ISLAMABAD: Pakistan at the United Nations on Tuesday said that children &ldquo;living under foreign occupations&rdquo; were particularly vulnerable to human rights abuse and violence, as the country joined around 20 countries condemning Israeli actions in the occupied Palestinian territory.&nbsp; First Secretary Zulfiqar Ali from Pakistan&rsquo;s Permanent Mission to the United Nations said that &ldquo;as the most vulnerable victims of armed conflict,&rdquo; children bore &ldquo;its deepest and most enduring scars.&rdquo;&nbsp; While speaking at the United Nations Security Council meeting, the first secretary said that the recent surge in violence has exposed children to &ldquo;multiple grave violations,&rdquo; robbing them &ldquo;not only of safety, but of childhood itself.&rdquo; &ldquo;Pakistan echoes the concerns expressed in the Secretary General&rsquo;s last report, which details 41,370 grave violations against children in 2024,&rdquo; Ali said.&nbsp; He added that children living under foreign occupations were particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses and violence.&nbsp; &ldquo;In Occupied Palestinian Territory &mdash; both in Gaza and the West Bank &mdash; countless children have been killed or scarred for life,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp; Separately, the plight of children in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir was regrettably omitted despite the worsening situation after India&rsquo;s illegal and unilateral measures of August 5, 2019. &nbsp; &ldquo;This selective omission risks obscuring the full scale of violations affecting children in situations of foreign occupation,&rdquo; the first secretary said, reminding the council that the &ldquo;unprovoked and unlawful&rdquo; Indian aggression in May last year resulted in the &ldquo;martyrdom of 15 children, among other civilian casualties.&rdquo; Pakistan joins global condemnation&nbsp;Separately, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan joined the condemnation of Israel&#39;s recent moves to tighten its control over the occupied West Bank. The statement issued early on Tuesday was signed by regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt, European powers France and Spain, as well as Indonesia, Brazil, and Turkey, among others. It was also endorsed by the secretaries general League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as the Palestinian Authority. In addition to around three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law.

Middle East

First Secretary Zulfiqar Ali says “most vulnerable victims of armed conflict,” children bear “its deepest and most enduring scars,” adds selective omission risks obscuring the full scale of violations affecting children.

Pakistan at UN highlights risks to children under occupation, joins global condemnation of Israel 

LONDON: Britain&#39;s government committed Tuesday to releasing documents on ex-prince Andrew&#39;s past role as a trade envoy, after the Jeffrey Epstein scandal widened with the arrest of a veteran UK politician. The fallout from the publication last month by US authorities of millions of files related to Epstein is reverberating around the British monarchy and political circles. It has piled pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer&#39;s Labor government to release documents on Andrew and former minister Peter Mandelson, who are both now the subject of high-profile police investigations. Minister Chris Bryant told parliament that the government would release vetting documents on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor&#39;s appointment as trade envoy, a post he held from 2001 to 2011. It came after the third largest party, the Liberal Democrats, deployed a little-used parliamentary mechanism intended to force ministers to disclose files, which stem from when Tony Blair was Labor prime minister 26 years ago. Bryant said publishing the documents was &quot;the least we owe the victims&quot; of Epstein, adding that Andrew was &quot;a rude, arrogant, and entitled man.&quot; &#39;Stain on country&#39; Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal titles last year, is being probed by police over allegations that he shared sensitive documents with Epstein during his time as envoy. The former prince was arrested last week on suspicion of misconduct in public office, and his brother King Charles III has said the &quot;law must take its course.&quot; Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said Andrew&#39;s association with Epstein, and that of Mandelson, who was bailed in the early hours of Tuesday, were a &quot;stain on our country.&quot; &quot;We must begin to clean away that stain with the disinfectant of transparency,&quot; he said. The party&#39;s motion, known as a &quot;humble address,&quot; passed without a vote due to the government&#39;s support. Bryant said he wanted to &quot;manage people&#39;s expectations&quot; about how quickly the papers can be released, due to the age and quantity of the material, as well as the police probe. Mountbatten-Windsor, long embroiled in scandals over his friendship with Epstein, has denied any wrongdoing. Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, claimed she was trafficked three times to have sex with the British royal, starting in 2001 and twice when she was 17. Andrew settled a US civil lawsuit in 2022 brought by Giuffre while not admitting liability. The push for the files on Andrew comes as the government prepares to release in early March a first set of documents relating to the 2024 appointment of Mandelson as UK ambassador in Washington. The main opposition Conservative Party had also earlier successfully used a &quot;humble address&quot; to compel their release. &#39;Pushed appointment&#39; Mandelson, a key figure in British politics for decades and Britain&#39;s envoy to Washington until September, is facing a separate misconduct in public office probe, also related to his links to Epstein. His appointment has triggered a political storm with two of Starmer&#39;s top aides resigning over the row and raising questions about the prime minister&#39;s judgement. Starmer sacked Mandelson as envoy after just seven months over revelations about the depth of his ties to Epstein. Later released files appear to show that Mandelson passed on financial information to the disgraced financier when he was UK business secretary around 2009-2010. When Andrew was appointed trade envoy, Mandelson was a pivotal figure in Blair&#39;s Labor and was nicknamed the &quot;Prince of Darkness&quot; for his media manipulation skills. Mountbatten-Windsor&#39;s biographer, Andrew Lownie, told AFP Blair and Mandelson &quot;pushed his appointment through.&quot; Mandelson has apologized for his friendship with Epstein and insisted he did not know about the financier&#39;s sexual offences, despite Epstein&#39;s 2008 conviction for child prostitution. He was arrested by police on Monday and held for questioning before being released on bail early on Tuesday. In a statement, law firm Mishcon de Reya, which is representing him, said the arrest was due to the &quot;baseless&quot; concern that he was a flight risk. The firm said there was &quot;absolutely no truth&quot; in the suggestion that he was &quot;planning to leave the country and take up permanent residence abroad,&quot; adding that his priority was to cooperate with police and &quot;clear his name.&quot; Neither Mandelson nor Andrew has been charged with any offence. Starmer has apologized to Epstein&#39;s victims for appointing Mandelson, and accused him of lying about the extent of his ties to the tycoon during the vetting process. Police on Tuesday evening said they had &quot;now ended&quot; a search of an address in Berkshire, west of London, linked to Andrew&#39;s arrest. It is believed the property is Andrew&#39;s former residence, Royal Lodge, on the royal family&#39;s Windsor estate.

