Web Desk/AFP

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Middle East

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WASHINGTON: Bill Clinton has offered an explanation for viral photos released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files that show the former US president in a hot tub and a pool with a woman whose face is redacted. Clinton and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, testified last week before a Republican-led congressional panel investigating convicted sex offender Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Clinton told the House Oversight Committee he had no knowledge of the sex crimes of Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. During the deposition, the 79-year-old former president was asked about a photo that shows him in a hot tub with a woman whose face is covered with a black square and another picture of him in a swimming pool with Maxwell and an unidentified woman. Clinton said the photos were taken at a hotel during a visit he made to Brunei at the invitation of the Sultan, who was interested in helping with the Clinton Foundation&#39;s AIDS initiative. &quot;He invited me to stay there and he said, &#39;I want you to stay at this hotel and I hope you&#39;ll use the pool,&#39;&quot; Clinton said. &quot;I swam around. I sat in the hot tub for five minutes or whatever it was and I got up and went to bed,&quot; he said. &quot;I also believe that there was a Secret Service agent there at the other end of the pool.&quot; Clinton said he did not know the identity of the unidentified woman in the photos but he believed she was a member of the traveling party. &quot;I don&#39;t know who that is,&quot; he said. Asked if he had &quot;engaged in any sexual activities&quot; with the woman in the photos, Clinton replied: &quot;No.&quot; Hillary Clinton told the congressional panel that she did not know Epstein, and Bill Clinton said he broke ties with him before the financier&#39;s sex crimes came to light in 2008. Bill Clinton acknowledged during his testimony that he flew on Epstein&#39;s private plane several times in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work. The depositions were held behind closed doors in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons reside, and the committee released videos of their testimony on Monday. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking minor girls to Epstein. Both Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump figure prominently in the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice but neither has been formally accused of any wrongdoing. Clinton told the committee that Trump, a one-time close friend of Epstein, &quot;never said anything to me to make me think he was involved in anything improper with regard to Epstein either.&quot;

Americas

Hillary says she did not know Epstein, Bill says he broke ties with him before the financier's sex crimes came to light in 2008, acknowledges that he flew on Epstein's private plane several times in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work.



Ex-US president Clinton explains hot tub, pool photos from Epstein files

Web Desk

Israel says it has launched another “broad wave” of strikes after munitions debris fell in Tel Aviv following a new barrage of Iranian missiles; Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is to be buried in the holy city of Mashhad; and Donald Trump says the US Navy could escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz to safeguard shipping routes.

Macron says US, Israel acted 'outside international law' in Iran strikes

WASHINGTON: Social media platform X announced Tuesday it would suspend creators from its revenue sharing program for 90 days if they post AI-generated videos of armed conflicts without disclosing they were artificially made, the company said.&nbsp;The policy change, announced by an X executive on the Elon Musk-owned platform, targets what the company described as a threat to information authenticity during wartime, as generative AI tools make it increasingly easy to produce misleading footage.&nbsp;&quot;During times of war, it is critical that people have access to authentic information on the ground,&quot; X&#39;s head of product Nikita Bier said, adding that current AI technologies make it &quot;trivial to create content that can mislead people.&quot;

Artificial Intelligence

Social media platform X said it will suspend creators for 90 days from its revenue-sharing program if they post AI-generated armed conflict videos without disclosure. The move aims to protect information authenticity during war time, amid growing misuse of generative AI tools.

