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Vatican's careful words on pope-Rubio meeting imply deep tensions with Trump, say analysts

A Vatican statement after Pope Leo’s meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which said the two had pledged to improve bilateral relations, was a recognition of unprecedented tensions, insiders and analysts said. Rubio’s meeting on Thursday with Pope Leo, the first US pope, garnered wide public attention as President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the pontiff over the US-Israeli war on Iran. The Vatican statement after the 45-minute encounter, the first between the pope and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year, said the two leaders had “renewed the shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations”. “[The] statement makes it clear that, at present, there is work to do,” Peter Martin, a former diplomat at the US embassy to the Holy See who served during Democratic and Republican administrations, told Reuters. Break with tradition of saying all is well Austen Ivereigh, a Vatican specialist who co-wrote a book with the late Pope Francis, said the statement...
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Indonesia volcanic eruption kills 3 hikers: officials

Three hikers, including two foreigners, died and 10 were missing after Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s eastern Halmahera island erupted on Friday, spewing an ash cloud about 10 kilometres into the air, a local police chief said. “There are three dead, two foreigners and one resident of Ternate” island in eastern Indonesia, police chief Erlichson Pasaribu of North Halmahera district told Kompas TV. Seven people had come down safely, Erlichson said, but 10 more were missing in an area declared off-limits to visitors last month after scientists observed an increase in volcanic activity. According to Indonesia’s BNPB disaster mitigation agency, five climbers were injured in the eruption. “The joint teams from the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) and the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) continue to conduct sweeps and evacuations of climbers in the mountain area as volcanic activity increases,” spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement. Erlichson said the rescue opera...
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Anyone who thinks there is space for war between two nuclear neighbours is crazy, DG ISPR says

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry is currently addressing a press conference. The deputy chief of naval staff (operations), Rear Admiral Shafaat Ali, and the deputy chief of air staff (projects), Air Vice Marshal, Tariq Ghazi, are also present alongside him. The press conference comes as the nation commemorates the one-year anniversary of Marka-i-Haq. Last year’s military conflict with India, starting from the April 22 Pahalgam attack to the end of Pakistan’s Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, with a ceasefire ending a military escalation between the two countries on May 10, has been called “ Marka-i-Haq ” (Battle of Truth) by the state. “We welcome you to ISPR on this happy day,” he said at the outset of his presser, congratulating the nation on the one-year anniversary of Marka-i-Haq . He said that the country’s armed forces had risen to the nation’s expectations and defeated a much larger enemy with multi...
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Doctors Without Borders says Israel has 'manufactured malnutrition crisis' in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders on Thursday accused Israel of having deliberately restricted food and aid in Gaza, creating a “manufactured malnutrition crisis” with particularly devastating impacts on infants and pregnant and breastfeeding women. The report also examined the harm done by the US- and Israeli-backed private organisation set up last year to largely replace UN distribution of aid in Gaza. The medical charity, known by its French acronym MSF, based its case on an analysis of the situation between late 2024 and early 2026 at four health facilities it supports in the Gaza Strip. That analysis showed significantly higher levels of prematurity and mortality among infants born to malnourished mothers, and spikes in miscarriages, it said. MSF linked these outcomes with Israel’s blockade of essential goods and attacks on civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities. “Insecurity, displacement, restrictions on aid, and limited access to food...
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PTI decries reports of Bushra Bibi's 'sudden, secret' hospital visit

The PTI on Thursday expressed concern and anger over reports of Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi being “suddenly and secretly” taken to the hospital in the middle of the night and then taken back to jail. “The entire matter is shrouded in unusual secrecy, a lack of transparency, and serious human rights violations, which have raised countless questions in the minds of the nation,” the party said. The statement came after media reports emerged on Wednesday night alleging that Bushra Bibi, who is currently incarcerated at Adiala jail, was taken to a hospital under tight security for a follow-up examination of her eye. Last month, Bushra Bibi underwent eye surgery at a Rawalpindi hospital. According to prison authorities, she was diagnosed with retinal detachment in the right eye, and doctors had advised surgery. “Why is the nation not being informed about her illness, if her condition deteriorated to the extent that she had to be urgently...
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London police set up specialist Jewish protection team

British police are setting up a new team of 100 officers, including counter terrorism specialists, to help protect Jewish communities across London after a series of anti-Semitic attacks, including the stabbing of two men. The plan announced on Wednesday for a dedicated protection team comes as officers announced more arrests for anti-Semitism, including detaining a 35-year-old man after rocks were thrown at an ambulance belonging to the Jewish community. London’s top police boss Mark Rowley said Jewish communities were facing “sustained threats” from hostile state actors as well as extreme right-wing groups and elements of the extreme left. Detectives are examining whether the arson incidents have possible Iranian links, after British security officials warned that Iran was using criminal proxies to carry out hostile activity. Since late March, there have been a number of high-profile arson attacks with four Jewish ambulances burned and synagogues targeted . Last week, two Jewis...
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Going Green with Solar

PAKISTAN is undergoing an energy revolution unlike any the country’s planners designed, any donor funded, or any government blueprint envisioned. Rooftop by rooftop, tubewell by tubewell, factory floor by factory floor, ordinary Pakistanis are building one of the fastest clean energy transitions ever recorded. In a country simultaneously battered by catastrophic floods, record-breaking heatwaves and an electricity tariff crisis of its own making, the sun has become both an escape route and, quietly, a contributor to Pakistan’s climate commitments. This is the story of that revolution, and the storm gathering in its wake. The roots of Pakistan’s solar revolution lie in a catastrophic confluence of policy failure, global market forces and consumer desperation. Between 2021 and 2024, electricity tariffs surged by 155 per cent, driven by IMF-mandated removal of subsidies, soaring fuel costs from the Russia-Ukraine war, and capacity payments owed to idle CPEC-era thermal plants. At the pea...
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