Following are the top foreign stories at 1700 hours

FGN11 LANKA-GOTABAYA-CABINET

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa expands his Cabinet Colombo: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday expanded his Cabinet by appointing 35 ministers of state and three deputy ministers, all men and none from the Tamil and Muslim minorities, to run his newly-elected government until the parliamentary polls next year.

FGN10 PAK-SC-BAJWA

Pak SC questions rules on army chief's tenure extension in Bajwa's case

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the rules related to the extension of an army chief's tenure as it heard a crucial case whose outcome may block the current head of the Army General Qamar Javed Bajwa from serving another three-year term.

PAK-LD MUSHARRAF

Pak court stops special court from announcing verdict in Musharraf treason case on Thursday

Islamabad: A Pakistani court on Wednesday stopped a special court from announcing its judgement in the high treason case against former military dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, according to a media report.

FGN8 BANGLA-CAFE SIEGE-LD SENTENCE

Bangladesh court sentences 7 Islamists to death for 2016 cafe attack Dhaka: A special Bangladeshi tribunal sentenced seven of the eight suspects to death on Wednesday for their involvement in the 2016 Islamist attack on a Dhaka cafe that killed 20 people, including an Indian girl, the worst terror attack in the country's history. By Anisur Rahman

FGN17 PAK-TERRORISTS

Pak security agency foils terror plot; arrests 3 AQIS militants

Lahore: Pakistan's counter-terrorism agency on Wednesday said it foiled a plot to target the offices of an intelligence agency and sensitive installations in the south of Punjab province and arrested three terrorists of Al-Qaeda in Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS). By M Zulqernain

FGN16 US-AFGHAN-INDIAN-POMPEO

Indian-American UNDP expert killed in a terrorist attack in Kabul: Pompeo Washington: An Indian-American expert working for the UNDP in Afghanistan has been killed in a terrorist attack on a UN vehicle in Kabul, according to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. By Lalit K Jha

FGN19 US-MUMBAI-POMPEO 26/11

Perpetrators still not convicted is an affront to victims: Pompeo

Washington: It is an affront to the 166 innocent victims and their families that the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack have still not been convicted, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said. Lalit K Jha

FGN 3 US-INDIAN-LD MURDER

Suspect in Indian-American's murder grew angry after she refused to talk to him: Prosecutors Washington: The man charged with the sexual assault and murder of a teenage Indian-American student in Chicago grabbed her around the neck from behind and put her in a chokehold after she refused to talk to him or acknowledge his catcalls, prosecutors have said. By Lalit K Jha MRJ