for the murder of a senior politician in Pakistan, former cricketer turned party leader Imran Khan has said.
Mr Khan has said a rival party leader, who lives in exile in England, is behind the killing of Zara Shahid Hussain, and that the UK government should have listened to the warnings.
ITV News Correspondent Martha Fairlie reports:
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