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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&#39;s Foreign Office will convene a Regional Envoys&rsquo; Conference in Islamabad from May 14 to 18 that will review regional and global developments, said Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday.&nbsp;<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; line-height: 2;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 369px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2054577736908472778&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=2476cf494fdbd5167d2a122be1048598740853ae&theme=light&widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&width=550px">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div> In a statement on his X, FM Dar said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will convene a Regional Envoys&rsquo; Conference in Islamabad from 14 May to 18 May 2026. He added that the conference would review regional and global developments as well as Pakistan&rsquo;s bilateral ties with &ldquo;brotherly countries,&quot; with discussions focusing on &ldquo;multifaceted areas.&rdquo;&nbsp;He stated that recommendations from the meeting would aim to further strengthen Pakistan&rsquo;s bilateral relations and reaffirmed Islamabad&rsquo;s commitment to &ldquo;proactive diplomacy and sustained regional engagement.&rdquo;

Foreign Affairs

Pakistan Foreign Office will convene a Regional Envoys’ Conference in Islamabad from May 14 to 18 that will review regional and global developments, said the Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday.

Pakistan foreign office to convene regional envoys conference in Islamabad starting Thursday

BEIJING: US President Donald Trump landed in Beijing on Wednesday for a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping aimed at easing deep tensions between the rival superpowers. Giving a fist pump, Trump descended the steps of Air Force One after touching down at Beijing Capital International Airport, kicking off the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade. Right behind him were Tesla boss Elon Musk and Nvidia chief Jensen Huang &ndash; potent symbols of the business deals that Trump hopes to sign between the world&#39;s biggest economies. Trump was greeted with a bunch of flowers and then walked along the red carpet, which was lined with 300 Chinese youth in white uniforms chanting &quot;welcome&quot; and waving small Chinese and US flags in unison. While en route to Beijing, Trump said on social media he would &quot;be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to &#39;open up&#39; China so that these brilliant people can work their magic&quot;. Nvidia&#39;s Huang was a surprise late addition to the trip, joining the plane at a stopover in Alaska. China is currently banned under US national security rules from buying the cutting-edge AI chips that the company produces. But&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-israel-war-on-iran-day-75" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Iran</a>, trade and Taiwan, among other topics, loom over the highly anticipated meeting, which Trump had already delayed from March because of the war the United States and Israel started in the Middle East. China &#39;welcomes&#39; Trump visit Visiting China for the first time since 2017 during his previous term, Trump is expected to receive a lavish welcome from Chinese authorities. Trump and Xi will hold talks at 10:00 am local time on Thursday in Beijing&#39;s opulent Great Hall of the People. The US president will also visit the historic Temple of Heaven, a world heritage site where China&#39;s emperors once prayed for good&nbsp;harvest. The leaders will then enjoy a state banquet in the evening. On Friday, they are set to have tea and a working lunch before Trump heads home. As he departed the White House, Trump said he expected a &quot;long talk&quot; with Xi about the joint US-Israeli war with Iran, which sells most of its US-sanctioned oil to China. But he also downplayed disagreements, telling reporters that &quot;I don&#39;t think we need any help with Iran&quot; from China and that Xi had been &quot;relatively good&quot; on the topic. The Chinese foreign ministry said Wednesday it &quot;welcomes&quot; Trump&#39;s visit and that &quot;China stands ready to work with the United States... to expand cooperation and manage differences&quot;. Yet Beijing is growing impatient for peace, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi urging his Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday to step up mediation efforts between Iran and the United States. &#39;Big deal&#39; The long-simmering trade war between the two countries will also be top of the agenda, after Trump&#39;s sweeping tariffs last year triggered tit-for-tat levies that exceeded 100%. Trump and Xi are set to discuss extending a one-year tariff truce, which the two leaders reached during their last meeting in South Korea in October, although a deal is far from certain. China&#39;s controls on rare earth and agriculture exports are also expected to be on the menu. The tense buildup to the summit was already visible on the streets of Beijing, with police monitoring major intersections and checking the ID cards of passengers on the metro, AFP journalists saw. &quot;It&#39;s definitely a big deal,&quot; said Wen Wen, a 24-year-old woman travelling from the eastern city of Nanjing, when asked by AFP about Trump&#39;s visit.

China

Trump arrives in Beijing for a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping aimed at easing tensions, as both sides prepare to discuss trade, tariffs and geopolitical disputes between the superpowers.

