News brief: Big stories of the day

Imran Khan promises a new Pakistan, calls for good relations with India

Imran Khan spoke to the press and the people of Pakistan and the world from Islamabad Thursday. His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party is on the cusp of victory in the national elections which were held yesterday. 

Khan invoked both the founder of Pakistan, "Quaid-e-Azam" or "Great Leader" Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Madina, saying he wanted Pakistan to become the sort of country that existed in seventh-century Madina and that Jinnah had envisioned. 

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Khan promised wide-ranging reform, saying that no country with an "island of rich people and a sea of poor people" could prosper. He promsied an end to corruption, as well as accountability, first of himself, then of his ministers, and so on. 

China has quietly resumed its activities in Doklam: Top US official

China has quietly resumed its activities in the Doklam area and neither Bhutan nor India has sought to dissuade it, a top US official has said while comparing Beijing's actions in the Himalayan region with its manoeuvres in the disputed South China Sea.China claims sovereignty over all of South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims.

Chinese defence minister to visit India before end of the year

Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe has accepted an invitation to visit India and plans to do so by the end of this year, China said on Thursday, as a rapprochement between the two giant neighbours gathers pace.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed in April to open a new chapter in ties, just months after a dispute over a stretch of their high-altitude Himalayan border rekindled fears of war.

Speaking at a regular monthly news briefing, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said both countries were currently in communication about Wei's visit, but gave no other details.

Goa: BJP MLA wants meat complex in state as it has large number of 'beef eaters'

Goa BJP legislator has demanded the opening of Goa meat complex in the state, claiming that there is a huge shortage of beef in the state.

''I want the minister to tell me when Goa meat complex will start and whether there will be an interference from so-called 'gau rakshaks'. I respect them but there are people in Goa in large numbers who eat beef. You cannot stop that, '' BJP MLA Michael Lobo said.

Tehran will respond to any hostile action: Iran special forces chief tells Trump

An Iranian military commander said on Thursday that Donald Trump should address any threats against Tehran directly to him, and mocked the US president as using the language of "night clubs and gambling halls".

The comments by Major-General Qassem Soleimani, who heads the Quds Force of Iran`s powerful Revolutionary Guards Corps, were the latest salvo in a war of words between the two countries.

"As a soldier, it is my duty to respond to Trump`s threats. If he wants to use the language of threat, he should talk to me, not to the president (Hassan Rouhani)," Soleimani was quoted as saying by the Iranian Young Journalists` Club.