Europe

The fallout from the publication last month by US authorities of millions of files related to Epstein is reverberating around the British monarchy and political circles; it has piled pressure on Prime Minister Starmer's government to release documents on Andrew and former minister Mandelson, both now subject of high-profile police investigations.

UK govt says will release files on 'rude' ex-prince Andrew

PARIS: Iran&#39;s foreign minister declared Tuesday that a deal to avoid a military clash with the United States was within reach, two days before talks between the foes were due to resume in Geneva. Abbas Araghchi&#39;s appeal came as Iran issued a muted warning to student protesters against the backdrop of mounting US threats of action to halt Tehran&#39;s nuclear program. &quot;We have a historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement that addresses mutual concerns and achieves mutual interests,&quot; Araghchi said in a social media post. The minister added that a deal was &quot;within reach, but only if diplomacy is given priority.&quot; Tehran and Washington are due to hold a third round of negotiations on Thursday in Geneva, the latest since talks resumed earlier this month. The talks will be held following a heavy US military deployment in the region in recent weeks and threats by President Donald Trump of a strike on Iran if no deal is reached. Iran has repeatedly said it would respond firmly to any attack, and on Monday, the foreign ministry warned that any strike, even limited, &quot;would be regarded as an act of aggression.&quot; In his post on Tuesday, Araghchi vowed Iran will &quot;under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon,&quot; but insisted on the country&#39;s right to &quot;harness dividends of peaceful nuclear technology.&quot; &quot;We have proven that we will stop at nothing to guard our sovereignty with courage,&quot; he added. Iran and the US held five rounds of nuclear talks last year but those negotiations were brought to an end with Israel&#39;s unprecedented attack on Iran which triggered a 12-day war. &#39;Red lines&#39; protest warning&nbsp;Meanwhile, university students in Tehran kicked off a new semester with gatherings in which they revived slogans from nationwide protests against the country&#39;s leadership. On Tuesday, the fourth consecutive day of the campus protests, videos verified by AFP showed two groups facing off in a large hall at a Tehran university before scuffles break out. Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, giving the first official reaction to the rallies, said that while students had a right to protest, they must &quot;understand the red lines.&quot; US military build-up&nbsp;The initial wave of protests began in December, sparked by economic woes in the sanctions-hit country, but soon grew into nationwide demonstrations that crested on January 8 and 9, posing one of the largest challenges to Iran&#39;s leaders in years. The unrest prompted a government crackdown that resulted in the death of several people. Iranian officials acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths, but say the violence was caused by &quot;terrorist acts&quot; fueled by the United States and Israel. The crackdown in January prompted Trump to threaten to intervene militarily on the protesters&#39; behalf, though the focus of his threats soon shifted to Iran&#39;s nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at building an atomic bomb but Tehran insists is peaceful. Since then, the US has carried out a massive military build-up in the Middle East aimed at pressuring Tehran into cutting a deal, even as the two sides pursue indirect negotiations. Washington deployed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the Arabian Sea, and another, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has arrived at a US base in Crete en route to the region.

