Neighbours Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday pledged to enhance efforts at a "united front" against Afghanistan-based militants, saying their presence poses a serious threat to regional and global security. The countries, which share a long and porous border, made the commitment in a joint statement issued after a three-day visit by Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi to Islamabad. The visit was aimed at mending ties that were strained in January when each carried out strikes in the other's territory, targeting militants accused of attacking security forces.

The Iranian president met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other officials, including powerful army chief Gen. Asim Munir. The joint statement said the two sides "reaffirmed their willingness to enhance cooperation on counter-terrorism and security and to develop a united front against terrorism." Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent months, mostly blamed on Afghanistan-based Pakistani Taliban and insurgents who also target security forces in Iran.

Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials said. Long sought by Ukrainian leaders, the new missiles give Ukraine nearly double the striking distance - up to 300 kilometres (190 miles) - that it had with the mid-range version of the weapon that it received from the U.S. last October.

"We've already sent some, we will send more now that we have additional authority and money," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. The additional ATACMS were included in a new military aid package signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday (Apr. 24). Biden approved delivery of the long-range Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, in February, and then in March the U.S. included a "significant" number of them in a $300 million aid package announced, officials said.

The United Nations called for "a clear, transparent and credible investigation" of mass graves uncovered at two major hospitals in war-torn Gaza that were raided by Israeli troops. Credible investigators must have access to the sites, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters, and added that more journalists need to be able to work safely in Gaza to report on the facts. U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said he was "horrified" by the destruction of the Shifa medical centre in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis as well as the reported discovery of mass graves in and around the facilities after the Israelis left.

He called for independent and transparent investigations into the deaths, saying that "given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators." U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel on Tuesday called the reports of mass graves at the hospitals "incredibly troubling" and said U.S. officials have asked the Israeli government for information.

TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance says it has no intention of selling the business after the US passed a law to force it to sell the hugely popular video app or be banned in America. "ByteDance doesn't have any plans to sell TikTok," the company posted on its official account on Toutiao, a social media platform it owns. Earlier this week, TikTok said it would challenge in court the "unconstitutional" law.

The statement from ByteDance came in response to an article by the technology industry website The Information that said it was exploring the potential sale of TikTok's operation in the US without the algorithm that powers it. "Foreign media reports of ByteDance selling TikTok are not true," the company said in the post, which included a screen shot of the article with the Chinese characters meaning "false rumour" stamped on it.