X suspends revenue sharing for undisclosed AI war videos

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan passed on to Iran Saudi assurances that their territory would not be used for attacks against it. This resulted in minimal or no attacks by Iran on Saudi Arabia and Oman during the recent escalation, said Pakistan&rsquo;s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday.&nbsp;Addressing a media briefing at the Foreign Office in Islamabad, the foreign minister said that Pakistan remains engaged in &quot;shuttle communication&quot; to de-escalate the recent situation in the Middle East.&nbsp;&nbsp;Dar said he spoke with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, and mentioned the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed in September 2025.&nbsp;&nbsp;Based on the agreement, Dar said that he sought assurances from the Saudis and passed them on to the Iranian side, reiterating that Saudi territory would not be used for attacks against Iran. Because of these assurances, he said, there have been minimal or no Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia and Oman during the recent escalation.&nbsp;In the session, the foreign minister said that he has been in contact with foreign ministers of Turkey, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Palestine, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain, as well as representatives from the European Union, to promote diplomacy and dialogue.&nbsp;Regarding Afghanistan, Dar said that Pakistan continues to pursue regional connectivity, specifically a rail project connecting Uzbekistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan.&nbsp;He expressed disappointment that the current Afghan regime has failed to prevent its soil from being used by terrorist groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).&nbsp;Addressing concerns about stranded Pakistanis in Iran and the Gulf region amid the fluid security situation, Foreign Minister Dar noted that, with the exception of Oman and Saudi Arabia, most airspace in the region is currently closed.&nbsp;To assist stuck citizens, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has activated its Crisis Management Unit, which is operational 24/7.&nbsp;&nbsp;The minister said that 792 Pakistanis have already returned from Iran through various border points: 694 via Taftan, 59 via Ramdan, and 39 via Astara. Additionally, 46 students returned through Taftan and 62 through Ramdan, he added.&nbsp;Because the northern part of Iran is closer to Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijan government is providing &quot;Visa on Arrival&quot; and logistical support to Pakistanis, he added.So far, 64 Pakistanis have reached Azerbaijan from Iran; 42 have arrived in Lahore via Azal Airlines&nbsp;&lsquo;Unwarranted&rsquo;Earlier, Foreign Minister Dar sharply condemned the recent attack on Iran and the martyrdom of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling for an immediate halt to regional escalation through diplomacy.&nbsp;Addressing the Senate, Dar described the Feb. 28 strike against Iran as &quot;unwarranted&quot; and expressed deep concern over the violation of international law, noting the &quot;age-old convention&quot; that heads of state should not be targeted.&nbsp;&quot;The government and the people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of grief and sorrow,&quot; Dar said, following a formal statement of condolence from the prime minister.&nbsp;The deputy prime minister revealed that, prior to the escalation, Pakistan had been actively mediating between the United States and Iran, alongside Oman.&nbsp;&nbsp;He noted that IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi had expressed optimism about the &quot;positive direction&quot; of the talks during a recent meeting in Austria.&nbsp;Dar told the Senate that Pakistan has consistently advocated for Iran&#39;s right to the &quot;peaceful use of nuclear energy.&quot; He disclosed that Pakistan had argued against the total destruction of Iran&#39;s nuclear infrastructure, supporting the 3.67% enrichment level previously accepted under the JCPOA, provided it remained under international surveillance.&nbsp;According to Dar, both Washington and Tehran had previously expressed willingness to use Islamabad as a venue for mediation.

Foreign Affairs

Security

Pakistan passed on to Iran Saudi assurances that its territory would not be used for attacks against it, resulting in minimal or no attacks by Iran on Saudi Arabia and Oman during the recent escalation

Pakistan passed on Saudi assurances to Iran of no use of territory: Dar   

RIYADH: The US embassy in Riyadh on Tuesday warned of an imminent attack in the eastern Saudi city of Dhahran, home to much of the kingdom&#39;s energy installations along the Gulf coast.&nbsp;&quot;There is a threat of imminent missile and UAV attacks over Dhahran. Do not come to the US Consulate&quot; the embassy wrote on its official X account.&nbsp;The warning came just hours after the US mission in Riyadh was attacked by two drones that sparked a small fire on the embassy grounds, as Iran pressed on with retaliatory strikes across the Gulf.&nbsp;On Monday, the massive Ras Tanura refinery on Saudi Arabia&#39;s Gulf coast went into partial shutdown after a strike by drones.&nbsp;The complex run by the Saudi state oil giant Aramco is home to one of the largest refineries in the entire Middle East and a cornerstone of the kingdom&#39;s energy sector.&nbsp;Saudi Arabia is the world&#39;s biggest oil exporter, with most of its oil fields and petroleum infrastructure located along its eastern coast, across the Gulf from Iran.