Americas

Foreign Minister Araghchi says have a “historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement that addresses mutual concerns”; Tehran and Washington are due to hold a third round of negotiations on Thursday in Geneva, the latest since talks resumed earlier this month.

Iran says deal 'within reach' ahead of US talks

LONDON: Pakistani players will not be discriminated against in selection for the Hundred, the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Tuesday, despite reports they could be overlooked due to political tensions with India. The BBC reported last week that the four Indian-owned franchises of the eight-team competition &mdash; Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds &mdash; were not considering Pakistani players for next month&#39;s auction. A total of 67 Pakistan players &mdash; 63 men and four women &mdash; have submitted themselves for selection. &quot;The England and Wales Cricket Board and all eight of The Hundred team franchises reaffirm their commitment to ensuring The Hundred continues to be a competition that is inclusive, welcoming and open to all,&quot; the ECB said in a statement. &quot;All eight teams commit to selection being based solely on cricketing performance, availability, and the needs of each team.&quot; Players from Pakistan have not featured in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2009 because of diplomatic tensions between the two countries. With several IPL owners now owning teams in several different countries, opportunities for Pakistani cricketers to participate in various other leagues are in danger of being reduced further. Players will go under the hammer in London on March 11 and 12. Former England captain Michael Vaughan had been among those to call for action from the ECB over the rumors. &quot;They own the league and this should not be allowed to happen,&quot; said Vaughan, who referenced the ECB&#39;s stated aim of cricket becoming the most inclusive sport in England. &quot;The most inclusive sport in the country is not one that allows this to happen.&quot;

Cricket

Players from Pakistan have not featured in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2009 because of tensions between the two neighbors; players will go under the hammer in London on March 11 and 12; former England captain Michael Vaughan among those to call for action from the ECB over rumors.

ECB insist Pakistani players will not be frozen out the Hundred

KANDY: Captain Harry Brook scored his first T20 international century to take England into the World Cup semi-finals with a nervy two-wicket win against Pakistan in the Super Eights in Kandy. Brook, promoted to number three for the first time in a T20 international, scored exactly 100 off 51 deliveries as England chased down their target of 165 with five balls to spare, despite a late wobble. After England restricted Pakistan to 164-9, Brook came in second ball of the innings with the score 0-1 after Phil Salt&#39;s golden duck, caught behind off Shaheen Shah Afridi. Wickets tumbled in the power play but Brook stood firm. He lifted his side from a precarious 35-3 to 155-6 when he was dismissed, having scored the second fastest century in T20 World Cup history and the first by a team captain. Brook hit four sixes and 10 fours, surpassing his previous best T20 international score of 81 not out against Pakistan in Karachi four years ago. He went to the landmark in style, powering Afridi for a six and four to complete his century off 50 balls before being bowled by the left-arm quick next ball. Brook explained that the decision for him to move up the order from five had been prompted by coach Brendon &quot;Baz&quot; McCullum. &quot;Baz said that this morning, what do you think about going number three? Pakistan&#39;s your team. I was just like, let&#39;s do it,&quot; said Brook. &quot;We wanted to try and maximize the power play a little bit more and everybody knows that I like to try and take the game on and I was going to do that from ball one. &quot;Thankfully it came off and I managed to get us a decent start.&quot; Afridi, returning to the side, took 4-30 also removing Jos Buttler for two and Jacob Bethell for eight in the power play. Brook added 45 for the fifth wicket with Sam Curran (16) and even a burst of two wickets from Usman Tariq did not perturb the England skipper who batted with guts and resolve. Will Jacks helped his skipper towards victory with a brilliant stand of 52, scoring 28 off 23 balls. Spinner Mohammad Nawaz dismissed Jacks and Jamie Overton in the penultimate over to induce some late nerves, but Jofra Archer hit the first ball of the final over for the winning four. &#39;Outstanding&#39; battingThe defeat leaves Pakistan needing to beat Sri Lanka on Saturday and hope other results go their way to reach the last four after their first match in the Super Eights against New Zealand was washed out. &quot;The way Harry Brook batted was outstanding. He completely took the game away from us,&quot; said Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha. &quot;We just have to wait and see how the other results go. We&#39;ll be hoping they go our way, and then we know we&#39;ll have to win against Sri Lanka.&quot; New Zealand face Sri Lanka on Wednesday in Colombo. Spinner Liam Dawson took 3-24 earlier and was ably supported by Overton (2-26) and Archer (2-32) to restrict Pakistan to 164-9. Opener Sahibzada Farhan continued his good form with a 45-ball 63, with two sixes and seven fours, his third half-century of the tournament. Archer dismissed Saim Ayub for seven in the third over while Dawson picked up Salman Agha for five in the next. Farhan and Babar Azam added 46 for the third wicket. Farhan completed his fifty off 37 balls before Overton trapped him lbw.

