Blaze News - Pakistan

The UN Security Council will hold a meeting on Lebanon on Monday, diplomatic sources told Anadolu. The meeting followed a request by France, which described Israel's ongoing military operations in the country as "extremely concerning." According to sources, Russia "strongly" supported France's request for a meeting. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot made the request on Sunday, calling for urgent international attention to the situation as Israeli strikes continued despite a ceasefire that took effect on April 17 and was subsequently extended for 45 days following indirect US-mediated talks. Macron says 'nothing justifies' escalation in southern Lebanon French President Emmanuel Macron said that “nothing justifies” the ongoing escalation in southern Lebanon, as tensions continue to rise in the region. “Nothing justifies the major escalation currently underway in southern Lebanon. France will continue its support for ...

Israeli occupiers on Sunday stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied East Jerusalem under police protection, amid Palestinian warnings of "Judaization" plans. Omar Rajoub, director of the Media Department at the Jerusalem Governorate, told Anadolu that "raising the Israeli flag inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, along with performing provocative rituals, is part of a systematic and deliberate official Israeli policy led by the extremist occupation government." "These practices aim to impose new realities by force in occupied East Jerusalem and undermine the historical and legal status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque," he added. Read: Dozens of Israeli occupiers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under police protection He warned that "occupiers' actions inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque are part of an ongoing colonial plan targeting the spatial and temporal division of the mosque, the Judaization of the city to obliterate its religious and historical id...

In Pakistan, one of the most devastating casualties of militancy has been the fight against polio. Although polio is a preventable disease, children in Pakistan remain vulnerable because those working to eradicate the disease are themselves being targeted. Hundreds of polio workers and security personnel have been killed over the years. They are not combatants but harmless individuals moving door to door, carrying vaccines to protect children from lifelong paralysis. By targeting these polio workers, militants are weaponising fear against the most vulnerable segment of society. This obstruction of polio eradication efforts perpetuates a preventable suffering, which is a direct attack not just on a critical global health mission but on humanity itself. These health workers carry vaccines, not weapons, yet extremist groups hunt them as though they are enemies rather than individuals dedicated to safeguarding children's futures. By obstructing vaccination efforts, militant grou...

Pakistan outspun Australia by five wickets in the first one-day international in Rawalpindi with spinner Arafat Minhas becoming the first home bowler to take five wickets on ODI debut on Saturday. Minhas finished with 5-32 as an under-strength Australia were bowled out for 200 in 44.1 overs before Pakistan chased down the target in 42.3 overs for a memorable win in their 1,000 ODI. https://ift.tt/R8yiedu Babar Azam notched a 94-ball 69 while Ghazi Ghori hit an impressive 92-ball 65 as Australia's inexperienced spinners failed to match Pakistan's slow bowlers on a dry spin-assisting Pindi Stadium pitch. Read: Arafat Minhas makes history with five-wicket haul on debut against Australia Azam and Ghori added 127 runs for the third wicket after Sahibzada Farhan (28) and Maaz Sadaqat (eight) fell with the score at 49. Azam hit four boundaries and a six while Ghori's knock had eight hits to the rope before both fell to pacer Nathan Ellis, but with just 16 to win tha...

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday welcomed the inclusion of Israel on the United Nations blacklist for sexual violence in conflict, calling the move “realistic and objective”. “UN inclusion of Israel on the ‘List of Shame’ for Perpetrators of Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones is a scientific and logical outcome,” a Palestinian Foreign Ministry statement said. The ministry expressed support for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres amid what it described as Israeli attempts to influence the UN report that placed Israel on the list. It said that Israel and its “official and unofficial institutions have practiced torture, sexual violence and rape against our people in the occupied Palestinian territory, especially in detention centres". Israel “has used sexual violence as a weapon of war, which constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity", It added. The statement said that Israel has employed a “systemat...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he was not yet satisfied ​on a deal with Iran, adding that the US ‌was not discussing easing sanctions on the country. Speaking to reporters at a cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump said that ​Iran wants to make a deal. "Iran is very ​much intent, they want very much to make a ⁠deal. So far they haven't gotten there ... we're not ​satisfied with it, but we will be. We will ​be either that or we'll have to just finish the job," Trump said. He added that under a potential framework deal with Tehran, the ​Strait of Hormuz would open immediately but that it ​would not be controlled by anybody. "We'll watch over it, but nobody's ‌going ⁠to control it. That's part of the negotiation that we have. They would like to control it. Nobody's going to control it. It's international waters and Oman will behave ​just like everybody ​else or ⁠we'll have to blow them up," Tru...

