World Echo

Acting President Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has called for widening the scope of climate resilience initiatives in Pakistan to strengthen early warning systems, enhance community resilience, and mitigate risks for vulnerable populations. He made the remarks during a meeting with Coco Ushiyama, Representative and Country Director of the World Food Program (WFP) for Pakistan, in Islamabad. Gilani underlined the urgent need for international assistance in the wake of widespread devastation caused by climate-induced disasters, particularly highlighting the destruction of crops, loss of livestock, and worsening poverty in South Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He stressed that these regions require sustained global support to ensure both immediate relief and long-term rehabilitation for affected communities. Calling for real-time assistance from humanitarian organizations, the acting president emphasized that such support is vital to protect livelihoods and secure the future of vulnerable groups...

When the president of the United States stands on a podium and proclaims that Tylenol—locally known as Panadol—causes autism in children, parents listen. His statements unleashed a wave of fear, anxiety and anguish at least in Karachi, where we report from. An autism expert at Aga Khan University was “flooded” with calls and emails from anxious mothers over the weekend after Trump’s briefing. “Many mothers feel guilty, thinking their child’s autism might be linked to medications taken during pregnancy,” said Associate Professor Dr Sidra Kaleem, one of Pakistan’s few developmental paediatricians, and the director of the Child Development and Rehabilitation Centre at Aga Khan University Hospital. “It’s important to understand the difference between causation and association,” she stressed. Some studies have observed children developing autism after their mothers took Panadol during pregnancy, others did not. “This proves that taking Panadol does not guarantee a child will develop autism,...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling Qatar's prime minister from the White House on Monday, apologized for strikes against Hamas in the Gulf country and promised not to do so again, the United States said. Netanyahu, who had until now been defiant since ordering the strikes on September 9 in Qatar, placed the call as he was meeting with US President Donald Trump about a ceasefire in Gaza. "As a first step, Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his deep regret that Israel's missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman," a White House statement said. "He further expressed regret that, in targeting Hamas leadership during hostage negotiations, Israel violated Qatari sovereignty and affirmed that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in the future," it said. Israel did not immediately give an account of the call, although Netanyahu was expected later to hold a news conference with Trump. The White Hou...

Serbian police have arrested 11 people over hate-motivated acts in France and Germany, including defacing Jewish sites and placing pig heads near mosques, authorities said Monday. The group of Serbian nationals were allegedly trained by another suspect, "acting under the instructions of a foreign intelligence service," who is "currently on the run", the Interior Ministry said in a statement, without specifying their nationality. "Their objective was also to spread ideas advocating and inciting hatred, discrimination and violence based on differences," the statement said. Nine heads of pigs, considered impure in Islam, were found in early September outside mosques in Paris and the surrounding region, sparking outrage and alarm over rising-anti-Muslim hatred. Read More: Young migrant found dead on beach in France In late April, the Holocaust Memorial, three synagogues and a restaurant in Paris were defaced with green paint. Three Serbs have since been charge...

A typhoon that ripped roofs off homes has killed dozens of people across Vietnam and the Philippines, officials from both countries said on Monday, as a weakened storm Bualoi crossed into neighbouring Laos. The typhoon battered small islands in the centre of the Philippines last week, toppling trees and power pylons, unleashing floods and forcing 400,000 people to evacuate. A Philippine civil defence official said on Monday the death toll there had more than doubled to 24, with most of the victims either drowned or hit by debris. Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to the effects of human-driven climate change. In Vietnam, Bualoi made landfall as a typhoon late on Sunday, generating winds of 130 kilometres (80 miles) per hour. Thousands of houses and businesses were damaged or destroyed in the country's centre and north, and at least 11 people were killed, Vietnamese authorities told AFP on Monday. Images published by AFP showed corrugated ...

Israeli tanks moved deeper into Gaza City's residential districts on Sunday, as local health authorities said they have been unable to respond to dozens of desperate calls, expressing concern about the fate of residents in the targeted areas. Witnesses and medics said Israeli tanks had deepened their incursions in the Sabra, Tel Al-Hawa, Sheikh Radwan and Al-Naser neighborhoods, closing in on the heart and the western areas of Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering. Read More: Palestinian state would be 'national suicide' for Israel The Israeli military launched its long-threatened ground offensive on Gaza City on September 16 after weeks of intensifying strikes on the urban centre, forcing hundreds of Palestinians to flee although many still remain. Trump scheduled to meet Netanyahu Hamas, which Israel has demanded must surrender, said on Sunday it had not received a new proposal from mediators, after US President Donald Trump said Friday that ...

Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine early on Sunday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens, in one of the most sustained attacks on the capital since the full-scale war began. Neighbouring Poland closed its airspace near two southeastern cities and its air force scrambled jets in response until the danger had passed. Ukraine's military said that Russia launched 595 drones and 48 missiles overnight and its air defences shot down 568 drones and 43 missiles. It noted that the main target of the strike was the capital Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack, which lasted more than 12 hours, damaged a cardiology clinic, factories and residential buildings. Read More: Iran, Russia ink $25b nuclear power deal ahead of looming UN sanctions Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday it had carried out a "massive" attack on Ukraine using long-range air and sea-based weapons and drones to target military infrast...

Vietnam closed airports and evacuated thousands of people in potentially affected areas on Sunday as intensifying Typhoon Bualoi barrelled towards the country, days after causing at least 10 deaths and widespread flooding in the Philippines. The typhoon, which was packing wind speeds of up to 133kmh (83 mph) as of 0200 GMT, is expected to make landfall in central Vietnam late on Sunday, earlier than previous forecasts as it was travelling fast, according to Vietnam's national weather forecast agency. "This is a rapidly moving storm - nearly twice the average speed - with strong intensity and a broad area of impact. It is capable of triggering multiple natural disasters simultaneously, including powerful winds, heavy rainfall, flooding, flash floods, landslides, and coastal inundation," the agency added. Authorities in the central province of Ha Tinh have started to evacuate more than 15,000 people, the government said, adding thousands of troops were standing ready. Vietn...

They used to fight over oil. Now they fight over feeds. The long-running fight over TikTok has finally ended in Washington’s favour — at least on paper. ByteDance, under unrelenting US pressure, ceded its American operations to an Oracle-led consortium, with a government-approved trustee installed at the top. A Chinese platform has done what no foreign challenger ever managed: outpace Silicon Valley on its own turf. TikTok, owned by ByteDance, cracked the monopoly of American tech by outclassing its rivals. With 170 million US users, its algorithm left Facebook’s Reels and YouTube’s Shorts scrambling to catch up. In Washington, the panic was less about stolen selfies or shadowy propaganda and more about something far more consequential: losing control of the pipelines of attention, the algorithms that shape what people see, share and believe. The cloud capital. And that panic tells us something bigger: two worlds are colliding. The American way has been to hand the keys of the digital ...

US military leaders deployed around the world have started to prepare to travel to Virginia for a meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth next week, which some officials on Friday billed as a gathering focused on the "warrior ethos." Hegseth has summoned US generals and admirals from around the world to a meeting in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday, a rare gathering of the country's military leadership in one location. While two US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the event would focus on Hegseth's discussing the need to adhere to a "warrior ethos" throughout the military, others said the roughly one-hour-long event could touch on other areas. A third official said that given how many senior officials would be in one location, it was likely that substantive issues, like the administration's new national defense strategy and the expected shrinking of the senior-most ranks in the military, could be discussed-- even if they were not...

United Nations sanctions on Iran are set to be reimposed on Saturday, Britain's UN envoy said on Friday after a Russian and Chinese Security Council resolution to delay them failed, prompting Tehran to warn that the West bore responsibility for any consequences. The decision to restore sanctions by Western powers is likely to exacerbate tensions with Tehran, which has already warned that the action would be met with a harsh response and open the door to escalation. The Russian and Chinese push to delay the return of sanctions on Iran failed at the 15-member UN Security Council after only four countries supported their draft resolution. "This council does not have the necessary assurance that there is a clear path to a swift diplomatic solution," Britain's envoy to the United Nations, Barbara Wood, said after the vote. Read More: Iran sanctions look set to return after last-ditch UN vote "This council fulfilled the necessary steps of the snapback process set out i...

The United States said it would revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro's visa after he took to New York's streets on Friday in a pro-Palestinian demonstration and urged US soldiers to disobey President Donald Trump's orders. "We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions," the State Department posted on X. Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence. We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions. — Department of State (@StateDept) September 27, 2025 Petro, addressing a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters outside the UN headquarters in Manhattan, called for a global armed force with the priority to liberate Palestinians, adding, "This force has to be bigger than that of the United States." "That's why from here, from New York, I ask all the soldiers of the army of the United States not to point their guns at...