England captain Harry Brook scored a T20 World Cup century, leading England to a nervy two-wicket win over Pakistan in Kandy. Brook’s 100 off 51 balls powered a crucial chase after Pakistan posted 164-9.

Brook 100 puts England into T20 World Cup semi-finals

BRUSSELS: The EU&#39;s trade chief said Tuesday his US counterparts had told him Washington stands by a key trade deal with the bloc, following an adverse Supreme Court decision on President Donald Trump&#39;s tariffs.&nbsp;After the Supreme Court ruled last week that Trump lacks authority to impose levies under a 1977 law, the US leader responded with fresh tariffs of 10% on imported goods -- which Trump has vowed to hike further to 15%.&nbsp;That raised complex questions about what the new duties mean for the EU deal clinched last year with Trump, which imposed 15% tariffs on most EU goods.&nbsp;&quot;I have been in constant touch with my counterparts, and they both reassured me they stand by the deal with the European Union,&quot; Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told EU lawmakers.&nbsp;The top trade negotiator also touched on another sensitive topic in transatlantic ties: Trump&#39;s 50% duties on steel and aluminium imports, which the EU has been pushing to bring down.&nbsp;The president expanded levies on the metals in August to include several hundred products that contain steel or aluminium.&nbsp;Sefcovic said he discussed how to address the issue with his US counterparts.&nbsp;&quot;I hope we can find solutions in this matter very soon,&quot; he told the European Parliament&#39;s trade committee.&nbsp;The bloc&#39;s parliament put the EU-US deal on ice Monday as it sought more clarity on the fallout from the Supreme Court ruling, only a day before the committee was due to give its green light.&nbsp;Sefcovic said he understood the body&#39;s decision, but added: &quot;It is imperative we keep the process moving forward in implementing our commitments.&quot;&nbsp;EU member states&#39; representatives in Brussels heard from the EU executive on Monday, and a European diplomat said everyone agreed &quot;a deal is a deal&quot;.&nbsp;The EU executive told senior diplomats that if imports face a blanket 10% levy, pre-existing duties could mean some products are taxed at a higher rate than the trade deal&#39;s 15%.&nbsp;Another concern is that Trump&#39;s new flat levy could apply indifferently to the EU and to countries that made fewer trade concessions to Washington -- and were therefore previously taxed at a much higher rate.&nbsp;&quot;The EU now loses a comparative advantage vis-a-vis other countries, which was what made the deal palatable in the first place,&quot; the diplomat told AFP.

The EU says US officials reaffirm commitment to last year’s trade deal despite a Supreme Court ruling limiting tariff powers.

US told EU it 'stands' by tariff deal: trade chief

ROME: The number of people in Somalia experiencing crisis-levels of food insecurity has nearly doubled in the past year to 6.5 million people, UN-backed experts warned Tuesday.&nbsp;The Horn of Africa country has been plagued by conflict and suffered two consecutive failed rainy seasons, as well as a drop in the amount of food aid available amid international funding cuts.&nbsp;The population classified as being in a &quot;crisis or worse&quot; situation &quot;has nearly doubled between February&ndash;March 2026 to a staggering 6.5 million people since early 2025&quot;, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC), a UN-backed group that monitors hunger and malnutrition.&nbsp;That includes more than two million people now in Phase 4, the &quot;emergency&quot; category, one step away from the &quot;catastrophic&quot; level, equal to famine, an IPC report said.&nbsp;An estimated 1.84 million children under five are at risk of acute malnutrition in 2026, including 483,000 severe cases that require urgent treatment, the IPC said.&nbsp;&quot;This alarming deterioration is driven by worsening drought, rising food  prices, and insecurity across central, southern, and parts of northern Somalia,&quot; the report added.&nbsp;&quot;The situation is compounded by declining humanitarian assistance.&quot;&nbsp;The UN&#39;s World Food Programme (WFP) warned Friday it would have to stop humanitarian assistance in Somalia by April if it did not receive new funding.&nbsp;The Rome-based agency said it had already been forced to reduce the number of people receiving emergency food assistance from 2.2 million in early 2025 to just over 600,000 today.&nbsp;In January, the United States suspended aid to Somalia following the destruction of a US-funded WFP warehouse in the capital Mogadishu&#39;s port.&nbsp;The US announced a resumption of WFP food distribution on January 29.&nbsp;However, all UN agencies have warned of serious funding shortfalls since Washington began slashing aid following President Donald Trump&#39;s re-election last year.&nbsp;Levels of acute malnutrition in Somalia have risen for two consecutive years, the IPC report said.&nbsp;Rainfall from April to June is likely to be near normal in most areas and above-normal in some, but &quot;this will likely lead to only a modest improvement in overall food security&quot;.

