News brief: Big stories of the day

One week after the country's highest court ordered her release, Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian who has spent eight years on death row for blasphemy was still in prison Wednesday, with no immediate prospect of freedom.

The Kremlin on Wednesday said it saw no bright prospects for an improvement in ties between Russia and the United States any time soon, as Moscow braced for a new raft of US sanctions.

The Pakistani finance minister's bullish comments declaring the end of an economic crisis have bolstered confidence ahead of crunch talks with the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday, but the country is still likely to need a bailout.

Amid a political slugfest over the Rafale fighter jet deal, state-run HAL's Chairman and Managing Director R Madhavan Wednesday said the aircraft manufacturing company is contending not to be an offset partner of any original equipment manufacturer.

Republicans' loss of control of the US House of Representatives will leave the party with a more conservative congressional caucus that is even more bound to President Donald Trump and more united around his provocative rhetoric and hardline agenda.