A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Longxi County in Dingxi City of China’s north-western Gansu province, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre. According to Reuters, the epicentre was recorded early on Saturday at 34.91 degrees north latitude and 104.58 degrees east longitude, at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), state-run Xinhua News reported, citing CENC. The tremor was strongly felt in Longxi, Zhangxian, Weiyuan and Lintao counties of Dingxi City, as well as in Wushan County of Tianshui City. Relief efforts are underway after a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Longxi County in Dingxi City in northwest China's Gansu Province Saturday morning. No casualties have been reported. pic.twitter.com/M7jSFD5Cdm — China Xinhua News (@XHNews) September 27, 2025 Read: Hong Kong closes ahead of Super Typhoon Ragasa No casualties have been reported so far, though residents said some houses in rural Longxi were damaged. Local fire-fighting and rescue authorities dispatched teams a...

Tropical Storm Humberto has strengthened into a hurricane over the Atlantic and is forecast to intensify further, with the US National Hurricane Center expecting it to become a major hurricane this weekend, the agency said on Friday. Hurricane Humberto is about 465 miles (750 km) northeast of the northern leeward islands packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h), the NHC added in its latest advisory. According to USA Today, while Hurricane Humberto continues to strengthen over the Atlantic and is forecast to become a major hurricane with wind speeds of 130 mph, it is not the storm posing the greatest threat to the US. The system that Americans need to watch most closely is not yet named, but is expected to develop into Tropical Storm Imelda in the coming days. Although Humberto is forecast to remain out at sea, it could still influence Imelda’s path through a meteorological process known as the Fujiwhara effect. “How the storms interact with one another and with other weathe...

President Donald Trump said on Friday he is close to a deal to end the war in Gaza and bring hostages home. "It's looking like we have a deal on Gaza. I think it's a deal that gets the hostages back, it's going to be a deal that ends the war," Trump told reporters before departing the White House to attend the Ryder Cup golf tournament in New York. Read More: Trump vows West Bank annexation by Israel will not happen He did not offer further details. While international leaders gathered at the United Nations in New York this week, the United States unveiled a 21-point Middle East peace plan aimed at ending the nearly two-year-long war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Also Read: Mass walkouts at UN as Netanyahu takes stage The proposal was circulated Tuesday to officials from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan, according to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump, who remains Israel's staunchest ally on the global stage...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage Friday at the United Nations to a mass walkout of delegations as well as cheers from supporters invited to the audience. Delegates were called to order as Netanyahu began his speech, the first of the day at the annual General Assembly. Netanyahu said his country has "crushed the bulk" of armed Palestinian group Hamas's "terror machine" and sought to finish the job "as fast as possible." Netanyahu celebrated what he said was a series of Israeli strategic victories in the past year that also included targeting Iran's nuclear program and assassinating the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. More deaths in Gaza  In Gaza, the civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed more than 20 people across the Palestinian territory on Friday, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the United Nations in New York. It comes as the Israeli military presses its offensive against ...

In 1990, an ancient human skull was unearthed in China's Hubei Province that was so badly deformed during fossilization that it was hard to gauge its significance. A new analysis now indicates that the skull belongs to an early branch of a sister lineage to our species in a finding that may shake up the understanding of how human evolution unfolded over the past million years or so. Researchers used sophisticated scanning and digital reconstruction techniques to determine the original shape of the skull, which is between 940,000 and 1.1 million years old, and compared it to more than 100 other human fossils. They said it appears to be the oldest-known member of an evolutionary lineage that included the enigmatic Denisovans who later roamed a wide swathe of Asia and interbred with our species Homo sapiens.  The skull, called Yunxian 2, appears to be that of a man possibly 30 to 40 years old, according to paleoanthropologist Xijun Ni of Fudan University and the Institute of Vertebrat...

The websites of both the UK and Canadian embassies in Israel have come under criticism after references to “Palestine” were added to their addresses. Global Affairs Canada updated its site to describe its Tel Aviv embassy as being located in “Palestine”, according to the Toronto Sun. The page initially listed “Israel and Palestine” before later being corrected. The UK government website has been updated. pic.twitter.com/VQBOqfPzZ3 — Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) September 24, 2025 The UK Foreign Office faced similar scrutiny after the website of its Consulate General in Jerusalem added “Palestine” at the bottom of the address. The location had previously been described as “East Jerusalem”. Read More: Muslim leaders reject Gaza displacement The changes quickly spread across social media, drawing thousands of views and comments. “This is nuts, and of note, they’re doing it all on Rosh HaShanah when a large portion of the Jewish community is offline,” wrote X user Dan Levy. In Canada, Liberal MP...