Africa

Somalia faces worsening hunger, with 6.5 million people in crisis-level food insecurity, including two million in emergency conditions. Drought, conflict, rising prices, and aid cuts impacting agencies like World Food Program have sharply reduced humanitarian assistance despite slight rainfall improvements.

Crisis-level hunger doubles in Somalia: UN-backed experts

KYIV: Vladimir Putin has not broken Ukraine, its leader Volodymyr&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/zelensky-says-europe-fragmented-looks-lost-facing-trump" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Zelensky</a>&nbsp;said Tuesday, as the Kremlin marked the fourth year of its invasion by vowing that it will keep fighting Europe&#39;s bloodiest conflict since World War II until it achieves its goals. Moscow had hoped to take Kyiv in days when it launched its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/ukraine-marks-four-years-since-russian-invasion" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">invasion</a>&nbsp;on February 24, 2022. Four years later &mdash; with hundreds of thousands dead, millions forced to flee, much of eastern Ukraine destroyed and US-led peace talks still deadlocked over territory &mdash; it conceded that it has not achieved all it wants in the country. &quot;The goals haven&#39;t been fully achieved yet, which is why the military operation continues,&quot; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to an AFP question. Ukraine, meanwhile, was ready to do &quot;everything&quot; it could to secure peace, Zelensky said in a video address that featured images of Ukrainians carrying out acts of resistance against Russian soldiers in the opening days of the conflict. But any settlement must not &quot;betray&quot; the price paid by Ukrainians throughout the conflict, he said. &quot;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/putin-says-developing-russias-nuclear-forces-absolute-priority" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Putin</a>&nbsp;has not achieved his goals. He did not break the Ukrainians. He did not win this war. We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to achieve peace -- and to ensure there is justice,&quot; Zelensky said. &quot;We want peace. Strong, dignified, and lasting peace,&quot; he said, adding that any agreement &quot;must not simply be signed, it must be accepted by Ukrainians&quot;. &quot;Everything Ukraine has gone through. It must not be surrendered, forgotten, or betrayed,&quot; he added. In a later video address to the European Parliament, Zelensky urged Brussels to set out a clear timeline for his country&#39;s accession to the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/pakistan-urges-diplomacy-warns-of-disinformation-risks-at-un-meeting-on-ukraine" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">bloc</a>. Several European leaders including Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Kyiv on Tuesday to mark the anniversary. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was also there, reaffirming that Europe stood &quot;unwaveringly with Ukraine, financially, militarily, and through this harsh winter.&quot; Zelensky was also hosting a video-conference with Kyiv&#39;s top allies, including Britain, France and Germany, to push for more support to deter the Russian invasion. In the suburb of Irpin -- where the bodies of hundreds of civilians were discovered in 2022 after it and the neighbouring suburb of Bucha were occupied by Russian forces -- kindergarten manager Olena Ponomariova said Ukrainians had become united and more resilient. But she &quot;can&#39;t say&quot; what victory would look like, she told AFP, adding: &quot;I don&#39;t know if that will happen, but let&#39;s hope it will.&quot; Territory dispute The United States has been pushing to end the conflict, mediating talks between the two sides this year in Geneva and Abu Dhabi, but they remain at odds over the issue of territory. Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is fighting to gain full control of Ukraine&#39;s eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal. It has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave at the negotiating table. Ukraine has rejected the demand and said it would not sign a deal without security guarantees from allies &mdash; including the US &mdash; to deter Russia from invading again. Despite heavy losses, Russian troops have in recent months advanced on the front line, particularly in the eastern Donbas region, which Moscow wants to annex. The <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/russian-missile-barrage-hits-energy-railways-across-ukraine" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Russian army</a> seized more territory during the fourth year of the Ukraine war than in the preceding two years combined, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Since February 24, 2025 &mdash; the third anniversary of Russia&#39;s invasion &mdash; Moscow&#39;s troops have taken 4,524 square kilometres, an area slightly larger than the US state of Rhode Island. That is according to data from the ISW, which works with the Critical Threats Project (part of the American Enterprise Institute, or AEI), another US think-tank specializing in conflict. The grinding four-year war has devastated Ukraine, which even before the fighting was one of the poorest countries in Europe. The cost of post-war reconstruction is estimated at around $588 billion over the next decade, according to a joint World Bank, EU and UN report with Kyiv, published on Monday. Russia cast its decision to send troops into Ukraine as a defensive move to halt Ukraine&#39;s ambition to join NATO. Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, considers the war to be a resurgence of Russian imperialism aimed at subjugating the Ukrainian people.

