GENEVA: The number of forcibly displaced people dropped for the first time in a decade last year, as more opted to return home despite often unsafe and unstable conditions, the UN said Thursday. At the end of 2025, 117.8 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes, marking a decline of 5.4 million compared to a year earlier, the UN refugee agency said. The agency said the number of people who had been forced to flee due to war, violence and persecution remained &quot;unacceptably high&quot;, urging action to dramatically reduce long-term displacement over the next decade. In its annual report, UNHCR explained that the declining displacement number was linked to &quot;a sharp increase&quot; in the number of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) returning home. In all, 14.7 million displaced people returned to their places of origin in 2025, said the report. They included 4.4 million refugees who crossed back into their home countries, marking the second highest number of refugee returns since records began 60 years ago. &nbsp;Unsafe returns&nbsp; UN refugee chief Barham Salih told reporters in Geneva that &quot;more than 90 percent&quot; of refugee returns last year were concentrated in Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria. But, he stressed, &quot;many of these returns occurred not under conditions of safety and stability, but under pressure&quot;. They had gone back to &quot;countries where insecurity persists, where infrastructure has been damaged, and where basic services and economic opportunities remain scarce&quot;, he warned. &quot;Returns that are not safe... are not a solution,&quot; he insisted. &quot;They risk becoming the beginning of a new displacement cycle.&quot; Among those displaced at the end of 2025, 41.6 million were considered refugees, including nearly 5.4 million people who fled across borders to become refugees in the course of the year, Thursday&#39;s report showed. A full 60 percent of those new refugees fled from just eight countries, including nearly a million coming from war-ravaged Sudan alone, and almost 800,000 fled from Ukraine. The report also pointed to several crises driving mass displacement since the start of this year. They included the Mideast war launched by United States and Israel in February, which it said had forced 3.2 million people from their homes in Iran alone. And in Lebanon, Israeli attacks since March have displaced more than one million people, the UNHCR pointed out. The conflicts in Iran and Lebanon had spurred many refugees hosted there to return home since the start of the year, often under adverse circumstances, including to Syria and Afghanistan. &nbsp;Refugee resettlement needed&nbsp; The UN refugee agency meanwhile voiced concern over a narrowing space for refugee resettlement last year, estimating that the number of refugees needing to resettle in third countries stood at 2.9 million. The number of resettlement spots had reached 188,800 in 2024 -- its highest level in four decades. But last year, the number was more than halved to just 81,800, the report showed, pointing in particular to a sharp decline in the numbers accepted by the United States. &quot;The gap between places and needs is enormous and has been widening,&quot; the agency warned. Salih, a former Iraqi president who was once a refugee himself, also warned that forced displacement was becoming increasingly drawn out, often lasting years and even decades. &quot;Today, 70 percent of refugees are living in protracted situations,&quot; he pointed out. This was unsustainable, he insisted, calling on countries to back a new initiative aimed to lift millions out of long-term displacement and reliance on humanitarian aid. &quot;Humanitarian assistance was designed for emergencies. It was never intended to sustain generations of people indefinitely,&quot; he said. The new initiative, he said, aims to slash in half the number of refugees in long-term displacement over the next decade by developing opportunities for voluntary returns, resettlement and humanitarian visas. He voiced hope that countries would get onboard, realising that &quot;there is a pathway to having a more sustainable situation&quot;.

Africa

The UN reported the first decline in global forced displacement in a decade as millions returned home, though many faced unsafe conditions while conflicts in Sudan, Iran and Lebanon continued driving crises.

Number of forcibly displaced people dips to 118M: UN

Web Desk

GENEVA: Nearly 500 Ebola cases have now been confirmed in the deadly outbreak raging in central Africa, a WHO overview showed Saturday, amid mounting concern over the swelling scale of the epidemic. In its daily update on the situation, the World Health Organization tallied 452 confirmed cases, including 82 deaths, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak was declared three weeks ago. In neighboring Uganda, meanwhile, it counted 19 confirmed cases, including two deaths. The total of 471 cases and 84 deaths, based on numbers reported by the DRC and Ugandan governments, marked a hike of 100 cases and 20 deaths from a day earlier. The increase came amid warnings that the outbreak, which the WHO has declared an international public health emergency, could eventually swell to become the largest on record. A top official at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that models indicated that without strong public health interventions, the current outbreak risked rivalling the scale of the 2014 West Africa epidemic, which saw over 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths. &quot;That scale is possible,&quot; said Jason Asher, director of CDC&#39;s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, during a press briefing. Ebola, which is spread through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The current outbreak was declared on May 15 in northeastern DR Congo, but the virus is believed to have spread under the radar for some time beforehand. There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind the outbreak. The WHO and the African CDC on Friday launched a $518-million plan to battle the outbreak over the next six months, focusing among other things on boosting surveillance, laboratory testing and infection prevention. &quot;The outbreak is moving fast, and we are still playing catch-up,&quot; WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. &quot;We need to stop the outbreak where it is, support countries that are responding today, and ensure that neighboring countries are ready to detect and act quickly if cases appear,&quot; he said. &quot;This is a serious outbreak and its one we know how to stop but we need to move fast and together.&quot;

Doctors Without Border (MSF) personnel stands at the Elikya clinic Ebola treatment center in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on June 5, 2026. (AFP)

In its daily update on the situation, the World Health Organization tallied 452 confirmed cases, including 82 deaths, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak was declared three weeks ago.

Nearly 500 confirmed cases in Central Africa Ebola outbreak: WHO

WASHINGTON: The US CDC on Friday urged strong public health interventions against the current Ebola outbreak, citing their models that show it could otherwise rival the scale of the 2014 West Africa outbreak. That eruption of the virus resulted in more than 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths. &quot;That scale is possible,&quot; said Jason Asher, director of CDC&#39;s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, during a press briefing. The US projections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were part of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report documents published Friday. The worst outcomes could be avoided if &quot;a larger proportion of patients were identified, isolated, and treated,&quot; the agency said in its reports. But &quot;the public health response to control this outbreak will likely need to be of similar magnitude to the response for the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak.&quot; Asher emphasized the models were &quot;not a forecast&quot; but &quot;a planning tool.&quot; &quot;They&#39;re designed to support action, not to generate alarm.&quot; They are based on four possible intervention scenarios ranging from poor (20 percent) to extremely high (95 percent) levels of isolation and treatment. If isolation levels are what the CDC would consider poor, with no other interventions there is a 65 percent chance cases will top 20,000 within three months, according to the agency. Satish Pillai, the CDC manager for the Ebola response, said &quot;the total individuals that are infected and requiring isolation remains unclear.&quot; But he said the situation on the ground would indicate levels of isolation are currently on the lower end. Also on Friday the World Health Organization and the African Union&#39;s public health agency said $518 million was needed across the next six months to combat the deadly Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo and its neighbors. The outbreak was declared on May 15 in northeastern DR Congo, but the rare Bundibugyo species of the Ebola virus is believed to have spread for some time beforehand. According to the WHO&#39;s latest figures, there are 381 confirmed cases in the DRC, including 64 deaths. The outbreak has hit three provinces, with the epicenter in Ituri, which the Africa CDC says accounts for 90 percent of confirmed cases and 76 percent of confirmed deaths. Across the northeastern border in Uganda, there have been 16 confirmed cases, including one death. Seven Ebola patients in the DRC and two in Uganda have recovered.