Trump arrives in China for superpower summit with Chinese counterpart

OSLO: More than half of drivers in Norway say their next car will be electric as a response to soaring fuel prices, the country&#39;s auto association said Wednesday.&nbsp;Norway is the largest oil producer in Europe, after Russia, but the Scandinavian country is already a champion of electric vehicles (EVs), which account for over 95 percent of new registrations.&nbsp;But the surge in fuel prices since war erupted in the Middle East in late February is convincing even more motorists to make the switch.&nbsp;In April, 51 percent of drivers surveyed said their next car would be electric, according to a study by the Norwegian Automobile Federation (NAF)&nbsp;In the same month last year, the figure was just 46 percent, and NAF described the increase as &quot;the biggest jump in several years&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s quite clear that high fuel prices and uncertainty about energy supplies are affecting people&#39;s choice of car,&quot; NAF spokesman Nils Sodal said in a statement.&nbsp;Following the US and Israeli attacks against Iran and the subsequent standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway for around a fifth of the world&#39;s oil and gas, soaring oil and gas prices have affected economies around the world.&nbsp;In March, Norway decided to temporarily reduce taxes on petrol and diesel, which nevertheless remain comparatively more expensive for motorists than charging electric vehicles at home, as household electricity is subsidised.

Europe

Rising fuel prices driven by Middle East conflict are boosting electric vehicle demand in Norway, where 51 percent of drivers plan EVs for their next car, up from 46 percent last year, according to NAF.

EV interest surges in Norway as fuel prices bite

NEW DELHI: Three pastors were gunned down Wednesday in India&#39;s restive northeastern Manipur state, police and officials said, the latest flare-up in a region gripped by ethnic conflict.&nbsp;Manipur has seen periodic clashes for nearly three years between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki minority, in which more than 250 people have been killed.&nbsp;The pastors belonged to the Kuki community but the identity of the gunmen was not immediately known.&nbsp;&quot;Three Kuki pastors were killed today morning but the identity of the perpetrators is unknown so far,&quot; a senior police official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media.&nbsp;Four others were wounded, Manipur chief minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh said in a statement.&nbsp;&quot;I vehemently condemn the dastardly terror act... which resulted in the death of three innocent civilians,&quot; he said.&nbsp;Kuki groups have blamed an armed faction said to represent the interests of the Naga tribe, another major community in the state.&nbsp;Like the Kukis, the Nagas are primarily Christian, but tensions between the two groups have escalated in recent months, signalling a widening of the conflict.&nbsp;The Kuki Inpi, the community&#39;s apex body, condemned the killings as &quot;barbaric&quot;.&nbsp;The Nagas and the Kukis have competing claims of their respective ethnic homelands in the hills of Manipur, leading to frequent conflicts.&nbsp;In 1993, clashes between the two groups erupted into widespread ethnic violence that killed hundreds and displaced entire villages.

Asia

Three pastors were gunned down in India's restive northeastern Manipur state, the latest flare-up in a region gripped by ethnic conflict. In a region scarred by nearly three years of ethnic clashes between Hindu Meitei majority and Christian Kuki minority, with over 250 killed and tensions continuing to escalate.

Three pastors gunned down in India's restive northeast

Bordeaux: French authorities on Wednesday confined more than 1,700 passengers and crew on a British cruise ship docked in Bordeaux after an elderly passenger died, said officials, who played down any links to the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/argentinas-deadly-hantavirus-memories-resurface-after-cruise-ship-outbreak" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">hantavirus scare</a>.&nbsp;Dozens also suffered from upset stomachs aboard the Ambition &ndash; most of whose 1,233 passengers are from Britain or Ireland &ndash; which arrived in the western port of Bordeaux on Tuesday, with 514 Indian crew members also on board. But health officials said there was no connection with the hantavirus outbreak, suspected of killing three passengers on the Dutch MV Hondius <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/hantavirushit-cruise-ship-arrives-in-spains-canary-islands" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">cruise ship</a> that set sail from Argentina. One 90-year-old passenger on the Ambition, run by the Ambassador Cruise Line company, had died and about 50 people have shown symptoms of stomach issues, the officials said. Initial tests ruled out an outbreak of norovirus, a highly contagious form of gastroenteritis which causes vomiting and diarrhea, but secondary tests were still underway, they added. Food poisoning had not been excluded. Passengers on board the Ambition showed peak symptoms on Monday when the ship was docked in Brest, the officials said. The 90-year-old died before they arrived at the port in France&#39;s northwestern Brittany region. The ship, which left the Shetland Islands north of Scotland on May 6, stopped in Belfast in Northern Ireland and Liverpool in England before reaching Bordeaux, from where it was scheduled to depart for Spain. No security measures were in place around the ship as it was docked in Bordeaux on Wednesday, an AFP reporter said. Passengers were taking pictures of the French city from the deck.