A woman holding flowers pays her respect at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine in Kyiv on February 24, 2026, as Ukraine marks the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion. (AFP)

Asia

Ukraine marks four years of war as Zelensky vows peace, Russia presses territorial gains, while European leaders visit Kyiv and reconstruction costs are estimated at $588 billion, according to ISW and UN reports.

Zelensky says Ukraine unbroken after 4 years, but Russia vows to fight on

TOKYO: Japan&#39;s government plans to deploy surface-to-air missiles on one of its remote western islands near Taiwan by March 2031, the country&#39;s defence minister said on Tuesday.&nbsp;It is the first time Japan has specified the timing of the deployment.&nbsp;The ministry announced the plan in 2022 to ramp up its air defences on the island, which already hosts a Japanese military base.&nbsp;Japan&#39;s defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi said at a regular press conference in Tokyo that the deployment on Yonaguni island would take place in the 2030 fiscal year, which ends in March of the following calendar year.&nbsp;The comments come during a months-long row between Japan and China, with Beijing on Tuesday announcing that it was imposing export restrictions on dozens of Japanese firms that it said were involved in building up the country&#39;s military.&nbsp;Koizumi, who visited Yonaguni in November, said the ministry will hold a briefing for local residents next week on the island, located roughly 110 kilometres (68 miles) east of Taiwan and 1,900 kilometres southwest of Tokyo.&nbsp;Japan&#39;s conservative Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on self-ruled Taiwan.&nbsp;China views Taiwan as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.&nbsp;Since Takaichi made the remark, Beijing has discouraged Chinese nationals from visiting Japan, which hit tourism, one of the pillars of the Japanese economy.&nbsp;Beijing&#39;s top diplomat Wang Yi said at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month that forces in Japan were seeking to &quot;revive militarism&quot;.&nbsp;Takaichi told parliament on Friday that China was intensifying attempts to change the status quo &quot;by force or coercion&quot; in the East China Sea and the South China Sea and has said Japan needs to strengthen its defence capabilities.

Japan says it plans to deploy surface-to-air missiles on Yonaguni by 2031, strengthening defenses near Taiwan amid rising tensions with China. The move follows diplomatic friction, military warnings, and growing regional security concerns in East Asian water

Japan to deploy missile systems on island near Taiwan by 2031: defence minister

PARIS: France moved on Monday to block US envoy Charles Kushner from having access to government ministers, after he failed to show up to explain comments about a killed far-right activist. The move is the latest instance of diplomatic friction between Paris and the United States under President Donald Trump, with Paris bristling at what it sees as repeated interference by Washington in domestic matters. Kushner, whose son Jared is married to Trump&#39;s daughter Ivanka, has already been summoned once before over his criticism of France&#39;s handling of antisemitism. He skipped that meeting as well, sending another official instead. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot summoned Kushner after the US embassy in Paris reposted comments by the Trump administration in Washington about slain far-right activist Quentin Deranque. Deranque, 23, died from head injuries following clashes between radical-left and far-right supporters on the sidelines of a February 12 protest against a politician from the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party in Lyon. Barrot denounced on Sunday any attempts to exploit the killing &quot;for political ends&quot; and summoned Kushner for a meeting at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) the following day. But a diplomatic source told AFP the ambassador cited &quot;personal commitments&quot; and sent a senior embassy official instead. &ldquo;In light of this apparent failure to grasp the basic requirements of the ambassadorial mission and the honor of representing one&#39;s country, the minister (Barrot) has requested that he (Kushner) no longer be allowed direct access to members of the French government,&rdquo; the foreign ministry said. Kushner would, however, be permitted to continue his diplomatic duties and have &quot;exchanges&quot; with officials, it added in a statement. Washington has not commented on this development. On edge<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/french-farright-leader-accuses-macron-allies-of-strengthening-hardleft-after-activist-killed" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deranque&#39;s death has put France on edge</a>, igniting tensions between the left and right ahead of a 2027 presidential vote. More than 3,000 people marched in Lyon on Saturday in tribute to Deranque, with authorities deploying heavy security for fear of further clashes. On Friday, Sarah Rogers, the State Department undersecretary for public diplomacy, said Deranque&#39;s killing showed &ldquo;why we treat political violence &mdash; terrorism &mdash; so harshly.&rdquo; &ldquo;Once you decide to kill people for their opinions instead of persuading them, you&#39;ve opted out of civilization,&rdquo; she wrote on X. The State Department&#39;s bureau of counter-terrorism separately posted: &ldquo;Violent radical leftism is on the rise, and its role in Quentin Deranque&#39;s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety.&rdquo; The US embassy shared a French translation of the post on its account. Italy&#39;s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has also weighed in, triggering a war of words with French President Emmanuel Macron, who urged her to stop &ldquo;commenting on what happens in other countries.&rdquo; Kushner, who took up his post in Paris last year, was previously summoned to the foreign ministry at the end of August, after the French government took exception to his criticism that Macron was not tackling antisemitism. The US charge d&#39;affaires &mdash; the ambassador&#39;s de facto deputy &mdash; attended that meeting.