The US CDC warns the current Ebola outbreak could approach the scale of the 2014 West Africa crisis without stronger interventions, urging expanded case identification, isolation and treatment efforts in the DR Congo and neighboring countries.

US warns Ebola outbreak on scale of largest 'is possible'

GENEVA: The Ebola outbreak raging in central Africa had a &quot;big head-start,&quot; the World Health Organization chief acknowledged Wednesday, but insisted efforts to rein in the deadly virus were making progress. The outbreak, which was declared on May 15 in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has so far been confirmed to have infected 359 people, including 61 who have died. But the actual numbers could be far higher, with the virus believed to have been spreading under the radar for some time before it was detected. &quot;The outbreak had a big head-start and we&#39;re still behind,&quot; WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the UN health agency&#39;s headquarters in Geneva, but insisted that &quot;we&#39;re catching up.&quot; Tedros, who had just returned from a trip to DRC, where he travelled to the outbreak&#39;s epicentre in Ituri province, said he had been &quot;very encouraged by the level of commitment I saw everywhere I went.&quot; But challenges remain, he said, warning that &quot;the virus is ahead of us ... we need to move faster.&quot; It has been clear from the start that the difficulties would be daunting, with the outbreak concentrated in Ituri, where decades of armed conflicts have forced millions of people from their homes and into crowded camps. Ebola patient visited UAE&nbsp;The region&#39;s insecurity, limited testing capacity, lagging contact tracing and mistrust among some of the population are among the challenges facing the response, Tedros said. On top of that, no vaccine or approved treatment exists for Bundibugyo, the rare strain of Ebola behind the current outbreak. Ebola, which is passed on through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The current outbreak &mdash; the 17th to hit the DRC &mdash; has to date seen 344 confirmed Ebola cases across three of the country&#39;s provinces, including 60 deaths, said the WHO. The UN health agency also tallied 116 suspected cases of the disease. Fifteen cases, including one death, have also been reported in neighboring Uganda, including a Congolese resident who had arrived there after first travelling to the United Arab Emirates, Tedros said. &quot;WHO is working with public health authorities in Uganda and the UAE to gather additional information, assess the risk of exposure during travel, and to facilitate contact tracing,&quot; he said. Speed up contact tracing&nbsp;The agency has said the risk from the outbreak is &quot;very high&quot; at the national level, &quot;high&quot; at the regional level, and &quot;low&quot; at the global level. Tedros stressed Wednesday that while the WHO recommends exit screening at airports, ports and border crossings in affected countries to prevent the spread of the virus, broader limits were unhelpful. &quot;Blanket travel restrictions imposed by some countries are disrupting supply chains and hindering the response,&quot; he warned. &quot;We ask countries that have imposed blanket travel restrictions to lift them.&quot; Reining in the outbreak would instead center on significantly bolstering and speeding up the response on the ground, including by decentralizing laboratory testing in Ebola hotspots, Tedros said. At present, only around 45% of known contacts of Ebola cases have been followed up, the WHO chief said. &quot;To get ahead of the outbreak, we need to get that number up to above 90%.&quot; Abdi Rahman Mahamud, the WHO&#39;s emergency alert and response director, told reporters that so far, more than 1,400 tests had been conducted. But decentralization across five priority locations &mdash; Mongbwalu, Beni, Aru, Nyakunde and Tchomia &mdash; should soon make it possible &quot;to do 1,000 tests a day.&quot;

The outbreak, which was declared on May 15 in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has so far been confirmed to have infected 359 people, including 61 who have died.



Ebola had 'big head-start' but response catching up: WHO

BUNIA, CONGO: Dorcas Mapenzi fears the worst if Ebola comes to the Kingonze camp, where she lives alongside more than 25,000 other displaced people in the conflict-hit eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. &quot;If Ebola comes, we&#39;ll be wiped out as we&#39;re packed like sardines,&quot; the displaced woman told AFP at the sprawl of tarpaulin and tents on the outskirts of Bunia, the capital of the northeastern Ituri province, the epicenter of the latest outbreak. Spread by close contact, the deadly viral disease has spread like wildfire in the vast central African country&#39;s east, where decades of armed conflicts have forced millions of people from their homes and into camps where they live cheek-by-jowl. Nearly a million of those displaced are in Ituri, among the provinces of the desperately impoverished DRC, most prey to the east&#39;s litany of armed groups, where the prospect of the epidemic spreading throughout the refugee camps has sparked alarm. The World Health Organization&#39;s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned that the eastern DRC &quot;faces a catastrophic collision of disease and conflict,&quot; with the fighting hampering efforts to tackle the epidemic. Visiting Bunia on Saturday, Tedros called for more international help and financial aid to combat the spread of Ebola. He also said it was essential to assuage fears among affected communities that are deeply distrustful of authorities and to halt the spread of false information about the virus. The current outbreak was officially declared in the DRC and neighboring Uganda on May 15. As of May 31, the WHO said 321 cases had been confirmed in the DR Congo, including 48 deaths. There are nine confirmed cases in Uganda, including one fatality. Everyone will dieNo infection has yet been recorded at the Kingonze displaced persons&#39; camp, where Mapenzi now lives. But conditions in the camp are ripe for a disease passed on through close physical contact and bodily fluids. &quot;I&#39;ve already heard of Ebola, and it&#39;s a disease that scares me a lot,&quot; Mapenzi said as she washed her laundry in a basin on the ground. &quot;We displaced people here have no hygiene.&nbsp;Our children play next to filthy toilets and even relieve themselves on the ground, in the middle of the tarpaulins that serve as our homes,&quot; the young woman said. Deborah Nzale, a widow and head of her family, lives with nine people in a small tarpaulin shelter of barely three square meters (32 square feet). &quot;Given these conditions, how are we going to protect ourselves against this disease, when everyone tells us we need to distance ourselves to fight Ebola?&quot; she asked. No vaccine or treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola responsible for the latest outbreak. Attempts to contain the virus&#39;s spread have had to rely mainly on protective measures and rapid contact tracing. &quot;We sleep piled on top of each other, with everyone&#39;s sweat,&quot; Nzale said. &quot;If a single person gets infected here in this camp, everyone will die.&quot; Ebola really killsSo far, Kingonze&#39;s displaced residents have not received any protective gear. &quot;Ebola really kills,&quot; a poster at the entrance warns. &quot;People looking to raise awareness come through here with messages, but surprisingly, we don&#39;t have the kit we need to protect ourselves,&quot; Budjo Amos complained. &quot;I don&#39;t even have soap to wash my hands,&quot; said Amos, who fled the province&#39;s common communal violence. &quot;The most urgent thing is to give us clean water,&quot; he insisted. There is only one borehole in Kigonze. Empty jerrycans pile up in front. Water flows from the tap for just a few hours a day. &quot;The state has to intervene urgently,&quot; Amos pleaded. Already long absent from swathes of Ituri, the Congolese state has been criticized for its delayed response to the outbreak, which was declared several weeks after the first cases emerged. Many hospitals in the region still lack essential equipment, especially isolation tents for patients. According to Ituri&#39;s military governor, the province counts around 61 displaced persons camps housing nearly 970,000 people. &quot;We need to deploy equipment and qualified, specialist medical staff as quickly as possible,&quot; Lieutenant General Johnny Luboya Nkashama told AFP on Friday, &quot;to spare this province from disaster.&quot;

Overcrowded displacement camps in eastern DR Congo fear devastation as a growing Ebola outbreak spreads amid conflict, poor sanitation and limited healthcare, with officials warning of a potential humanitarian disaster.

