Pakistan has stated that the Kashmir dispute is the core issue that remains unresolved between India and Pakistan. Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry expressed disappointment over the comments made by India’s External Affairs Minister on the status of Jammu and Kashmir in the Indian media.

The U.S. has quietly decided to release more than $1.6 billion in military and economic aid to Pakistan that was suspended when relations between the two countries disintegrated over the covert raid that killed Osama bin Laden and deadly U.S. airstrikes against Pakistani soldiers.

A female suicide bomber blew herself up on a city bus in southern Russia on Monday, killing six people and injuring about 30, officials said. The attack in Volgograd added to security fears ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.