US Ambassador to France Charles Kushner delivers a speech for the official launch of America 250, to celebrate the 250th birthday of the US in 2026, at the US ambassy in Paris, on December 4, 2025.

The move is the latest instance of diplomatic friction between Paris and the United States under President Donald Trump, with Paris bristling at what it sees as repeated interference by Washington in domestic matters.

France to revoke US envoy's govt access after summons no-show

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Israeli opposition plans to boycott Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi&rsquo;s speech in the Knesset during his visit to the country, according to local Israeli media.&nbsp;According to reports, opposition leader Yair Lapid and his party are in a standoff with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana after he decided not to invite the president of the Israeli Supreme Court, Isaac Amit, to a special parliamentary session, a departure from customary practice.&nbsp;Lapid, in a post on X, said: &ldquo;We want to be in the session, we need to be in the session. Prime Minister Netanyahu must instruct Ohana to allow us to participate in the session.&rdquo;&nbsp;Speaking in the local media, he added that the opposition does not want &quot;the leader of a nation of one and a half billion people standing here before a half-empty Knesset,&quot; and claimed the Indian embassy was &quot;in a panic.&quot;&nbsp;The Indian prime minister is visiting Israel Feb. 25-26, according to India&rsquo;s foreign ministry.&nbsp;Lapid cautioned that empty seats during Modi&rsquo;s visit would send a negative message and could potentially harm international relations, according to The Jerusalem Post.&nbsp;The tensions come amid a broader rift between the government and the judiciary, as the government has refused to formally recognize Amit as the Supreme Court&rsquo;s chief justice.

Israeli opposition, led by Yair Lapid, may boycott Indian PM Narendra Modi’s Knesset speech due to Supreme Court President Isaac Amit’s exclusion.

Israel’s opposition threatens to boycott PM Modi’s speech, Indian embassy 'in a panic'

Pakistan TV Satellite

ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has warned that Pakistan will act again if attacks originating from Afghan soil continue, saying the country has no choice but to defend itself if Afghan Taliban fails to take action against terrorist groups. &ldquo;We have told the Afghan government if again in future something will happen and if we have intelligence reports that these are their hideouts, we will strike again,&rdquo; Governor Kundi said while speaking on Pakistan TV&rsquo;s programme &lsquo;Experts Corner&rsquo;. He said Islamabad has repeatedly asked Afghan authorities to ensure their territory is not used for attacks against Pakistan, adding that terrorist organisations, including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al-Qaeda, continue to operate from across the border and launch attacks inside Pakistan. Kundi said Pakistan has presented evidence at international forums showing that Afghan territory is being used against it, but Afghanistan has failed to take effective action. Referring to recent cross-border strikes, he said Pakistan responded after attacks in Bajaur and Bannu, maintaining that intelligence-based operations targeted militant hideouts. He described the operations as successful and reiterated that similar measures would be taken if cross-border attacks persist. &ldquo;If one government is not taking any action then Pakistan has to take action,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp; The governor said Pakistan has been fighting terrorism for more than two decades, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. He identified the TTP as a major threat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and blamed the Balochistan Liberation Army for violence in Balochistan. Kundi expressed full support for the military, police and Frontier Corps, praising their coordination and sacrifices in efforts to restore peace in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He also criticized a previous policy that allowed terrorists to return to Pakistan, saying it reversed gains achieved during operations between 2008 and 2013 in Swat and the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).&nbsp; He argued that many terrorists regrouped and rearmed, benefiting from weapons left behind after the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan. On the merged districts, he said promised development funds had not been fully delivered or effectively utilized, contributing to unrest.&nbsp; He stressed the need for sustained investment in infrastructure, education and policing to ensure long-term stability in the region.

