The Pakistani Taliban have chosen the ruthless commander who planned the attack on teenage activist Malala Yousafzai as the militant group's new leader, and it ruled out holding peace talks with the government.

A car bomb ripped through a crowded street in Peshawar's oldest bazaar, killing 40 people in the third blast to hit the troubled city in a week, officials said.

Separatist militants fired two rockets that narrowly missed a Pakistani government helicopter surveying a region devastated by an earthquake, underscoring the dangers authorities face in helping victims in Baluchistan.

Survivors built makeshift shelters with sticks and bedsheets after their mud houses were flattened in an earthquake that killed 348 people.

Rescuers struggled to help thousands of people injured and left homeless after their houses collapsed in a major earthquake in southwestern Pakistan, while the death toll from the massive temblor there rose to 285.

The world's most perilous peak will be the final resting place for a New Zealand father and son who were attempting to scale it.

A man believed to have died with his son while climbing the world's second highest mountain, K2 inspired a generation of Hawke's Bay people to embrace the outdoors.

A NZ father and son's tent has been found wrecked and vital climbing tools left abandoned, confirming fears they have been swept away and killed in an avalanche.

A teenager wounded alongside the campaigning schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai has condemned the Pakistan Taliban's letter of regret as a "pack of lies".

A Taliban commander has written to Malala Yousafzai, telling her she was shot for being critical of the Taliban - not because she championed girls' education.

The sound of footsteps and gunfire was coming closer where Osama bin Laden, his youngest wife Amal and one of his daughters must have known their life was reaching its end.

Daniel Pearl had been held captive in Pakistan for more than a month when Mariane, his wife, learned he was dead.

A senior Pakistan Taleban commander is believed to have been killed in a United States drone strike, the first since President Barack Obama announced tighter regulations on their use.

Imran Khan has suffered a head injury after falling 5m from a platform lift as it carried him on to a stage for an election rally.

Gunmen have killed the lead Pakistani prosecutor in two high-profile cases shocking a country reeling from Taliban attacks as it prepares for nationwide elections.

Christian communities across Pakistan have launched angry protests after a Muslim mob set fire to a Christian neighbourhood in Lahore.

Under police guard, thousands of health workers pressed on with a polio immunisation program after nine were killed elsewhere in Pakistan by suspected militants who oppose the vaccination campaign.