'If Ebola comes, we'll be wiped out': Fear grips camps in DR Congo

ISLAMABAD: The International Rescue Committee warned Tuesday that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is likely much larger and more advanced than official figures indicate, as response efforts struggle with delayed detection and dangerously low levels of contact tracing. According to World Health Organization data, Ebola is a rare but severe and often fatal illness in humans, with an average case fatality rate of around 50%, ranging from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks. The current outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo virus strain, for which no approved vaccine or specific therapeutics currently exist, according to available epidemiological data. The virus spreads through direct contact with broken skin or mucous membranes and bodily fluids of infected or deceased persons, and through indirect contact with contaminated surfaces or materials, according to WHO tracking. The incubation period is 2 to 21 days, with individuals not contagious until symptoms appear, per WHO guidelines. With only 20% of contacts currently being traced, health authorities are struggling to identify and isolate new chains of transmission, according to the IRC. The virus may have been spreading undetected since before March, potentially as long as three months before the first official case was identified, allowing multiple chains of transmission to establish across communities and provinces, the IRC warned. &quot;The true scale of this Ebola outbreak is likely far worse than official figures suggest,&quot; said Rachel Howard, Senior Technical Emergency Health Adviser at the IRC. &quot;When four out of five contacts are not being traced, it becomes incredibly difficult to contain the outbreak or even understand its true scale. We&#39;re especially concerned about the virus spreading to other countries like Burundi or South Sudan.&quot; According to integrated epidemiological data, the total confirmed case numbers are 282 in the DRC and 9 in Uganda, with over 220 suspected cases under investigation. At least 42 confirmed deaths have been reported in the DRC and 1 in Uganda. IRC teams report that shortages of diagnostic cartridges and testing backlogs are slowing case confirmation, further obscuring the true spread of the outbreak. Seven confirmed Ebola patients have reportedly left treatment centers in the DRC. More than six healthcare workers have died, including two doctors, in recent days. People are avoiding health facilities, raising concerns that those affected are staying in their communities rather than seeking treatment. Without urgent funding, the situation could deteriorate rapidly. The outbreak is increasingly resembling the 2018-20 North Kivu Ebola crisis, which infected thousands of people and was complicated by insecurity, population movement, and community resistance. However, unlike in previous outbreaks, when the Ervebo vaccine was deployed, there is currently no approved vaccine for this Ebola strain. The IRC called for urgent international support to scale up contact tracing, surveillance, laboratory testing, treatment capacity, and community engagement efforts. In Uganda, the organization teamed up with the local health ministry on the border to support infection prevention and control activities, including screening people coming across the border.

The current outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo virus strain, for which no approved vaccine or specific therapeutics currently exist.

Congo Ebola outbreak likely far larger than official figures suggest: IRC

PARIS: Several non-profit organisations announced Monday they are ramping up efforts to rapidly develop a vaccine for the rare strain of Ebola driving a deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.&nbsp;Nearly 250 people are suspected to have died and more than 1,100 infected with the strain in the DRC and neighbouring Uganda, though the true spread of the virus is feared to be much wider.&nbsp;While it marks the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC, it is just the third caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.&nbsp;The escalating nature of the outbreak has sparked a race to find a vaccine that can be quickly developed, manufactured then tested in humans during clinical trials in the affected region. <figure id="isPasted"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/f895bb40-57a9-4559-8e87-ef031581f56a-AFP__20260531__B4JA6ZR__v1__MidRes__DrcongoHealthEbola.jpg" alt="AFP__20260531__B4JA6ZR__v1__MidRes__DrcongoHealthEbola.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii"><figcaption>A health worker stands in a new Ebola treatment center during a visit of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), in Bunia, in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 31, 2026. (AFP)</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;The World Health Organization said on Saturday that its experts had determined &quot;the most promising candidate vaccine&quot; was a single-dose shot using the rVSV platform.&nbsp;The only licensed Ebola vaccine, which targets the more common Zaire strain, uses the same platform.&nbsp;The non-profit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) announced Monday it had reached a deal with the University of Texas Medical Branch to develop the rVSV candidate.&nbsp;The university&#39;s Thomas Geisbert led work on both the Bundibugyo candidate and the licensed Zaire jab. <figure id="isPasted"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/c4d6c304-5240-49ae-8963-4e07567100f8-AFP__20260526__B43N3DN__v3__MidRes__TopshotUgandaHealthEbola.jpg" alt="AFP__20260526__B43N3DN__v3__MidRes__TopshotUgandaHealthEbola.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii"><figcaption>A Uganda Red Cross Society worker in protective gear are sprayed with disinfectant during the evacuation of the body of a suspected Ebola victim in Kampala on May 26, 2026. (AFP)</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Geisbert told AFP last month that 2013 research demonstrated his jab provided very strong protection against Bundibugyo in monkeys.&nbsp;However the vaccine &quot;just sat there&quot; for more than a decade because of a lack of interest, in particular from pharmaceutical firms, the virologist added.&nbsp;The WHO estimated it would take seven to nine months before the rVSV vaccine is ready to be tested in humans.&nbsp;&#39;Fast-track&#39;Also on Monday, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced funding to &quot;fast-track&quot; development of three Bundibugyo vaccine candidates, including $3.2 million towards the rVSV jab.&nbsp;WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who visited the epicentre of the outbreak in the DRC on the weekend, said in a statement the funding was &quot;an important step forward&quot;.&nbsp;Another vaccine candidate receiving CEPI funding was developed on the University of Oxford&#39;s ChAdOx1 platform, which also underpinned AstraZeneca&#39;s Covid vaccine.&nbsp;This viral vector jab -- which will be manufactured by the huge Serum Institute of India -- could become available for clinical trials within two to three months, the WHO said.&nbsp;CEPI also said it had committed $50 million to a vaccine candidate being developed by US pharma giant Moderna which uses the mRNA technology pioneered in its Covid vaccine. <figure id="isPasted"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/f5fd6e58-55c4-4057-b939-5582c849e0c5-AFP__20260526__B4478GQ__v7__MidRes__DrcongoHealthEbola.jpg" alt="AFP__20260526__B4478GQ__v7__MidRes__DrcongoHealthEbola.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii"><figcaption>A healthcare worker takes a visitor&#39;s temperature at Rwampara Hospital in Ituri, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 26, 2026. (AFP)</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;In a preprint paper published online last week, researchers at France&#39;s INSERM institute called for trials to see if the licenced Zaire vaccine could also help fight Bundibugyo.&nbsp;$50 million pledgeAlso on Monday, the Gavi vaccine alliance announced it would make up to $50 million available for Bundibugyo vaccine efforts.&nbsp;&quot;We need to act now to ensure that, once one or more vaccine candidates are ready, manufacturers are in a position to start producing doses at scale,&quot; Gavi CEO Sania Nishtar said in a statement.&nbsp;IAVI president Mark Feinberg told a press conference on Monday that Gavi&#39;s new commitment could fund the production of roughly 500,000 doses.&nbsp;It also provided a &quot;signal to manufacturers they can make this investment and not carry excessive risk,&quot; he added.&nbsp;Even once doses for a trial are ready, there will be challenges in deploying them in a vast, remote area of the DRC that is already suffering crises including hunger, malaria and conflict.&nbsp;Gaining the trust of communities where vaccines will be trialled will be crucial, the WHO emphasised.&nbsp;And once a trial is finally carried out, there is no guarantee it will demonstrate the vaccine works.&nbsp;&quot;We have reasons to believe that we can generate effective vaccines, but we don&#39;t want to downplay at all that we have to treat them as investigational products,&quot; CEPI CEO Richard Hatchett said last week.&nbsp;There are also several efforts to quickly trial several Bundibugyo treatments, including antivirals called remdesivir and obeldesivir, and the monoclonal antibody MBP134.

