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Lebanon says Israeli attacks kill nearly 300 since Monday

Lebanon’s health ministry on Saturday said Israeli attacks on the country had killed almost 300 people since the start of the war with Hezbollah this week. In a statement, the ministry said that “the death toll from the Israeli aggression, from dawn on Monday ... has risen to 294 martyrs and 1,023 wounded.” Israel warned Lebanon of a “very heavy price” if it did not rein in Hezbollah on Saturday, as it pounded the group’s strongholds around the country with air strikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east. Lebanon was dragged into the wider Middle East war on Monday when Hezbollah fired at Israel, which responded with a new military campaign that has forced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese from their homes. On Saturday morning, more buildings in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut lay as mounds of smoking rubble and twisted metal, Reuters video showed, after heavy Israeli bombardment that followed an evacuation order for civilians. ’A night of hell’ Israeli D...
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FM Dar holds talks with UAE, Malaysian counterparts on regional stability, peace

  Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held talks on Saturday with counterparts from the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia on regional security, stability and peace as the conflict in the Middle East grinds on. Tensions in the Middle East surged last week after US and Israeli air strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with several senior officials, sparking retaliatory attacks from Tehran and broadening the regional conflict. In response, Iran targeted US military bases across multiple Gulf countries, significantly escalating the confrontation. In the wake of these developments, Pakistan’s leadership has intensified diplomatic efforts to help manage the rising tensions, particularly between Iran and the Gulf states. In a post on X today, the Foreign Office said Dar spoke with UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “The two leaders exchanged views on the evolving regional situation and underscore...
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Iran war threatens a prolonged hit to global energy markets

The war with Iran could leave consumers and businesses worldwide facing weeks or months of higher fuel prices even if the week-old conflict ends quickly, as suppliers grapple with damaged facilities, disrupted logistics, and elevated risks to shipping. The outlook poses a wider global economic threat, as well as a political vulnerability for United States President Donald Trump leading into the midterm elections, with voters sensitive to energy bills and unfavorable to foreign entanglements. "The market is shifting from pricing pure geopolitical risk to grappling with tangible operational disruption, as refinery shutdowns and export constraints begin to impair crude processing and regional supply flows," JP Morgan analysts said in a research note on Friday. Read: Petrol price jump leaves citizens torn between fuel and food The conflict has already led to the suspension of around a fifth of global crude and natural gas supply, as Tehran targets ships in the vital Strait of Hor...
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Putin calls for immediate halt to Iran conflict

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to Iran's president over the numerous civilian casualties resulting from "the armed Israeli-American aggression against Iran" and called for an immediate halt to hostilities, the Kremlin said. In a phone call late on Friday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Putin expressed his deep condolences over the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, members of Khamenei's family, Iranian political and military leaders and "numerous civilians". "Vladimir Putin reaffirmed Russia's principled stance in favour of an immediate cessation of hostilities, the rejection of force as a method to solve any issues surrounding Iran or arising in the Middle East, and a swift return to the path of diplomatic resolution," the Kremlin said. Also read: Iran says will not target neighbours unless attacked from them Putin said he was in constant contact with the leaders of Gulf Cooperation ...
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Pakistani man says Iran forced him into plot to kill Trump, media say

A Pakistani man accused of planning to kill US President Donald Trump told jurors on Wednesday that he did not willingly work with Iran's elite ​Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to devise the plot, media said. The Justice ‌Department accused Asif Merchant of trying to recruit people in the United States in the plan targeting Trump and other US politicians in retaliation for Washington's killing of the ​Corps' top commander, Qassem Soleimani. The Corps has a central role in Iran, with ​its combination of military and economic power and an intelligence ⁠network. "I was not wanting to do this so willingly," the New York ​Times quoted Merchant as telling a court during his trial for terrorism and ​murder-for-hire charges, adding that he participated to protect his family in Tehran. Prosecutors rejected Merchant's claim, citing a "lack of evidentiary support for a true duress or coercion," according to a ​letter sent on Tuesday to the judge in the ca...
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Justice Department releases missing FBI interviews in Epstein files with woman who made claims against Trump

The US Justice Department released FBI records on Thursday that summarise interviews of an unidentified woman in ‌which she made accusations against President Donald Trump related to an alleged sexual encounter. FBI agents interviewed the woman four times in 2019 as part of their investigation into accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The Justice Department had previously released a log confirming that the interviews took ​place but released a summary of only one of those four meetings, in which she accused Epstein of ​molesting her when she was a teenager. The newly disclosed records, which were posted on the department's website on ⁠Thursday, show she also claimed Trump attempted to force her to perform oral sex after Epstein introduced her to ​the future president in New York or New Jersey in the 1980s when she was between 13 and 15 years old. Read: Trump urges Zelensky to strike deal, says Putin ready The ​White House did not immediately respond to questions about the disclo...
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Wary European states pledge military aid for Cyprus, Gulf

Wary of getting directly involved in the US-Israeli war with Iran, European countries are nevertheless being drawn into the conflict following attacks on Cyprus and Western allies in the Gulf. While underlining their "defensive" aims, several European countries have now pledged military assistance to EU member Cyprus as the Middle East conflict intensifies and widens. Britain, Greece and Portugal have gone further by also allowing the US military to use their bases under certain conditions. Spain has ruled this out and Italy has said it has not received any such request. "We are not at war and we do not want to join the war," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told RTL 102.5 radio on Thursday. Here are the main military assistance pledges from Europe so far: Britain An Iranian-made unmanned drone struck the runway at the British air force base at Akrotiri in Cyprus on Monday. Other drones, probably launched by Iran-backed military group Hezbollah from Lebanon, ha...
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