Asia

The US embassy in Riyadh warned of imminent missile and drone attacks over Dhahran after two drones struck the mission. A strike also partially shut Ras Tanura refinery, highlighting threats to Saudi Arabia’s vital eastern oil infrastructure.

US embassy warns of imminent attack in eastern Saudi Arabia

TEHRAN: Iran on Tuesday urged the United Nations Security Council to take action to stop the Islamic republic&#39;s war with Israel and the United States.&nbsp;&quot;The United Nations Security Council has a duty... if it wishes, it can certainly act, because there is no obstacle to its action except its own will,&quot; said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a foreign ministry briefing.

Iran asked the United Nations Security Council to help stop its war with Israel and the United States. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the council can take action if it wants to and has the will to do so.

Iran urges UN Security Council to move to stop war

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) on Tuesday dismissed media reports claiming a partial closure of the country&rsquo;s airspace, terming the interpretation &ldquo;incorrect and misleading.&rdquo; The authority clarified that a recently issued Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was a routine operational advisory. The NOTAM announces the temporary unavailability of specific Air Traffic Services (ATS) route segments within the Karachi and Lahore Flight Information Regions during daily time windows from 0400 to 1000 UTC (0900 to 1500 Pakistan Standard Time) from March 3 to 31. The PAA said the route segments are closed from ground level to unlimited altitude for standard operational reasons, stressing that the country&rsquo;s airspace remains fully open and safe for all civil aviation traffic, including commercial flights. &ldquo;No restrictions have been imposed on commercial operations, arrivals, departures, or overflights across Pakistan,&rdquo; the authority said, adding that alternative routing options are available and routinely used where required. Air traffic services across the country are continuing without disruption, and controllers and airport teams are managing flight operations normally, the statement added. The authority urged media outlets and social media users to rely on official statements to avoid unnecessary concern among passengers and the public.

An Israeli Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refuelling aircraft flies over Tel Aviv on February 28, 2026. (Photo: AFP/File)

The authority clarifies that a recently issued Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was a routine operational advisory.

Pakistan Airports Authority rejects reports of airspace ‘partial closure’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asif warned that a Zionist-orchestrated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-israel-strikes-iran-live-updates" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">war against Iran</a>&nbsp;aims to extend Israeli influence to Pakistan&rsquo;s border, threatening to surround the nuclear-armed nation with a joint hostile front. The defense minister characterized Zionism &ldquo;as a primary threat to humanity&rdquo; and the &ldquo;cause of every catastrophe in the Islamic world&rdquo; since Israel&rsquo;s establishment. He stated that Zionist ideology and the state have controlled the global economic system for a century. Khawaja Asif stated that major world powers currently remain hostage to these interests. Pakistan&rsquo;s nuclear deterrent and sovereignty The minister stated that Pakistan&rsquo;s status as a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/un-nuclear-agency-to-hold-extraordinary-meeting-on-iran-monday" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">nuclear power</a>&nbsp;protects its national sovereignty. He credited the courage of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for conducting nuclear tests and praised the worldwide recognition of the nation&#39;s armed forces. Khawaja Asif said the country remains indebted to its &ldquo;martyrs and ghazis&rdquo; for protecting its security. Threats of regional encirclement The defense minister stated that a war is being imposed on Iran despite its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-lawmakers-say-no-evidence-iran-had-planned-first-strike-on-us" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">readiness for agreements</a>. He said the agenda seeks to create a &quot;single point&quot; of enmity involving Afghanistan, Iran, and India. This alignment would make Pakistani borders insecure and turn the nation into a &quot;vassal state.&quot; &ldquo;Despite Iran&#39;s readiness for agreement, a war has been imposed upon them, and its agenda, orchestrated by the Zionists, includes bringing Israel&#39;s influence right up to Pakistan&#39;s border. The joint single point agenda of Afghanistan, Iran, and India will then be enmity towards Pakistan, making our borders insecure, surrounding us with enemies from all sides, and turning Pakistan into a vassal state,&rdquo; he said. Call for national unity The defense minister urged all 250 million Pakistanis to look past political and religious affiliations to understand these intentions. He called for unity across the Muslim world to recognize its &ldquo;eternal enemies.&rdquo; Khawaja Asif concluded with prayers for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/arab-countries-condemn-us-ambassadors-remarks-on-israels-right-to-mideast-land" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">freedom of Palestine</a> and the continued strength of Pakistan.