A deadly Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda has infected over 1,100 people and killed nearly 250. Global health organizations are accelerating development of vaccines and treatments, with several candidates expected to enter clinical trials within months.

'We need to act now': Race to develop Ebola vaccine heats up

CONAKRY, Guinea: Guineans voted on Sunday in legislative and municipal elections marking a new step towards a return to democratic rule after a 2021 coup, despite severe restrictions on civil liberties and an opposition boycott. The authorities pushed back the close of polling stations 90 minutes to 7.30 pm (1930 GMT) before counting started. The day was marked by a low turnout at polling stations visited by AFP journalists in the capital, Conakry, and the central city of Labe, and according to election monitors across the country. Almost seven million people were eligible to vote but critics of coup leader President Mamadi Doumbouya urged voters to boycott the process. Voters are electing 147 MPs, most expected to be drawn from the presidential camp as the government dissolved the main opposition parties in March. &quot;I don&#39;t even know who to vote for,&quot; Mariatou Diallo, 18, told AFP as she cast her first-ever vote in a Conakry suburb. Alassane Barry, a 23-year-old student, said he did not know any of the candidates, calling them &quot;unknown figures&quot;. The Forces Vives de Guinee coalition of the main opposition and civil society groups called for a boycott of an &quot;electoral farce&quot; that they said would establish &quot;a new dictatorship&quot;. One opposition party, the Democratic Front of Guinea (Frondeg), which placed second in the presidential election in December with a 6.6 percent vote share, denounced an assault on one of its candidates in the central town of Mamou. The party said that Abdoulaye Bademba Diallo was &quot;attacked&quot; in a restaurant on Saturday evening &quot;by two hooded individuals&quot; on a motorcycle. The campaign unfolded peacefully but turnout is key in polls taking place just days after the major religious holiday of Eid al-Adha, when Guineans gather with their families. Doumbouya, who seized power in September 2021, was elected president for a seven-year term in December having faced no serious opponent. He had initially promised to hand power back to civilians at the end of a transition period. His government has suspended many political parties, banned protests and arrested opposition and civil society leaders. Enforced disappearances and abductions of dissidents and their relatives have become common. The Institute for Studies and Security, an African think tank, warned recently of the risk of political structures being &quot;dominated by a single force&quot;.

Guineans vote in legislative and municipal elections, marking a new step towards a return to democratic rule after a 2021 coup, despite severe restrictions on civil liberties and an opposition boycott.

Guinea holds parliament election five years after coup

ACCRA, Ghana: Ghana&#39;s parliament on Friday approved an anti-LGBTQ law which is now awaiting ratification by President John Mahama. The law on sexual rights and family values imposes a penalty of up to three years&#39; jail for people who engage in homosexual relations, and between three and five years for the promotion, sponsorship or intentional support of LGBT+ activities. The bill was passed unanimously by parliament in 2024 but former president Nana Akufo-Addo did not sign it. Under Ghana&#39;s constitution, draft legislation not signed by the president before the end of a parliamentary term automatically lapses and must be passed again by the new parliament. The law approved Friday retains the previous bill&#39;s core provisions but includes exemptions for legal, media and healthcare professionals. Same-sex relationships are prohibited in Ghana by a law dating from the British colonial era but there have been no prosecutions to date. Human rights groups and several international organisations have condemned the bill. In February 2025, Mahama said: &quot;I believe in the principles and values that only two genders exist -- man and woman. And that marriage is between a man and a woman.&quot;

Ghana parliament approves an anti-LGBTQ law imposing prison terms for same-sex relations and support of LGBT activities, with the legislation now awaiting ratification by John Mahama.

Ghana parliament approves 'anti-LGBTQ' law

KINSHASA, DR Congo: The UN health chief said Thursday the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo which has claimed over 200 lives can be stopped, as he arrived to oversee the fight against the highly infectious disease. World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus&#39;s plane landed in the capital Kinsasha on Thursday evening. He is set on Friday to travel to Ituri province in the northeastern DRC, the epidemic&#39;s epicentre. &quot;That thing can be stopped,&quot; Tedros said, adding that the WHO did not support travel bans to combat the outbreak because they &quot;don&#39;t help much&quot;. &quot;Together, we will overcome this outbreak,&quot; he said earlier, vowing to do &quot;everything in my power to help you.&quot; The WHO has recorded 10 confirmed and 223 suspected Ebola deaths in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on May 15, out of more than 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases, according to its latest figures up to May 24. The true spread of the outbreak, thought to have circulated under the radar for some time, is likely much wider, the WHO has warned. This is the 17th recorded Ebola outbreak in the vast central African country of more than 100 million people. Complicating efforts to battle it is the fact that its epicentre lies in the east, a mineral-rich region that has been scarred by violence from various armed groups for more than three decades. In the latest spasm of violence, the Rwanda-backed M23 has since 2021 seized swathes of territory, with fighting stepping up over the last year and a half. Tedros has urged warring factions to stop the fighting. &quot;Conflict and displacement make everything harder,&quot; he said. &quot;I am making a direct appeal to all warring parties in this region: please, declare a ceasefire. &quot;No cause, no conflict, no grievance is worth condemning innocent people to death from a preventable disease.&quot; Vaccine in the worksNo vaccine or treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind the current outbreak. But the head of African Union&#39;s health agency said on Thursday that one should be ready by the end of the year. &quot;What we can tell you for sure, by the end of this year, 2026, Africa CDC will make sure that we have a vaccine and medicine against Bundibugyo,&quot; Jean Kaseya, head of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters in an online briefing. &quot;Our leaders are ready to invest. We are investing at technical level, at a strategic level, to make sure that (the vaccine) will happen,&quot; he added. The WHO said it had received 4.6 tonnes of aid at the airport in Bunia, capital of the epicentre Ituri province, while UNICEF, the UN children&#39;s agency, said it was sending 100 tonnes of aid to the country. Measures abroadNeighbouring Uganda, which has recorded one death confirmed to be from Ebola and six additional cases, announced it was shutting its border with the DRC with immediate effect. The United States said it would not allow anyone afflicted with the virus to enter the country. The administration of US President Donald Trump is working to open a treatment facility for afflicted US citizens in Kenya, instead of facilitating their return for treatment on American soil, as has been done in previous Ebola outbreaks. A Kenya rights group filed a court petition on Thursday, seeking to halve operations at any such facility, while health officials have warned that such a centre could put another burden on Kenya&#39;s stretched health system. The WHO said Thursday its advisory groups had recommended clinical trials for vaccines and treatments that could be useful against the Bundibugyo strain. The WHO said it would work closely with the DR Congo and Uganda to facilitate research evaluation of these products. Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The deadliest outbreak in the DRC claimed nearly 2,300 lives out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.&emsp;