The Experts Corner

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi warned Pakistan will act against cross-border attacks from Afghanistan if Afghan Taliban fails to curb TTP and al-Qaeda, emphasizing security, development, and long-term stability in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Pakistan to act again if attacks from Afghan soil continue: Kundi

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will inaugurate the Pakistan Governance Forum 2026 in Islamabad on Feb. 25, bringing together national leaders and experts to promote reforms under the &ldquo;Reimagining Governance for URAAN Pakistan&rdquo; agenda and lead institutional transformation across the country. During the two-day event, 25 special sessions will be held to promote practical reforms and drive change across key areas, including civil service reform, energy renewal, digital transformation, ICT governance, population planning, and institutional performance. The forum is described as the planning and development ministry&rsquo;s &quot;largest and most important governance dialogue of the year,&quot; the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. The event aims to &ldquo;translate ideas into practical actions&rdquo; and accelerate governance transformation in Pakistan through comprehensive dialogue and integrated strategies. The forum will discuss Pakistan&rsquo;s governance reform agenda in detail, focusing on URAAN Pakistan&rsquo;s Five E&#39;s: Equity, Exports, Energy, Environment, and e-Pakistan. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chairman of the Senate, Yousaf Raza Gilani, will attend the forum, along with more than 100 speakers, including federal and provincial leaders, parliamentarians, senior government officials, policy experts, development partners, academicians, private sector representatives, and members of civil society. Prominent participants will take part in the session, including Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti, Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Yar Muhammad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, along with several federal ministers, senior officials and experts, APP reported.

Economy

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will inaugurate the two-day Pakistan Governance Forum 2026 in Islamabad, which will focus on reforms across the civil service, energy, digital transformation, governance, and institutional performance.

Pakistan Governance Forum 2026 to help accelerate institutional reforms

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&rsquo;s upper legislature, the Senate, passed a resolution strongly condemning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&rsquo;s recent statement about his country&#39;s intention to form a regional alliance with India and other nations against Muslim countries, according to Radio Pakistan. The resolution, moved by Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan, took &ldquo;strong exception to the vile proclivity&rdquo; of the Israeli leadership toward diminishing the unity and integrity of the Muslim Ummah on political and ideological grounds, it said. Earlier this Sunday, while addressing a cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country &ldquo;will create an entire system &mdash; essentially a kind of hexagon of alliances &mdash; around or within the Middle East,&rdquo; Times of Israel reported. He listed India, Greece, Cyprus, and &ldquo;unnamed Arab, African, and Asian countries,&rdquo; the report added. &ldquo;The intention here is to create an axis of countries that see reality, the challenges, and the goals in the same way, in contrast to the radical axes,&rdquo; he was quoted as saying. &ldquo;Both the radical Shia axis, which we have hit very hard, and also the emerging axis &mdash; the radical Sunni axis,&rdquo; Netanyahu added. Senate condemnsThe Pakistan Senate condemned the Israeli forces&rsquo; continued violations of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the &ldquo;blatant disregard&rdquo; of international law, the UN Charter, relevant UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, as well as the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, it added. &ldquo;The House rejected any attempt by the Israeli occupying power to change the legal or historical status of the occupied Palestinian territory, including the status of the holy sites,&rdquo; as per Radio Pakistan. The resolution deplored continued &ldquo;provocative&rdquo; steps and statements by the leadership of Israel that &ldquo;threaten regional and international peace and stability,&rdquo; including the latest statement expressing its intention to forge so-called alliances against Muslim nations, it added. It also denounced attempts by Israel to undermine the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of brotherly Islamic countries and rejected, in this regard, the announcement made by Israel recognizing the independence of the &ldquo;so-called Somaliland&rdquo; region of the Federal Republic of Somalia, it added. The Senate urged the international community to end Israeli impunity and hold it accountable for its crimes against humanity, as well as its actions that pose a threat to all regional countries. It demanded the &ldquo;full&rdquo; Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and sustained, unimpeded humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza. This should also include support through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, as well as an early start to the recovery and reconstruction process in Gaza, it added. The House reaffirmed Pakistan&rsquo;s historic and unwavering support for the Palestinian people&rsquo;s inalienable right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent, viable, and contiguous State of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital.

Foreign Affairs

The resolution condemned Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s remarks on regional alliances, denounced Gaza ceasefire violations, reaffirmed support for Palestine, urged international accountability, and withdrawal from the occupied territories.

Articles by AFP

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