Defense Minister of Pakistan Khawaja Muhammad Asif. (Associated Press of Pakistan)

Defense Minister Khawaja Asif says Israel is creating a hostile front to surround and destabilize the nuclear-armed nation.

War on Iran aims to bring Israeli influence to Pakistan border: Defense Minister

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) struck Afghanistan&rsquo;s&nbsp;Bagram Air Base&nbsp;as part of the ongoing <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/operation-ghazab-lilhaq-435-killed-as-pakistan-strikes-afghan-targets" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Operation Ghazab lil-Haq</a>&nbsp;against the Afghan Taliban, security sources confirmed Tuesday. The sources referred to a report issued by Afghanistan&rsquo;s defense ministry detailing the damage caused by the strike. The report stated that several key military assets were destroyed. This includes Black Hawk helicopters, a Hercules cargo aircraft, a Tucano aircraft, armored vehicles and other equipment, targeting one of the Afghan Taliban&rsquo;s most prized military assets The strike on <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-deal-on-bagram-base-not-possible-afghan-taliban" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bagram Air Base</a> was confirmed by satellite images obtained by The New York Times. The American newspaper reported that Pakistan carried out multiple strikes to destroy equipment and supplies. Afghan officials confirmed Sunday that there had been an attack on the base.

Bagram Airfield (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Afghanistan

PAF strike on Bagram destroyed key Taliban assets: Black Hawk helicopters, Hercules cargo aircraft, Tucano aircraft, armored vehicles, and other equipment, per Afghan defense ministry report cited by security sources.

Operation Ghazab Lil Haq: Pakistan Air Force strikes Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces killed 464 Afghan Taliban terrorists and injured more than 665 during cross-border strikes under Operation &ldquo;Ghazb lil Haq,&rdquo; the country&#39;s information minister reported. In a summary of the operation posted on X at 1600 hours on March 3, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated that 56 locations across Afghanistan were effectively targeted by air. The ongoing strikes destroyed 188 check posts and 192 tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery guns, while Pakistani forces captured an additional 31 posts. <div class="fr-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">✅Operation Ghazb lil Haq ✅Update 1600 hours 3 March ✅Summary of Afghan Taliban losses ▪️464 Killed, ▪️665 + Injured ▪️188 Check posts destroyed ▪️31 Posts captured, ▪️192 tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery guns destroyed ▪️56 locations across Afghanistan effectively&hellip;&mdash; Attaullah Tarar (@TararAttaullah) <a href="https://twitter.com/TararAttaullah/status/2028791616123634016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" style="color: rgb(0, 115, 230);">March 3, 2026</a></blockquote></div> The large-scale military response followed multiple attempted cross-border attacks by Afghan Taliban fighters overnight in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. In an earlier update at 1000 hours, Tarar said terrorists in northern Balochistan launched physical attacks at 16 locations across the Qilla Saifullah, Noshki, and Chaman districts, alongside fire raids at 25 locations. Those initial attacks were effectively repulsed, leaving 27 terrorists dead and scores injured. One soldier from FC Balochistan (North) was killed, and five soldiers were wounded during the clashes. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, an attempted physical attack at one location and fire raids at 12 locations were repelled without any Pakistani casualties. Security forces killed 40 Afghan Taliban in overnight operations in the province.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar says Afghan Taliban attacks repulsed in Balochistan and KP, claims 67 terrorists killed; one FC soldier martyred, five injured.

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