The UN health chief says that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has claimed over 200 lives, can be stopped, as he arrives to oversee the fight against the highly infectious disease.

WHO chief says Ebola 'can be stopped' as he lands in DR Congo

BUENOS AIRES: Temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula have reached a record-breaking high of 15.4C for June, and ice is melting at abnormal rates during the current winter, climate scientists told AFP on Thursday. Esperanza Base, an Argentine research station located in the north of the peninsula, recorded the unprecedented figure on June 6. The previous highest temperature on record for that month -- 13.3C -- dates back to 1998. The current heat also significantly exceeds Esperanza&#39;s June average of -6.2C. Such a figure is &quot;very unusual for this time of year,&quot; Jose Luis Stella, a climatologist at Argentina&#39;s National Meteorological Service, told AFP. Argentine bases Marambio and San Martin also recorded unequalled temperatures between June 5 and 6. Marambio recorded 11.8C, surpassing a previous high of 9.2C and its June average of -10.7C. San Martin meanwhile saw 9.4C compared to its previous 7.8C record and June average of -5.6C. &#39;Confirms a trend&#39;The northern Antarctic heatwave is not an isolated event, University of Groningen professor Raul Cordero told AFP. &quot;It confirms a trend,&quot; he said, warning that &quot;these kinds of events will continue to occur with increasing frequency&quot; if global warming is not derailed. Thomas Caton Harrison, a polar climate scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, believes a combination of factors including climate change resulted in the current heat. &quot;There is credible evidence that climate change is playing a role, but the effect is complex in this region,&quot; he said. &quot;Because Antarctica sees such big swings in temperature, we have to collect lots of data over many years to build a picture of the underlying climate.&quot; Both specialists agree that regional temperatures have been rising for years and are already showing visible effects. &quot;A surprising amount of precipitation has been falling as rain rather than snow,&quot; Caton Harrison said. &quot;This has implications for polar ecosystems such as penguin colonies,&quot; he said, adding that &quot;it poses a challenge to my colleagues working on Antarctic bases because a lot of liquid rain has been falling and creating runoff and ice.&quot; Esperanza Base has been recording above-zero temperatures daily for three consecutive weeks. This trend has caused &quot;large areas in the far north of the white continent to remain free of snow,&quot; according to Cordero, who called it &quot;an unusual scene in the Antarctic landscape during winter.&quot;

Climate

Temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula reach a record-breaking high of 15.4C for June, as ice melts at abnormal rates during the current winter.

Antarctic Peninsula sees record high June temperatures

MEXICO CITY: Mexico ignited their World Cup party with a dominant 2-0 victory over nine-man South Africa on Thursday as the biggest ever edition of the global footballing showpiece kicked off at the iconic Estadio Azteca. Julian Quinones scored the opening goal of the tournament and veteran striker Raul Jimenez added a second as the co-hosts&#39; bid for qualification from Group A got off to smooth start. South Africa meanwhile never looked like spoiling the opening day fiesta, and finished with only nine men after Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane were sent off. The Mexican-colored red, green and white smoke from pre-game fireworks had barely dissipated before Quinones fired the hosts into the lead on nine minutes, drilling a low shot through the legs of South Africa&rsquo;s goalkeeper and captain Ronwen Williams. A deafening roar cascaded down from the stands of the Azteca, the footballing cathedral that became the only stadium to host games at three different World Cups. South Africa coach Hugo Broos had warned his players to be ready for the intimidating atmosphere created by a capacity 80,824 crowd at the imposing concrete arena. But South Africa&rsquo;s players looked to have a bad case of stage fright as Mexico&#39;s fans &nbsp;greeted each completed pass with a raucous chorus of &quot;Ole!&quot; in the opening minutes Sithole seemed particularly affected, being caught in possession trying to play out of the back for Quinones&#39; opening goal. Sithole&#39;s miserable afternoon ended with a 49th minute dismissal after bundling over Mexico&rsquo;s Brian Gutierrez when clean through on goal. Mexico rammed home their advantage in the 67th minute, with a fine counter attack culminating in Roberto Alvarado crossing for Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Jimenez to nod home at the far post. It got worse for South Africa in the 84th minute when Zwane was dismissed after a VAR review for flinging an arm into the face of Alvarado. There was still time for late drama when Mexican defender Cesar Montes was shown a red card for a clumsy challenge on Khulisa Mudau on the edge of the penalty area.

Football

Mexico launches World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over South Africa at a packed Estadio Azteca, while the visitors finish with nine men after two red cards.

Mexico beat South Africa to kick off World Cup

NEW YORK: Taylor Swift on Thursday became the youngest woman ever inducted into the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame, another milestone in the 36-year-old US pop star&#39;s record-breaking career. The female record was previously held by Carole Bayer Sager, who was 43 when she joined in 1987. Stevie Wonder remains the youngest person ever admitted, at age 32 in 1983. Artists become eligible for the Hall of Fame 20 years after the release of their first commercial track. For Swift, that was &quot;Tim McGraw,&quot; released in June 2006. Her success since is undeniable: the American artist has recorded 12 albums spanning country, pop, and folk, earning her 14 Grammy Awards in the United States, including four Album of the Year trophies -- a record. &quot;Swift&#39;s ability to shapeshift as a songwriter, to inhabit different sonic landscapes and write as credibly in the world of one genre as she does another is part of her superpower as a songwriter,&quot; reads her bio on the Hall of Fame website. &quot;It also represents the boldness and bravery of her artistry: to explore new frontiers when the most practical next step would be to keep mining the material that has gotten you the success in the first place.&quot; Swift appeared on the red carpet in New York on Thursday wearing a strapless black dress with floral motifs ahead of the naming ceremony. &#39;Great honor&#39;Also inducted on Thursday were Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS, the band behind hits such as &quot;Rock and Roll All Nite&quot; and &quot;Detroit Rock City.&quot; &quot;It doesn&#39;t suck,&quot; Stanley told AFP when asked how it felt to join the prestigious songwriting ranks. &quot;It&#39;s really hard to digest the idea. I certainly don&#39;t consider myself in that rarified air of some of the writers, but if you wanna be in that club, I&#39;m there.&quot; Kenny Loggins, the hitmaker behind movie soundtrack classics like &quot;Footloose&quot; and &quot;Danger Zone&quot; from &quot;Top Gun,&quot; was inducted into the Hall of Fame as well. &quot;It&#39;s a great honor and I appreciate it,&quot; Loggins told AFP. &quot;It&#39;s the culmination of a lifetime writing, and that&#39;s exciting for me.&quot; Canadian singer Alanis Morissette, inescapable in the 1990s, and American record producer Walter Afanasieff were also among the total of nine songwriters joining the Hall of Fame this year. Estimates put Taylor Swift&#39;s worldwide sales at over 250 million album-equivalents. Her most recent tour in 2023 and 2024, titled &quot;The Eras Tour,&quot; brought in a record sum of around two billion dollars. She is also the female artist with the most songs ever to reach the top 10 list compiled by Billboard, the leading US music magazine. Swift is omnipresent in the media. After unveiling a country track for the soundtrack of the film &quot;Toy Story 5,&quot; she was at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday for a game of the NBA Finals.