Norovirus particles, illustration. Norovirus is the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis. (AFP)

French authorities investigate gastrointestinal illness on a British cruise ship docked in Bordeaux, with health officials testing possible causes among passengers and crew.

France locks down 1,700 on cruise ship after 90-year-old dies

ISTANBUL: Turkiye and Armenia will formally resume trade relations after a 33-year freeze as part of a rapprochement between the two countries, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. Turkiye shut its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of its ally Azerbaijan, which was at war with Armenia over Karabakh. Turkiye&nbsp;and Armenia have been cautiously moving towards rapprochement since late 2021, a year after Armenia was defeated by Azerbaijan in a fresh conflict over that disputed territory. &quot;Within the framework of our normalisation process with Armenia that has been ongoing since 2022... the bureaucratic preparations regarding the initiation of direct trade between our country and Armenia have been completed as of May 11,&quot; foreign ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said on X. Trade had already been passing between Turkiye and Armenia via Georgia, with taxes imposed in the transit country. But under the new regulation, goods can be formally designated as direct exports from Turkiye to Armenia, with the origin and final destination listed as being in those countries. Trade will continue to transit through an unspecified third country due to the lack of a functional border crossing. &quot;The necessary technical and bureaucratic work toward opening the common border between the two countries is still ongoing,&quot; the spokesman said. Turkiye&nbsp;and Armenia also share a border with Iran. Armenia welcomed Turkiye&#39;s decision &quot;to lift the bans on bilateral trade with Armenia&quot;, its foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson described it as an &quot;important step towards the development of full-fledged and normal relations between the two countries&quot;. Ankara&#39;s latest announcement marks a new step toward normalisation between Ankara and Yerevan after Azerbaijan&#39;s seizure of Karabakh, which saw most of the Armenian population leave. Last month, Armenia and Turkiye decided to put the Kars-Gyumri railway line back into service on both sides of their border. Turkiye&#39;s&nbsp;national carrier, Turkish Airlines, operated its first direct flight between Istanbul and Yerevan in March. But the two sides remain divided over history. The Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were killed under the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917 and seek international recognition that it was genocide. Turkiye&nbsp;strongly denies the accusation of genocide and disputes the numbers, saying that the Armenians were among hundreds of thousands of people who died in the turmoil of World War I as the Ottoman Empire disintegrated.

Central Asia

Middle East

Turkiye, Armenia resume formal trade relations after 33 years amid normalization efforts between longtime rivals

Turkiye and Armenia to restart direct trade: Ankara

ROME: The UN said Wednesday it was cutting emergency food assistance to Syria by 50% and halting a bread subsidy program&nbsp;that had supported millions because of funding shortfalls. The World Food Programme, the UN&#39;s Rome-based food aid agency, said in a statement it was reducing the number of people covered by emergency aid from 1.3 million to 650,000. The agency said Syria has stabilized since the end of the civil war, but there are still 7.2 million people suffering acute food insecurity. As part of its operations, WFP said it had supported more than 300 bakeries with fortified wheat flour. &quot;The bread subsidy program has been a vital lifeline, keeping this staple food affordable,&quot; the organization said. &quot;The reduction in WFP&rsquo;s assistance is driven solely by funding constraints, not by a decrease in needs,&quot; said Marianne Ward, WFP director in Syria. &quot;This is a critical moment for Syria. Recovery remains fragile, needs are still severe, and we are being forced to withdraw a vital safety net.&quot; The organization said funding shortfalls were also affecting Syrian refugees in neighboring countries such as Jordan and Lebanon. &ldquo;Across the region, vulnerable families are facing the cumulative effects of prolonged crises, rising costs, and shrinking assistance,&rdquo; said Samer Abdeljaber, WFP regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. The agency said it needed $189 million over the next six months to sustain and restore assistance in Syria.

A food distribution in Aleppo - since the escalation of conflict on 27 November, WFP has distributed 50,000 hot meals. Photo: WFP/Emad Etaki

The agency said Syria has stabilized since the end of the civil war, but there are still 7.2 million people suffering acute food insecurity.

