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Iran says US ‘more realistic’ on nuclear issue, as Guards begin drills in Hormuz Strait

Iran said on Monday that the United States’s position on Iran’s nuclear programme “has moved towards a more realistic one”, a day ahead of a second round of US-Iranian talks in Geneva . Tehran’s foreign minister arrived in Geneva for the new round of indirect negotiations with the US, as the Revolutionary Guards began military drills in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for oil and gas. The two sides recently resumed indirect talks , mediated by Oman, after US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over a deadly crackdown on protesters last month. A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. “A cautious assessment is that, from the discussions that have taken place in Muscat to date, at least what we have been told is that the US position on the Iranian nuclear issue has moved towards a more realistic one,...
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KP CM says ‘no official call’ given to PTI workers for protest, apologises to people of province for ‘difficulties’

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi apologised to the people of his province on Monday, saying that PTI workers had taken to the streets of their own accord. His statement comes against the backdrop of protests at multiple places by PTI activists in KP. The party workers have blocked entry and exit points to the province, resulting in inconveniences for the people and KP being cut off from the rest of the country. The protests began on Friday, simultaneously with sit-ins by opposition parliamentarians and Tehreek Tahafuz-i-Ayeen Pakistan leaders in Islamabad, over PTI founder Imran Khan’s health. When KP CM was asked today about what would be the next line of action for PTI workers, he said: “We have not given any line of action to the workers. The workers have come out on their own. Our strategy was just for the parliamentarians.” He said the plan devised for parliamentarians was to stage a “peaceful sit-in” outside the Parliament in Islamabad. “But, unfortunate...
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Israel moves to claim West Bank land as ‘state property’

• Palestinian presidency calls the move a ‘serious escalation’ • Hamas condemns Tel Aviv’s attempt ‘to steal and Judaise lands’ • Israeli strikes kill 12 more people in less than 24 hours despite truce JERUSALEM: The Israeli government has approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property”, for the first time since the Israeli occupation of the territory in 1967, in clear violation of the international law that states an occupying power cannot confiscate land in occupied territories, Al Jazeera reported. The development was annou­nced by Israeli public broadcaster KAN on Sunday when Israeli forces killed at least 12 Palest­inians in less than 24 hours, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency. The proposal, approved by the Israel security cabinet, was submitted by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Defence Minister Israel Katz. “We are continuing the settlement revolution to control all our lands,” Smotric...
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Bold calls, soft results: 5 takeaways from Pakistan’s loss to India

There are nights when Pakistan versus India feels like theatre: breathless, chaotic, hanging by a thread. And then there are nights like the one in Colombo. At the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, this was not a last-over classic or a heart-stopping choke. It was clinical. India posted 175, Pakistan were rolled for 114. A 61-run defeat . No controversy to dissect, no umpiring debate to hide behind, no “if only” moments to cling to. Just a gulf. Here are five takeaways from a game that was disappointingly straightforward. Agha’s captaincy: bold or baffling? Salman Ali Agha did not hide behind convention and that alone deserves akcnowledgement. He decided to chase on a slow Colombo surface that was expected to grip more under lights. Bold. He opened the bowling himself and dismissed Abhishek Sharma for a duck - poetic, especially after publicly stating he wanted the Indian opener to play. He even promoted himself to bat at no.3 earlier in the tournament, leading by example. But bold decis...
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Bangladesh’s Tarique Rahman thanks those who fought for democracy

• Bangladesh’s PM-to-be pledges to restore governance, economy; vows to fix ‘broken’ systems • Urges unity as BNP sweeps first polls since 2024 uprising DHAKA: Bangladesh’s prime minister-in-waiting Tarique Rahman on Saturday dedicated his party’s landslide election victory to the citizens who “sacrificed for democracy” during the deadly 2024 uprising and pledged to prioritise the restoration of economy and governance. Rahman, the 60-year-old scion of one of the nation’s most powerful political dynasties, called for national unity as he prepared to lead the South Asian nation of 170 million people following the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s sweeping success in Thursday’s vote. He will take over from an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which has steered Bangladesh since a student-led uprising ousted Hasina in August 2024. “This victory belongs to Bangladesh, belongs to democracy,” Rahman said in his first speech since the vote. “This victory belongs to p...
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CTD unit activated in Gilgit Baltistan

GILGIT: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has been made operational in Gilgit-Balt­istan and a dedicated CTD police station has been formally established in Gilgit. In a statement, GB Police said the CTD had begun work with 250 officers and personnel, while recruitment for another 600 posts would be completed during the current year to strengthen the unit’s capacity. The statement said assistance would be sought from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for basic training and professional skills development of CTD personnel in GB. SSP Tanveerul Hassan has been appointed head of CTD Gilgit-Baltistan. All counterterrorism-rela­ted FIRs registered so far have been transferred to the CTD police station in Gilgit. Mr Hassan said the CTD had four wings, including investigation, intelligence and operations, and would handle terrorism-related cases across the region. He said the case relating to Thursday’s attack on a Frontier Works Organi­sation (FWO) vehicle in the Tangir valley of Diame...
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US moving second carrier to Middle East as Iran tensions build

The Pentagon is sending an aircraft carrier from the Caribbean to the Middle East, US officials said on Friday, a move that would put two carriers in the region as tensions soar between the United States and Iran. The Gerald R. Ford carrier, the United States’ newest and the world’s largest carrier, has been operating in the Caribbean with its escort ships and took part in operations in Venezuela earlier this year. Asked why a second aircraft carrier was headed to the Middle East, US President Donald Trump said: “In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it … if we need it, we’ll have it ready.” One of the officials, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said the carrier would take at least a week to reach the Middle East. The Gerald R. Ford will join the Abraham Lincoln carrier , several guided-missile destroyers, fighter jets and surveillance aircraft that have been moved to the Middle East in recent weeks. The United States most recently had two aircraft carriers in the ar...
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