A strengthening high-pressure system in the upper atmosphere is expected to intensify heatwave conditions across Sindh, while Karachi may experience extremely hot and humid weather during all three days of Eidul Adha. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, humidity levels in Karachi could rise to 80 per cent in the morning and 70 per cent in the evening, making temperatures feel up to five degrees Celsius higher than the actual reading. Although sea breezes are expected to remain active throughout Eid, the heat intensity could still feel as high as 42°C. On Tuesday, Karachi recorded a maximum temperature of 36.2°C, but due to 62 per cent humidity, the heat index reached an uncomfortable 42°C. Meanwhile, Jacobabad recorded the highest temperature in Sindh at 49.5°C during extreme heat conditions. The Met Office said the ongoing high-pressure system has become stronger, causing moderate to severe heatwave conditions in most districts of Sindh until Ma...

Mexican President Claudia ​Sheinbaum said on Monday her government agreed to allow ‌the Iranian national football team to stay in Mexico during the World Cup, adding that the United States did not want ​to host the team. Sheinbaum said football's governing body FIFA ​approached her government after the US said it ⁠did not want Iran's squad to stay in the ​country throughout the tournament, despite Iran playing all three of ​its group matches there. "We have no reason to deny them the possibility of staying in Mexico," Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference. The ​White House and the State Department did not immediately ​respond to a request for comment. Read More: Iran move WC base to Mexico Mehdi Taj, head of Iran's football ‌federation, ⁠said on Saturday the team's base would be moved from Arizona to the Mexican border city of Tijuana during the tournament. Taj added that the move would help avoid visa-related complications ​and ...

Tempers flared and proceedings descended into chaos in the Sindh Assembly on Monday as lawmakers from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) staged a fierce protest over Karachi’s deepening water crisis, turning the house into a shouting arena where slogans drowned out official business and even the Question Hour became impossible to conduct. The session, chaired by Deputy Speaker Anthony Naveed, witnessed unprecedented uproar as MQM lawmakers rose from their seats and chanted slogans demanding immediate restoration of water supply to Karachi’s parched neighbourhoods. The assembly floor resembled a fish market as opposition members refused to let proceedings continue, insisting that the city’s worsening water shortage be addressed without delay. Despite repeated appeals from the chair to maintain order and proceed with the scheduled agenda, MQM legislators continued their protest, arguing that Karachi residents were enduring unbearable conditions amid in...

Bangladesh's health authorities on Sunday recorded 16 more fatalities of children with measles-like symptoms, taking the death toll to 528 since mid-March. Of the new fatalities, 10 were from the Dhaka division, raising the total deaths to 224 in this division alone, according to the Directorate General of Health Services. During the past 24 hours, 1,434 new cases of measles and measles symptoms have been registered across the country. The South Asian nation of 175 million people has struggled to confirm infections promptly because of a shortage of testing kits. Since March 15, a total of 442 children have died in the country due to measles-like symptoms, with 86 losing their lives after being medically diagnosed with measles. Read More: BD measles deaths near 500 but vaccines offer hope As many as 63,813 children have reported symptoms of measles in the same period, 50,558 of them were admitted to the hospital, and 46,214 recovered. Measles is a highly contagious viral...

A state-of-the-art laboratory has been formally inaugurated at Bacha Khan Medical Complex MTI, Swabi, with officials saying it would offer a full range of modern diagnostic facilities. The facility, established above the new emergency block of the teaching hospital, was inaugurated by former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Labour Minister Faisal Khan Tarkai, who jointly cut the ribbon at the ceremony. UNICEF K-P Health Team Lead Dr Inamullah, members of the hospital administration, and MTI Swabi board member Dr Tufail Muhammad, along with other dignitaries, were also in attendance. Read: K-P 'revolutionises' healthcare system Hospital Director Dr Khalid Masood briefed the visiting delegation on the laboratory’s capabilities, stating that it was equipped with all essential modern diagnostic services, including microbiology, haematology, histopathology, TB culture, and other advanced testing facilities. Following the inauguration, the d...