Entertainment

Taylor Swift becomes the youngest woman ever to be inducted into the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame, another milestone in the 36-year-old US pop star's record-breaking career.

Taylor Swift becomes youngest woman in Songwriters Hall of Fame

This live blog follows the latest developments across the Middle East crisis, including regional diplomacy, maritime security, ceasefire negotiations, and economic fallout.<hr>Catch up: Yesterday&rsquo;s top developments<ul style="list-style-type: square;"><li style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Iran has not made a final decision on the deal: FM spokesperson</li><li style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">&lsquo;We&#39;ll probably have a signing in Europe,&rsquo; says Trump on Iran war</li><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Islamabad backs diplomacy, dialogue</li><li style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Three Indian sailors killed aboard ship hit by US off Oman</li><li style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Kremlin calls on US, Iran to &#39;return to negotiating table&#39;</li></ul><hr> Egypt urges US, Iran to seize &#39;available opportunity&#39; for deal after Trump cancels strikesPublished: June 12, 2026 | 03:49 GMT | by AFP Egypt urged the United States and Iran to seize what it called an &quot;available opportunity&quot; for a deal to end the war, after President Donald Trump withdrew his threat to carry out further strikes on Tehran. Cairo&#39;s foreign ministry said in a statement late Thursday it hoped &quot;the available opportunity will be seized to reach a deal on the various outstanding issues and to prepare the atmosphere for reaching an end to the war and beginning a new phase of regional stability&quot;. <hr> Trump says &lsquo;we ended the war with Iran today&rsquo;Published: June 12, 2026 | 02:45 GMT | by Web Desk US President Donald Trump, during a tele-rally in support of Senate candidate Barry Moore, claimed that the war is now over, according to local media outlets. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if you heard, but we ended the war with Iran today, and they have agreed never to have a nuclear weapon, something that we, we insisted on,&rdquo; Trump said in the audio clip. <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Japan, S. Korea markets jump after Trump cancels Iran strikesPublished: June 12, 2026 | 01:59 GMT | by AFP Japan&#39;s Nikkei share index soared more than three percent Friday after US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of further strikes against Iran and said a deal to end the war could be signed in coming days. At around 0015 GMT the Nikkei 225 was up 3.5 percent, while South Korea&#39;s benchmark Kospi index jumped 7.59 percent. <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Iran&rsquo;s FM spokesman condemns US attacks on Indian vesselsPublished: June 11, 2026 | 23:40 GMT | by Web Desk Iran&rsquo;s Foreign Ministry Spokesman&nbsp;Esmaeil Baqaei&nbsp;condemned the US attacks on Indian commercial vessels, which killed at least three Indian nationals. In a post on X, he said that these attacks &quot;stand as clear evidence of America&rsquo;s ongoing policy of armed robbery and State piracy.&quot; <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Iran has not made a final decision on the deal: FM spokespersonPublished: June 11, 2026 | 21:55 GMT | by Web Desk Iran&rsquo;s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran has not made a final decision about a deal, according to Iran&rsquo;s official news agency&nbsp;IRNA. &quot;Once the relevant authorities reach a conclusion on the details of the draft text of an agreement, Iran&rsquo;s government will make a formal announcement,&quot; he said. <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page;"> &lsquo;We&#39;ll probably have a signing in Europe,&rsquo; says Trump on Iran warPublished: June 11, 2026 | 20:05 GMT | by Web Desk US President Donald Trump on Thursday said a deal to end the Middle East war was nearing completion, describing it as a &ldquo;great settlement&rdquo; and indicating that a formal signing could take place in Europe within days once the remaining documents are finalized. &ldquo;We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran,&rdquo; Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.&nbsp; &ldquo;Subject to finalization of documents, which should get done over the next few days, we&#39;ll probably have a signing, maybe in Europe.&rdquo;&nbsp; He added that the agreement would ensure &ldquo;Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,&rdquo; calling it the central objective of months of negotiations and conflict. Trump also said he believed Iran&#39;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the proposed arrangement.&nbsp; Asked whether Khamenei had personally given the green light, Trump replied: &ldquo;I understand the answer is yes.&rdquo; He described the agreement as &ldquo;a very strong memorandum of understanding.&rdquo; The US president said he had spoken with leaders from across the region, including Israel, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, as diplomatic efforts intensified ahead of a possible signing ceremony.&nbsp; Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen once the agreement is finalized and argued that the deal had already boosted market confidence, pointing to rising stock markets and falling oil prices. Trump also singled out Pakistan for its role in the diplomatic process, praising both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir.&nbsp; &ldquo;Pakistan was fantastic,&rdquo; he said. Referring to Munir, Trump added: &ldquo;He&#39;s a great, great general. He&#39;s so great that he&#39;s actually a field marshal.&rdquo;&nbsp; Pakistan has played a central mediation role in recent months, hosting talks and maintaining engagement with Washington, Tehran and regional partners in support of a negotiated settlement. <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Read our June 11 live blog for earlier developments&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/middle-east-june-11-2026" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>

Middle East

Americas

Says a 'great settlement' with Iran has been reached and approved by Iran's Supreme Leader; Trump praises Pakistan for a 'fantastic role' in mediation, calling Field Marshal Asim Munir a 'great general'; Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson denies that any final decision on a deal with the US has been made.

