World Echo

Pakistan and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkiye on Sunday reaffirmed the importance of continued consultation and coordination among the four countries in support of peace and stability, while welcoming the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the United States and Iran. The R-4 Ministerial meeting was held in Cairo, where FM Ishaq Dar, Saudi Arabia's Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Turkiye's Hakan Fidan and Egypt's Dr Badr Abdelatty discussed regional and international developments. According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office, the foreign ministers met in Cairo at the invitation of Egypt. “The ministers expressed their deep appreciation to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for sharing his vision of the region's future as a guidance to the group's efforts aiming at bringing stability to the Middle East,” the statement said. Read: US-Iran talks begin in Switzerland, says Qatar It added ...

India's 2.2 million aspiring medical students sit a re-examination under tight security on Sunday, after the last test was scrapped following a paper leak that triggered widespread outrage. The failure of the hugely competitive exam, along with a separate marking fiasco in high school tests, sparked an outcry and fuelled youth protests demanding the education minister’s resignation. The authorities say they have deployed more than 200,000 officials, including police, and restricted the Telegram messaging app. The National Testing Agency (NTA) said it had put in place a "multi-layered security framework to ensure a fair and transparent examination". That includes biometric authentication, AI-enabled camera surveillance, and GPS tracking of question papers, it said. The examination is scheduled to begin at 2 pm (local time). The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the gateway to India’s medical colleges, is taken annually by millions of cand...

Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed at ‌least 16 people on Saturday, Lebanese Civil Defence said, hours after a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect, with Israel saying it was responding to projectiles fired by the Iran-backed group. Lebanon's National News Agency said Israeli warplanes and drones had hit multiple locations in the south and the Bekaa Valley. An Israeli military official ​said Hezbollah had fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight, prompting strikes on what ​the official said were "Hezbollah targets". The Israeli military, which has occupied swathes of southern Lebanon, said ⁠in a statement that Hezbollah's attacks constituted repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement. العربي الجديد: وقف إطلاق النار يدخل حيّز التنفيذ بعد 47 شهيداً بغارات إسرائيلية https://t.co/cKLcR0jOuQ — National News Agency (@NNALeb) June 20, 2026 It said it remained committed to the ​truce in accordance with political ...

The Israeli military’s announcement on Friday that the commander of the 52nd Battalion of the 401st Armoured Brigade was killed in southern Lebanon has renewed scrutiny of the same unit linked to the killing of a six-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, in Gaza. In a statement, the army said Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, 32, from Beit HaShita and commander of the 52nd Battalion of the 401st Brigade, was killed along with three soldiers after their tank was targeted during operations in southern Lebanon. According to The Times of Israel daily, Ben Simhon is the fourth commander of the 52nd Battalion to be killed or wounded since the start of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon. The battalion has drawn international scrutiny over its role in the killing of Hind Rajab, who died in Gaza City in January 2024 after Israeli forces struck the vehicle carrying her and several relatives. Rajab survived the initial attack and remained trapped inside the car while speaking b...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Mashhad on Saturday for high-level meetings aimed at advancing diplomatic efforts following the recent Iran-US memorandum of understanding (MoU). Iran's IRNA  and Fars news agencies reported that he would visit the Imam Reza Shrine and hold meetings before leaving for Tehran. Pakistan's Interior Minister, Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, arrived in Mashhad Saturday. Local authorities in Razavi Khorasan told IRNA that he is to visit Imam Reza Holy Shrine and hold political meetings, which will later extend to Tehran. No further information has been released. pic.twitter.com/rnVA3870uu — IRNA News Agency ☫ (@IrnaEnglish) June 20, 2026 Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told ISNA that Naqvi's visit was part of Pakistan's continued mediation efforts to bridge remaining differences between Tehran and Washington and preserve the momentum generated by the recently announced understanding. In an e...

The US Supreme Court on Thursday limited the application of a decades-old federal law that bars firearms possession by certain drug users, rejecting a position taken by President Donald Trump's administration that had threatened the gun rights of millions of Americans who ​use marijuana and own firearms. The justices, in a 9-0 ruling, upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss an illegal gun possession charge brought under the law at issue against Ali Hemani, an American-Pakistani ‌dual citizen and Texas resident who told authorities he was a regular marijuana user. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, who authored the ruling, wrote that the government had failed to show that its prosecution of Hemani complied with the US Constitution's Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms". The Trump administration had defended the law, though midway through the case it softened its position on barring marijuana users from owning guns. ...