We are the democrats and defend democracy to death. We are the saviours of the country. We'll change the fate of the country - once again - should we be given more power. We don't play politics; politics forcibly plays us. We liberate politics. Don't we? For we are politically apolitical and apolitically political. We guaranteed civil supremacy and democratic tenets. All at the cost of our politics. We, the public servants, serve the masses that no others could. We are the guardians of the Constitution. We are the fountainheads and speakers of truth. We, the intellectuals, guard the people's interests. We are the champions of the divine tenets. We are personifications of Prometheus, Moses, Theseus, Heracles, Mandela, King Arthur and the reincarnations of Houyi, Beowulf and Cú Chulainn. These catchphrases have been preached by all the centres of power for decades in the country. What these aphorisms truly mean - and whether they align with reality - demands h...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, on Saturday for what the Chinese Foreign Ministry described as an “important high-level exchange” between the two countries as they mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations. I have arrived in the beautiful and dynamic city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, as part of my official visit to China. I am deeply grateful to the leadership of Zhejiang Province for the warm welcome extended to me and my delegation. We look forward to strengthening practical… pic.twitter.com/T60RoRsDrh — Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) May 23, 2026 “China hopes that both sides will take the visit as an opportunity to carry forward the traditional friendship, deepen cooperation across the board, and write a new chapter in building an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. The visit — from May 23 to 26 — is e...

Saad Edhi, a prominent human rights activist and son of Edhi Foundation chairman Faisal Edhi, who was part of the Gaza aid flotilla “Sumud Flotilla”, returned to Pakistan on Saturday after being released from Israeli custody. Earlier this week, Israeli forces detained Saad along with other volunteers after intercepting the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was carrying humanitarian aid, including medicine and food, for victims in Gaza. However, he was released a day later, a development later confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. Upon his arrival at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport, he was accorded a warm welcome, where his wife and daughter were also present to receive him. Also Read: DPM Dar confirms release of Saad Edhi, flotilla activists from Israeli detention Speaking on the occasion, Saad said his journey began on May 14 and that he was detained by Israeli forces in international waters, around 200 nautical miles from Gaza....

Multiple users, including Pakistani journalists, have been sharing a video on social media platforms X and YouTube since May 21, 2026, claiming it shows rats roaming inside Civil Hospital Quetta. However, the clip is from Gonda Medical College in Uttar Pradesh, India. How it started On May 21, Pakistani actor Asad Malik shared a video on X showing rats roaming inside a hospital with the following caption: “Civil Hospital Quetta. This is the state of our government hospitals.” The post gained 63,000 views. Renowned Pakistani anchorperson Mubashir Lucman also shared the same video on X on May 22, 2026, with the caption: “Civil Hospital Quetta. Got this absolutely scary video on a WhatsApp group. Will someone take notice?” The post gained 40,100 views. Nayeema Mahjoor, a fiction writer and journalist, also shared the same video on X in a similar context with the following caption: “This is like a Hantavirus breeding ground. Where is the health minis...

Tulsi Gabbard is resigning from her job ​as President Donald Trump's ‌director of national intelligence, Fox News Digital reported on Friday, citing ​her resignation letter. I am deeply grateful for the trust President Trump placed in me and for the opportunity to lead @ODNIgov for the last year and a half. Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026. My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare… pic.twitter.com/PS0Dxp5zpd — Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) May 22, 2026 Gabbard advised ​Trump of her intention to ⁠step down during an Oval ​Office meeting on Friday, the ​news outlet reported. The resignation is effective June 30, it said. In her ​resignation letter, Gabbard told ​Trump she was "deeply grateful for the trust ‌you ⁠placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director ​of National ​Intelligence ⁠for the last year and a half", Fox ​News Digital reported. Sh...

Sindh on Thursday decided to impose a ban on the inter-provincial movement of wheat as part of a broader strategy to secure food supplies, curb hoarding, and stabilise market availability. Briefing the media on key cabinet decisions taken under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said the move came amid rising wheat prices and aimed to ensure fair distribution and price stability across the province. He said the cabinet meeting approved a wide-ranging reform and development agenda covering health, education, transport, governance, and infrastructure, which reflected what he described as a “development-driven approach” of the provincial government. سینئر صوبائی وزیر شرجیل انعام میمن نے پریس کانفرنس سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے کہا ہے کہ سندھ حکومت کی مؤثر پالیسیوں کے باعث گندم کی بمپر فصل ہوئی ہے۔ سندھ حکومت نے بے نظیر ہاری کارڈ کے ذریعے کسانوں کی معاونت کی ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ سندھ کابینہ نے گندم کی نقل و ...