Trump says Iran deal nearing signing, praises Pakistan's role

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday rejected any attempt to draw a &ldquo;false equivalence&rdquo; between the situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and matters relating to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), while also raising concerns over India&rsquo;s expanding strategic capabilities. Speaking at the weekly media briefing in Islamabad, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Pakistan was addressing issues in Azad Jammu and Kashmir within a &ldquo;democratic and constitutional framework&rdquo; and rejected recent remarks by the Indian leadership and its foreign affairs office. &ldquo;Any attempt to conflate the two is misleading and does not withstand objective scrutiny,&rdquo; Andrabi said. Responding to questions regarding Indian statements on AJK, the spokesperson said Pakistan rejected India&#39;s remarks &ldquo;in their entirety.&rdquo; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s untenable for a state like India, which has consistently denied the people of Jammu and Kashmir their right to self-determination, to claim concerns over the rights of Kashmiris,&rdquo; he said. The remarks come amid continued tensions between Pakistan and India over the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region, a longstanding issue between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.&nbsp; Pakistan maintains that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir should be determined in accordance with relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. The spokesperson said India&rsquo;s statements appeared aimed at diverting attention from the &ldquo;unresolved status of Jammu and Kashmir&rdquo; and what he described as its &ldquo;abysmal record&rdquo; in IIOJK. &ldquo;We also reject any insinuation of a false equivalence between the situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and matters relating to Azad Jammu and Kashmir,&rdquo; Andrabi said. &ldquo;Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir is an illegally annexed, internationally recognized disputed territory whose people have suffered systemic abuses under draconian laws and have been denied their rights, including the right to self-determination, as affirmed by the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and as promised by the Indian founding fathers to the Kashmiri people,&rdquo; he added. Concerns over India&#39;s strategic capabilitiesThe Foreign Office also commented on a recent Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report suggesting India may have altered aspects of its traditional nuclear posture by reportedly deploying nuclear warheads during peacetime alongside developments in missile systems. Andrabi said Pakistan did not wish to endorse SIPRI&rsquo;s methodology but noted that the findings were &ldquo;not surprising.&rdquo; &ldquo;We do not wish to endorse or lend credence to SIPRI&rsquo;s methodology. Its findings, nevertheless, are &lsquo;not surprising,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said, adding that Pakistan had consistently raised concerns regarding India&rsquo;s continued &ldquo;vertical proliferation.&rdquo; The spokesperson said open-source assessments might not fully reflect the actual scale of India&rsquo;s nuclear arsenal. &ldquo;We also believe that open-source estimates, such as SIPRI&rsquo;s, may not fully reflect the actual scale of India&rsquo;s nuclear arsenal, which may actually be higher than the existing estimates,&rdquo; he said. According to Andrabi, Pakistan remained &ldquo;cognizant of developments in India&rsquo;s strategic capabilities,&rdquo; including the canisterization of missile systems, the expansion of sea-based nuclear-capable submarines and the pursuit of longer-range missile systems extending beyond India&rsquo;s immediate region. &ldquo;These developments enhance operational readiness, complicate crisis stability, and carry implications that extend beyond South Asia, with grave consequences for international peace and security,&rdquo; he said. Reiterating Pakistan&rsquo;s position, Andrabi said the country did not seek an arms race. &ldquo;Pakistan does not seek an arms race and matching warheads or arms and ammunition by number. However, we remain mindful of the evolving security environment. We will continue to take measures essential for preserving strategic stability and deterring India&rsquo;s aggression,&rdquo; he said. The spokesperson urged the international community to closely monitor developments related to India&rsquo;s strategic capabilities and their potential impact on regional and global security. He also called on countries supplying advanced technologies to India to consider the wider implications of emerging capabilities being incorporated into India&rsquo;s strategic posture. &ldquo;These developments threaten consequences far beyond South Asia into the wider world,&rdquo; Andrabi said.

Foreign Affairs

Pakistan also voices concern over India's evolving strategic capabilities, saying recent assessments reinforce longstanding fears about regional stability and urging the international community to closely monitor developments with wider security implications.

‘False equivalence’: Pakistan rejects Indian remarks on Kashmir

PARIS: A leather bag made from Tyrannosaurus rex cells failed to sell on Thursday, the Paris auction house Drouot said, commenting that bids were well below expected. Auctioneers Giquello had touted the &quot;one-of-a-kind&quot; piece to sell for more than $500,000 but bids barely broke the $150,000 mark, said the Drouot house where the sale took place. Unveiled in the spring in Amsterdam, the bag was created from traces of collagen from the femur of a T‑Rex found in the US state of Montana 25 years ago. &quot;In recent years, we&#39;ve developed techniques -- biotechnologies that allow us to instruct a cell culture to produce, so to speak, genuine T‑Rex skin in the laboratory,&quot; Iacopo Briano, a palaeontology expert associated with the sale, recently told AFP. He noted the material differs from vegan leather, which is mostly made from plastic. &quot;In this case, it&#39;s derived from a cell culture, so it&#39;s 100 percent skin. And at the same time, it comes from an animal that went extinct 67 million years ago!&quot; he said. With no precedent to go on, Alexandre Giquello, whose auction house is organising the sale, explained they had to &quot;come up with a price&quot; that would reflect both the amount of investment required to create the bag and its rarity. Giquello estimated the value at between 300,000 and 500,000 euros ($346,000 to $576,000).

Wildlife

A handbag created from lab-grown material derived from Tyrannosaurus rex collagen fails to sell at auction, attracting bids far below expectations despite its rarity and estimated value of up to $576,000.

First leather bag made from T-Rex cells fails to sell at Paris auction

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday held funeral prayers for military personnel martyred in an army helicopter crash near Muzaffarabad, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and senior civilian and military leaders attending the ceremony, according to the military&#39;s media wing. The funeral prayer was offered at Chaklala Garrison in Rawalpindi for the martyrs of the Mi-17 helicopter crash, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. PM Sharif, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defense Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, senior civil and military officials, relatives of the martyrs, and members of the public attended the service. The crash occurred Wednesday near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, during takeoff.&nbsp; The military said the helicopter went down because of a technical fault, and all personnel on board were martyred. A board of inquiry has been ordered to determine the exact cause of the accident. Earlier in the day, a separate funeral service for two Christian soldiers martyred in the crash was held at Christ Church in Rawalpindi and attended by political and military leaders. The ceremonies highlighted the participation of Pakistan&#39;s diverse communities in national service and remembrance. Addressing the gathering, PM Sharif said the martyrs&#39; &quot;devotion to duty, professionalism, and commitment to safeguarding the motherland will remain a source of inspiration for future generations.&quot; He said the sacrifices made by Pakistan&#39;s armed forces for &quot;peace, security, and national sovereignty can never be forgotten,&quot; and reaffirmed the nation&#39;s support for the families of the martyrs. The ISPR said the martyrs would be laid to rest in their respective hometowns with full military honors. Separately, President Asif Ali Zardari and PM Sharif expressed grief over the crash and offered condolences to the families of the martyrs. &quot;The entire nation pays tribute to the great sacrifice of the martyrs and shares the grief of the families,&quot; Zardari said in a statement. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also expressed condolences, extending sympathies to the families of the personnel martyred in the accident. The military leadership, including Field Marshal Munir and all ranks of the Pakistan Army, expressed deep sorrow over the loss of life and conveyed condolences to the bereaved families.

Security

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, senior military commanders and government officials attended funeral prayers in Rawalpindi for army aviation personnel lost in the Mi-17 accident, while separate services were held for two Christian soldiers before burial with full military honors.