UN cuts emergency food aid to Syria by 50%

MUMBAI: Air India said Wednesday it would reduce or cut several international routes over jet fuel price hikes and airspace restrictions due to conflict. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-israel-war-on-iran-day-75" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Middle East War</a>&nbsp;since late February and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz have sent aviation turbine fuel prices soaring, raising concerns over carrier profitability and leading to a rise in airline fares. Air India did not give the total number of flights affected, but said it would suspend routes to Chicago, Shanghai, and Singapore among other from certain Indian cities including New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai between June and August. The airline added that it would also cut the frequency of flights to San Francisco, Paris, Milan and Sydney. Several factors have &quot;significantly&quot; impacted the commercial viability of some flights, the airline said in a statement. &quot;Despite the challenges and beyond these adjustments, Air India will continue to operate more than 1,200 international flights every month.&quot; The Middle East war has proven to be the latest in a series of setbacks for the Indian carrier, whose chief executive resigned in April. Since taking over Air India in 2022, the Tata conglomerate has embarked on an ambitious overhaul, ordering hundreds of aircraft and upgrading its ageing fleet. While the airline has managed to modernize operations and integrate the group&#39;s aviation businesses, it has faced persistent headwinds including aircraft delivery delays and airspace closures by Pakistan in 2025. But the biggest blow to the airline&#39;s image came in June 2025, when&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/father-of-air-india-crash-pilot-seeks-independent-probe" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Air India Flight 171</a>&nbsp;&ndash; a London-bound Boeing 787 8 Dreamliner &ndash; crashed shortly after take off from Ahmedabad, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 people on the ground.

India

Air India will suspend and reduce several international routes between June and August as soaring jet fuel prices, regional conflict and airspace restrictions strain the carrier’s profitability and operations.

Air India cuts some international routes as fuel prices bite

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan&rsquo;s Taliban authorities have removed women from the government payroll, ending reduced salaries for female civil servants who have been barred from working since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, according to a new United Nations report. According to a report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), media outlets reported on Jan. 17 that women were no longer receiving payments in several provinces, effectively terminating their status as government employees. Some women were informed directly by their employers that they had been dismissed, while others discovered they had lost their jobs only when their monthly salaries failed to arrive, the report said. The move marks another tightening of restrictions on women under Taliban rule, which has sharply curtailed their participation in public life, education and employment. The report said Afghan women, including female UN staff, contractors and visitors, have been barred from entering UN premises nationwide since Sept 7, 2025. As of March 31, Afghan women had been unable to access UN offices across the country for 205 consecutive days, the mission said. The United Nations and rights groups have repeatedly condemned the measures, saying they amount to systematic discrimination and have deepened the humanitarian and economic crisis facing millions of Afghans.&nbsp;

Women in Herat wearing burqas (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Afghanistan

Authorities remove Afghan women from the government payroll, ending reduced salaries for female civil servants barred from working since returning to power in 2021.

Afghan Taliban cut salaries of women banned from government offices: UNAMA

PARIS:&nbsp;European Union imports of Russian liquefied natural gas hit their highest level in the first quarter since Moscow&#39;s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to research published Wednesday. The surge came as nations worldwide scramble for energy supplies to replace disrupted deliveries during the Middle East war. But the EU has vowed to end all imports of Russian gas and oil by the end of 2027 due to the war in Ukraine. Russian gas shipments by pipeline to the EU have largely stopped, but countries are still buying its LNG via tankers, led by France, Spain and Belgium, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, an independent research group. Its report found that the EU imported 6.9 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in the first three months of this year, a 16% increase from the first quarter last year, and the highest since 2022. The trend continued in April, with imports up 17% on the year, the IEEFA told AFP. Russia remains the second-biggest supplier of LNG to the bloc, providing around 14% of the total, the group said. EU nations have increasingly turned toward the United States, with imports of US LNG more than tripling between 2021 and 2025, it said. In the first quarter alone, EU imports of US LNG jumped 27%. &quot;The US will become the EU&#39;s largest gas supplier in 2026 and could account for 80% of its LNG imports by 2028,&quot; the institute said, noting that US gas is the most expensive for European buyers. &quot;Europe&#39;s shift from pipeline gas to LNG was meant to provide security of supply and diversification,&quot; Ana Maria Jaller-Makarewicz, the IEEFA&#39;s lead energy analyst for Europe, said in a statement. &quot;Yet disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East and an overreliance on US LNG show that Europe&#39;s plan has failed on both counts,&quot; she said.

Zapolyarnoye oil and gas condensate field. Gas pumping stations. (Photo: Wikimedia commons)

Europe’s energy diversification strategy is under strain as Russian LNG purchases rise, US supplies grow more costly, and Middle East war disruptions intensify pressure on gas markets.


Pakistan foreign office to convene regional envoys conference in Islamabad starting Thursday

Latest News

Pakistan foreign office to convene regional envoys conference in Islamabad starting Thursday

Trump arrives in China for superpower summit with Chinese counterpart

EV interest surges in Norway as fuel prices bite

Three pastors gunned down in India's restive northeast

France locks down 1,700 on cruise ship after 90-year-old dies