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Mountain ballot: why G-B election matters to Pakistan

On June 7, Gilgit-Baltistan will go to the polls. For many in the rest of Pakistan, this may appear to be a routine election in a distant mountain territory. It is not. The GB election is a test of how Pakistan understands representation, development and accountability in one of its strategically important, constitutionally unsettled regions. The deeper question is not only who wins. It is whether voters are being offered a serious political choice, or only a familiar contest of personalities, memories and claims over past projects. Election campaigns everywhere contain an element of memory. Candidates return to their constituencies and remind voters of roads built, schools upgraded, bridges approved, jobs arranged and schemes sanctioned. In Gilgit-Baltistan, this ritual is intense. Development is slow, resources are scarce, and government machinery can take years to turn an idea into a road, hospital unit or water supply scheme. This creates a peculiar campaign comedy: one cand...
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Israeli push to take more of Gaza raises alarm as Hamas warns against escalation

Hamas said on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration that his country would expand its area of control in Gaza was a ​dangerous escalation, as European states and residents of the Palestinian territory also voiced alarm at the plan. Under a ceasefire deal in October, Israel's military was to remain in control ‌of 53% of Gaza, but Netanyahu said on Friday that it would expand that area to an initial 70%, without laying out details or a timeline. The Palestinian group described his comments as a plan for ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians. Major disputes postponed "Any attempt to impose a new reality of occupation in Gaza is null and illegitimate," said Ismail al-Thawabta, ​head of the Gaza government media office, adding that Netanyahu's statement "represents a dangerous escalation". Also Read: Trump Board of Peace's official Gaza fund is empty More than eight months into the ceasefire,...
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PM, ISPR honour UN peacekeepers, reaffirm Pakistan’s role in global peace missions

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said Pakistan joined the international community in paying rich tribute to the brave men and women serving under the United Nations flag on the occasion of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. In a message issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, the day, observed annually across the world, recognises the invaluable services and sacrifices rendered by military, police and civilian peacekeepers deployed in conflict-affected regions in pursuit of global peace and security. This year’s observance is being commemorated under the theme “Invest in Peace”, underscoring the critical importance of sustained political commitment and financial support for the promotion of durable peace and the protection of human lives worldwide, the statement added. "The day also commemorates the establishment of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), the first-ever UN peacekeeping mission...
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Iranian FM Spokesperson condemns US threats against Oman

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei condemned the threats by US officials against Oman, according to an X post from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the statement, "He considered the threat by the US Treasury Secretary to impose sanctions on Oman" an attempt to "blackmail an independent state and a member of the United Nations." أدان المتحدث باسم الخارجية، بشدة التهديدات التي أطلقها المسؤولون الأمريكيون لسلطنة #عمان. واعتبر تهديد وزير الخزانة الأميركي بفرض عقوبات على عُمان، والذي جاء بعد التهديد السابق بـ"تدمير" عُمان، محاولة لابتزاز دولة مستقلة عضو في الأمم المتحدة ودليلاً آخر على الإفلاس الأخلاقي.. 1/2 — الخارجية الإيرانية (@IRIMFA_AR) May 29, 2026 He viewed the attempt as "evidence of moral bankruptcy" of the systems and governance in the US, and the threat of sanctions was "a completely unlawful measure that contradicts the fundamental principles of the United Nations...
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Trump's face could appear on US $250 bill

President Donald Trump could soon appear on a new $250 bill in the Republicans' latest move to shatter US traditions by putting his personal stamp on national institutions. A proposal for the new bill, featuring a glaring Trump, was reported Thursday by the Washington Post. If carried out, it would be the first time the image of a living person -- let alone a president -- had appeared on US currency in a century and a half. Read: Pentagon says US military personnel are reportedly being targeted using location data The design mock-up obtained by the Washington Post also shows the words "America 250 anniversary," a nod to the United States declaring its independence on July 4, 1776. According to the Post, two Trump appointees at the Treasury Department last year began urging staff at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare prototypes. Employees there, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Post that the plan raised concerns because it would viol...
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Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it targeted US airbase in Kuwait

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said early on Thursday that it targeted a US airbase in Kuwait in response to an American aerial strike near Bandar Abbas Airport in southern Iran. According to Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency, the IRGC said the retaliatory strike came at 4:50 am (0120GMT), hours after what it described as a US assault on a point near the port city's airport using aerial projectiles. "This response is a serious warning so that the enemy knows that aggression will not go unanswered, and if repeated, our response will be more decisive," it said. There was no immediate response from the US military. Earlier in the day, a US official told Anadolu that US forces shot down four Iranian drones that posed a threat near the Strait of Hormuz and struck an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was preparing to launch a fifth drone. "These actions were measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ...
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Ukranian President Zelensky asks Trump for air defence as Russia escalates strike threats

President Volodymyr Zelensky urged United States counterpart Donald Trump to help Ukraine with air ‌defence systems and interceptors as Russia threatens new strikes, saying that ballistic missiles remain Moscow's "last major advantage on the battlefield". In a letter to Trump and the US Congress, seen by Reuters, Zelensky said: "I ask for your help in protecting Ukraine's skies from Russian missiles. We have ​already proposed that Ukraine is ready to purchase the number of Patriot systems and interceptor missiles we ​need." This week, I prepared a special letter addressed to the President of the United States and to Congress. And yesterday, the letter was officially delivered to the institutions in Washington. It is quite rare for the leader of another state to address both the President and… pic.twitter.com/FtHmdimd9A — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 27, 2026 Ukraine's only means to sh...
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