Pakistan honors helicopter crash martyrs at Rawalpindi funeral service

NEW YORK: Elon Musk&#39;s SpaceX on Thursday confirmed it will begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange Friday in the biggest initial public offering in history, a blockbuster market debut that could propel the entrepreneur to trillionaire status. In a filing with the US markets regulator, the company priced more than 555 million shares at $135 each, placing SpaceX among Wall Street&#39;s most elite companies with a valuation of just under $1.8 trillion. The offering will raise a record $75 billion, easily outranking Saudi Aramco&#39;s $29.4 billion debut in 2019, until now the biggest ever. Underwriters hold an option to buy nearly 83 million additional shares, which would push the total above $86 billion if exercised in full. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America led a syndicate of more than 20 banks on the deal. The space and rocket company, co-founded by Musk in 2002, will trade under the ticker symbol &quot;SPCX,&quot; with a parallel listing on Nasdaq Texas. All eyes will be on how Wall Street absorbs the offering, which could send tremors across global markets. As is traditional for high-profile debuts, executives are expected to ring the opening bell on Friday to mark the start of the session -- in this case at New York&#39;s Times Square, home of the Nasdaq. SpaceX will be the first out of the gates among the tech and AI giants eyeing public markets, with OpenAI and Anthropic expected to follow -- both having recently filed with regulators for their own market debuts. The IPO is Musk&#39;s biggest financial gamble yet, with his xAI company and the X social media platform (formerly Twitter) also included in the offering after the multi-billionaire folded them into the company earlier this year. The offering was more than four times oversubscribed by major banks and financial institutions, according to Bloomberg, with interest from everyday investors reported to also be high. More than 20 percent of the shares will be reserved for these retail investors, a far greater proportion than is typically allocated in IPOs, giving Musk&#39;s legions of fans a chance to buy a slice of the company. Data centers in spaceThe success of the IPO rests squarely on investors&#39; faith in Musk as a visionary entrepreneur. The tech multi-billionaire will serve as chief executive, chief technology officer and board chairman of the newly traded company. The IPO is expected to mint thousands of new millionaires and many billionaires, with former and current employees -- and a long list of investors -- from the company&#39;s near quarter-century history looking to cash in. The financials of the company are giving some on Wall Street pause, as the valuation largely depends on Musk delivering on promises worthy of science fiction, including putting data centers in space as well as people on Mars using as yet unproven technology. While the company is growing fast -- revenue hit $18.7 billion in 2025 -- it is also losing money, producing a net loss of $4.9 billion. In an extraordinary prediction, SpaceX&#39;s filing claims it can pull in over $28.5 trillion in revenue from its various markets. Musk&#39;s fortune on Thursday stood at $782 billion according to the Forbes list of the world&#39;s richest people, nearing three times the wealth of number two, Google co-founder Larry Page. A successful IPO could make him the first trillionaire in history on Friday.

Artificial Intelligence

SpaceX confirms a record $75 billion IPO, valuing the company at nearly $1.8 trillion, as investors back Elon Musk’s space, AI and long-term technology ambitions worldwide for growth.

SpaceX to make historic IPO that could make Musk a trillionaire

LONDON: British Defense Secretary John Healey sensationally quit on Thursday, accusing beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the finance ministry of failing to commit enough money to protect the country. His shock resignation weakens Starmer&#39;s authority further at a precarious moment for the embattled Labour leader, a week before a by-election that could prompt a bid to replace him. In stinging criticism, Healey warned that Starmer&#39;s long-awaited Defense Investment Plan (DIP) for funding over the next decade&mdash;which the premier has yet to publish&mdash;risked making Britain &quot;less safe.&quot; &quot;You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats,&quot; Healey wrote in a resignation letter to Starmer posted on his X account. &quot;After explaining to you that I would not be able to accept a DIP settlement that does not give our Forces the resources they need, I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation.&quot; Healey&#39;s sudden departure comes after months of delays to the defense plan, which Starmer has insisted he will publish before a NATO summit in Turkey beginning on July 7. Starmer&#39;s centre-left government, elected in July 2024 following 14 years of Conservative rule, has pledged to ramp up defense spending, with priority given to NATO commitments. The rise comes amid threats from Russia and as US President Donald Trump repeatedly urges NATO allies to spend more and become less reliant on Washington for security. &#39;Grave moment&#39;Starmer has vowed to raise defense spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product from next year, increasing to three percent if Labour wins the next general election, expected in 2029, before reaching 3.5 percent in 2035. British media has for weeks been reporting on behind-the-scenes battles within the government over the DIP settlement. In his resignation letter, Healey said he was first given full sight of DIP on Monday, and it sees defense spending rise to only 2.68 percent of GDP in 2030. A source close to the former defense secretary told AFP the deal offered by the Treasury did not put a date on the three percent commitment. The plan &quot;falls well short of what is required for defense and the country at this dangerous time,&quot; Healey wrote. &quot;Without a DIP that meets the moment in this way, I am being forced to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe.&quot; Tan Dhesi, chair of parliament&#39;s defence committee, said the government must take Healey&#39;s warning &quot;with the utmost seriousness&quot;. &quot;That a defence secretary of his integrity and commitment has felt compelled to resign in response to the inadequacy of the proposed defence settlement is a grave moment,&quot; the Labour MP said in a statement. Starmer faces political peril in next Thursday&#39;s contest when Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham stands for the Makerfield parliamentary seat. Both men have said they would participate in any Labour leadership race, although none has yet been triggered. Wes Streeting quit as health secretary last month following disastrous local and regional election results for Labour and has also said he would run in any future contest. Healey, 66, has been previously talked about as another potential contender, but there was no immediate suggestion that his resignation is linked to the leadership speculation. It &quot;underlines that Starmer has become a lame duck prime minister who cannot get decisions through his own government,&quot; Patrick Diamond, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, told AFP. The investment plan, originally due to be published in late 2025, has repeatedly been pushed back, to the frustration of industry and others. Healey&#39;s resignation &quot;creates a sequence of political headaches in terms of a replacement, and trying to get the defence investment plan published,&quot; said Ed Arnold, senior associate fellow at the RUSI think-tank. A government source insisted that Starmer had made Britain &quot;safer,&quot; adding the defense spending proposals &quot;will deliver the capability our armed forces need.&quot;

Europe

British Defense Secretary John Healey sensationally quit on Thursday, accusing beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the finance ministry of failing to commit enough money to protect the country

UK defense minister quits with stinging rebuke of PM Starmer

JERUSALEM: Radio France Internationale (RFI) condemned Thursday Israel&#39;s entry ban on French reporter Alice Froussard, who freelances for the station and other outlets, as &quot;an obstacle to press freedom&quot;. &quot;Israeli authorities have not provided any justification to RFI for this decision,&quot; the broadcaster said in a statement. &quot;RFI&#39;s management offers its full support to Alice Froussard and protests against this expulsion, which constitutes an obstacle to press freedom and comes at a time when journalists are facing increasing difficulties in covering current events in the region,&quot; it added.

Calls it an as "an obstacle to press freedom"