Jordan refused to play Israel at the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup in Switzerland on Sunday in protest at the Gaza war, Jordanian media reported.
Iranian news agencies have denied reports of Iranian officials travelling to Pakistan for negotiations with the United States, even as Pakistan prepares for potential talks and faces criticism from Israel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Israel to enhance defence and trade cooperation amid Middle East tensions. Discussions will include defence, security, and the situation in Gaza.
The announcement came after Hamas consulted with other Palestinian factions. It precedes a planned visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, where U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for an end to the war, now in its 21st month, Al Jazeera reported.
A Pakistani national has pleaded guilty to attempting to commit an ISIS-inspired attack at a Jewish centre in New York in 2024, coinciding with the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Trump seems to have estimated that Ghalibaf is a pragmatic politician who is receptive to close relations with the US and is enthusiastic about fostering business and economic ties in particular, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"Intermittent pauses in hostilities are not enough to address the scale of humanitarian challenges confronting the people, who grapple daily with acute shortages of food and fuel, inadequate medical services and lack of access to education," Harish said at the open debate on the 'Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question'.
The IRGC said the strikes were conducted in support of offensives by Hezbollah and residents of southern Lebanon, and described them as the beginning of a series of pre-announced operations against Israel.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met with his counterparts from Egypt and Turkiye in Islamabad ahead of a quadrilateral summit, including Saudi Arabia, to discuss the ongoing conflict in West Asia and explore avenues for peace.
Benjamin Netanyahu declares that the joint Israel-US campaign is successfully 'crushing' Iran, eliminating existential threats and weakening the regime's regional influence.
If the Iranian regime needs to be punished for promoting quasi-terrorist outfits like Hezbollah and Hamas, then what about Pakistan which has spent decades exporting terror around the world, killing thousands, particularly in Afghanistan and India? asks M R Narayan Swamy.
The intriguing bit is that Trump is likely to attend the talks in Islamabad this weekend -- if he does, it will be the clearest signal yet that the US is ready to exit the war with some sort of win to show, since he cannot afford to go for the talks and return empty-handed, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War
India has joined over 100 countries and global organizations in condemning Israel's "unilateral" decisions and measures aimed at expanding its "unlawful presence" in the West Bank.
Amid rising tensions in West Asia following a series of strikes and counter-strikes, the United States Embassy in Muscat on Tuesday instructed its staff to shelter in place.
Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey met in Islamabad in what analysts say is the formal opening of a new diplomatic formation that could reshape the post-war regional order. Their immediate goal is a ceasefire; their larger ambition is to ensure that neither Iran nor Israel emerges from this war in a dominant position. Pakistan's foreign minister then flew directly to Beijing and mooted a Chinese role as guarantor of any eventual agreement. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
It may now be time to question the price India is paying for Israel's disregard of the serious undermining of India's energy security, asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The core issues to be settled -- access to Hormuz, Israel's aggression in Lebanon, the question of Iran's nuclear programme, sanctions relief and compensation -- are thorny enough to require weeks of patient negotiation. The most likely outcome of the opening sessions is that both sides take the measure of each other, establish what is and is not negotiable, and return home without having broken anything. That would count as progress.
The Israeli military said it carried out the attack on Saturday near Gaza City, claiming Saad was the target.
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
The modern war is about quality over quantity, points out Mihir S Sharma.
We cannot simply have a 60-65 per cent import dependency in LPG, the bulk of which comes from just one volatile region -- West Asia, points out R Jagannathan.
By all available indications, the White House drafted a face-saving note and handed it, ready-made, to Islamabad. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was supposed to then post it in the guise of a plea urging Trump to extend the deadline by two weeks 'to allow diplomacy to run its course'. Trump would then graciously accept Pakistan's 'request' and declare a ceasefire. Sharif dutifully posted the message on X. Except that he, or whoever was handling the account, forgot to delete the tell-tale first line visible in the edit history: 'Draft - Pakistan's PM Message on X'. Prem Panicker's must read blog on the Iran War.
'What we have yet to see on either the US or the Iranian side is willingness to compromise on their ultimate demands and the flexibility to reach an agreement to end the war.
India and Israel have strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms, including cross-border terrorism, and reaffirmed their commitment to combating the threat.
Trump may strike. He may announce productive talks and extend again. He may do both at the same time. Iran will not open the Strait on someone else's terms, so no matter what happens, that problem will remain unsolved. And the IRGC will still be collecting its $2 million toll from every ship bold enough to ask permission to pass.
Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, has affirmed that Gaza's annexation was part of a military strategy and troops will remain in the security zones created in Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, Al Jazeera reported.
"It is still not too late. India must speak clearly, act responsibly, and use every diplomatic channel available to defuse tensions and promote a return to dialogue in West Asia," Gandhi asserted.
The US President has previously made similar claims, stating that Sharif had credited him with saving millions of lives by helping end the conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
United States President Donald Trump on Monday floated the proposal of imposing 200% tariff on French wine and champagne after French President Emmanuel Macron's reported refusal to sit on the so-called Board of Peace, an initiative created by Trump to mediate global conflict, EuroNews reported.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged its citizens to immediately depart from several Middle Eastern countries, citing "serious safety risks."
Aseem Chhabra lists his top 10 films from this year's Sundance festival, a blend of narratives and documentaries made in the US and other parts of the world.
Captured in powerful images and unforgettable moments, 2025 emerged as a turning point in global affairs. These images tell the defining stories that shaped the world across continents.
Guterres emphasised that global structures and institutions must reflect the complexity and the opportunity of the "new times and realities"
The question is no longer whether the war will expand. It has. The next few days will tell us whether the war stabilises around Hormuz or whether the Strait itself becomes the trigger for a far larger rupture. What to watch for over the next 48 hours is simple: Any move by the US toward direct naval control of the Strait; any credible Iranian attempt to disrupt or mine shipping lanes and, critically, whether energy infrastructure in the Gulf continues to be targeted.If those lines are crossed in tandem, the war will no longer be containable within the region.
'In choosing to be fully himself, even when it was uncomfortable, Usman Khawaja expanded the meaning of representation and conscience in Australian sport,' notes Asif Ullah Khan.
Every UN secretary-general has flagged the financial situation, but Antonio Guterres has issued the direst warning yet, calling it a 'race to bankruptcy and of imminent financial collapse, points out Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The United States, which entered this war in expectation of a short, sharp win along the Venezuela model, is now preparing for deeper involvement in a conflict it does not fully control, without the allies it typically relies on, against an adversary that is not behaving as expected, in a global environment that is already absorbing economic shock. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
Zelenskyy also stated that documents being drafted with Washington, DC to end the war were close to completion.
'TTP has vowed to take revenge for the attacks that Pakistan is carrying out against Afghanistan.' 'To diminish this threat, Pakistan is hitting Afghanistan hard.'
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has affirmed that the United States and his administration have achieved nearly total dominance over Iranian airspace following a series of coordinated military strikes.