India signed a $7 billion order on Thursday for 97 domestically designed and built Tejas fighter jets as its air force retires its Russian MiG-21 fleet after decades of use. One of the world's largest arms importers, India has made the modernisation of its forces a top priority and has made repeated pushes to boost domestic production. The order for the Tejas fighters is one of the largest in terms of the number of fighter jets ordered by India in a single shot. Read More: At least 20 injured in Yemen’s drone strike on Israel   The first of the jets -- Tejas means "brilliance" in Hindi -- were commissioned into the air force in 2016, with the latest order for an upgraded version of the fighter, Mk-1A. India's Ministry of Defence said it had "signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for procurement of 97 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A, including 68 fighters and 29 twin seaters". HAL is a government defence company and more than 100 Indian ...

Italy has sent a second navy ship in support of the international aid flotilla that has come under drone attack while trying to deliver aid to Gaza, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday. The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try and break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. Many lawyers and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, are on board. "We have sent one ship and another is on its way, ready for any eventuality," Crosetto said in a speech to the lower house of parliament. Italy sent a first frigate on Wednesday, hours after the GSF said it was targeted by drones that dropped stun grenades and itching powder, in international waters 30 nautical miles (56 km) off the Greek island of Gavdos. Read: Muslim leaders reject Gaza displacement The GSF blamed Israel for the attack. The Israeli foreign ministry did not respond directly to the accusation, but repeated an invitation for the flotilla to drop humanitarian ai...

Oil prices edged down on Thursday, retreating from the previous session's seven-week high, as some investors took profits after US stocks closed lower and in anticipation of slower winter demand as well as the return of Kurdish supplies. Brent futures were down 49 cents, or 0.7%, to $68.82 a barrel at 0825 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate futures were down 54 cents, or 0.8%, to $64.45 a barrel. Both benchmarks gained 2.5% on Wednesday to reach their highest since August 1, driven by a surprise drop in US weekly crude inventories and concerns that Ukraine's attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure could disrupt supplies. "We have a generally risk-off market," said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS. Two consecutive down days for US stocks are putting pressure on oil prices, he added. Bearish expectations on supply fundamentals, with more oil expected soon from Iraq and Kurdistan, weighed further. "The return of Kurdish supplies adds back fears o...

Five people were killed in India on Wednesday as police clashed with hundreds of protesters demanding greater autonomy in the disputed territory of Ladakh, leaving "dozens" injured, police said. In the main city of Leh, demonstrators torched a police vehicle and the offices of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, while officers fired tear gas and used batons to disperse crowds, police said. "Five deaths were reported after the protests," a police officer in Leh told AFP, on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to journalists. "The number of injured is in the dozens." Another police officer, Regzin Sangdup, told AFP that "several people, including some policemen, were injured." Authorities later imposed restrictions on gatherings, banning assemblies of more than four people. The sparsely populated, high-altitude desert region, home to some 300,000 people, borders both China and Pakistan. Around half of Lad...

At least 20 people were injured on Wednesday after a drone launched from Yemen hit a hotel in Israel's Red Sea resort city of Eilat on the border with Jordan and Egypt, the Israeli national ambulance service Magen David Adom said. It said two people were seriously injured while others sustained medium to light injuries. The Israeli military said a drone launched from Yemen fell in Eilat, adding only that interception attempts were made. It later said that the attack targeted a hotel in the city. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the mayor of Eilat that he discussed with the Israeli military command ways to improve response to aerial threats on the city. The newspaper Israel Hayom, citing an initial investigation, said that air defence systems failed to intercept the drone. מאחל החלמה מלאה לפצועים מפגיעת הכטב"מ באילת. הטרוריסטים החות'ים מסרבים ללמוד מאיראן, לבנון ועזה - וילמדו בדרך הקשה. מי שפוגע בישראל ייפגע שבעתיים. — ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) Sept...

Russia's finance ministry proposed raising the rate of value-added tax on Wednesday to 22% from 20% in 2026 to fund military spending in what would be the fifth year of the war in Ukraine. The proposal comes as US President Donald Trump called Russia a ''paper tiger'' for "fighting aimlessly for three and a half years" and said that President Vladimir Putin and Russia were in "big economic trouble". Putin signalled last week that he was open to raising certain taxes to make financial ends meet during the war, noting that the United States had raised taxes on wealthy people during the Vietnam and Korean wars. Tax hike primarily to fund 'defence and security' The proposal is in line with a Reuters report last week. VAT accounted for 37% of federal budget revenues in 2024 and analysts estimate that the increase would generate about 1 trillion roubles ($11.9 billion) in additional revenue. The finance ministry, which said the tax hikes would ...

Taiwan's fire department said on Tuesday that 30 people were missing and two people had died in the eastern county of Hualien, where a barrier lake in the mountains burst its banks in a typhoon. Taiwan has since Monday been lashed by the outer rim of Super Typhoon Ragasa, which is now on its way to the southern Chinese coast. The barrier lake, formed by landslides triggered by earlier heavy rain in the sparsely populated east of Taiwan, burst its banks mid-afternoon on Tuesday, sending a wall of water into Guangfu township. The fire department put the number of missing in Hualien following the flood at 30, with two deaths reported in Guangfu. Read More: Hong Kong closes ahead of Super Typhoon Ragasa Ragasa lashed the northern Philippines and Taiwan on Monday with heavy rains and strong winds, forcing thousands to evacuate. "In some places, water temporarily rose as high as the second floor of a house and was about (as high as) one floor in the town centre, where the water has ...

US President Donald Trump warned Russia he is prepared to impose strong economic measures over the war in Ukraine and rejected a global move toward recognition of a Palestinian state, in a combative speech to the UN General Assembly. In his first UN address since regaining power in January, Trump spoke to dozens of world leaders, many of whom have been alarmed to see the United States turn away from traditional alliances in favor of an isolationist "America First" policy. Trump threatened new tariffs on Russia unless US allies joined in imposing identical measures to force President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. He planned to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later in the day. Read More: Major US allies break ranks on Palestine On the Middle East, Trump rejected recognition of a Palestinian state, echoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He called instead for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal to return all remaining captives taken in Hamas’ 2023 a...

Dozens of Western nations called on Monday for the reopening of the medical corridor between Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, offering to provide financial aid, medical staff and equipment to treat Gaza’s patients in the West Bank. "We strongly appeal to Israel to restore the medical corridor to the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, so medical evacuations from Gaza can be resumed and patients can get the treatment that they so urgently need on Palestinian territory," the countries said in a joint statement released by Canada. Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the European Union and Poland were among the two dozen signatories of the statement. The United States was not listed as a signatory. Read More: France, Saudi host summit to back two-state plan as Israel, US boycott "We furthermore urge Israel to lift restrictions on deliveries of medicine and medical equipment to Gaza," the statement said. Israel’s position There was no imme...

Denmark said drones that halted flights at its main airport on Monday were the most serious attack yet on its critical infrastructure and linked them to a series of suspected Russian drone incursions and other disruptions across Europe. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the drone activity seemed designed "to disrupt and create unrest", though authorities refrained from naming suspects. Sightings of two or three large drones near Copenhagen airport late on Monday halted all take-offs and landings for nearly four hours. Authorities in Norway also shut the airspace at Oslo airport for three hours after a drone was seen. The shutdowns at the Nordic region's busiest airports left tens of thousands of passengers stranded. Denmark not ruling out anything "What we saw last night is the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date," Frederiksen said in a statement sent to media on Tuesday. "We are obviously not ruling out any options in r...

The head of Iran’s atomic energy organisation, Mohammad Eslami, has arrived in Moscow for talks, Iranian state-run media said on Monday, as the United Nations considers whether to reimpose sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme. On Friday, the 15-member UN Security Council rejected a draft resolution to permanently lift sanctions on Tehran, a move backed by Russia and China and opposed by Britain, France and Germany, who want to reimpose restrictions. Read More: Pakistan for diplomatic solution to Iran N-issue The European nations accuse Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers that aimed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies having such intentions, while Russia says it supports Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy. Eslami, who is also Iran’s vice president, told Iranian state media that bilateral cooperation agreements would be signed during his visit to Russia, including a plan to construct eight nuclear power plants as Tehran...