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UK PM Starmer defies calls to quit, says he's getting on with governing

Prime Minister Keir Starmer defied calls to resign on Tuesday, telling ministers he would “get on with governing” despite a “destabilising” 48 hours of growing calls to set out a timetable for his departure after a drubbing in local elections. At a meeting of his cabinet, Starmer, in the top job for less than two years, repeated that, while he took responsibility for one of his Labour Party’s worst election defeats , there had been no official move to trigger a leadership contest. Four ministers expressed their support for him. It was the latest pledge from Starmer to press on with a premiership that has been dogged by scandal and policy U-turns since he won a large majority at a national election in 2024. On Monday, he promised to be bolder in tackling the problems besetting Britain to try to shore up his political future. Borrowing costs rise In a nod to an increase in borrowing costs on the markets over fears of another bout of political instability in Britain, Starmer said ...
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'Children paying intolerable price': UN condemns child death toll from Israel's West Bank operations

The United Nations condemned on Tuesday the toll from “escalating” Israeli military operations and settler attacks in the occupied West Bank on children, with 70 Palestinian children killed since the start of 2025. “Children are paying an intolerable price for escalating military operations and settler attacks across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” UN children’s agency spokesman James Elder told reporters. Since the start of 2025, when Israel began a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, “at least one Palestinian child has been killed on average every single week” there, adding that another 850 children had been injured during that period. “Most of those killed or wounded were done by live ammunition,” he said. Israeli forces were responsible for a full 93 per cent of the deaths, Elder said, highlighting that the scaled-up military operations had come amid “historic levels of settler attacks”. According to the UN, March...
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WHO chief says 'work not over' after hantavirus evacuation

World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday “our work is not over” to contain hantavirus after evacuations from a cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak of the illness. The fate of the MV Hondius sparked international alarm after three passengers died in an outbreak of the rare virus, for which no vaccines or specific treatments exist. Yet health officials stressed that the global public health risk was low and rejected comparisons to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. “There is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” Tedros told a joint news conference in Madrid with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. “But of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks,” Tedros said. More than 120 passengers and crew on the MV Hondius were flown out from Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday and ...
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PM orders inquiry after PML-N MPA injured in attack in Toba Tek Sindh

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday ordered an inquiry into an attack in Toba Tek Singh that left PML-N MPA Col (retired) Sardar Ayub Gadhi injured and four of his aides dead. The incident occurred on Sunday night, when Gadhi was sitting with his friends in his outhouse (Dera) in Chak 184-GB. Subsequently, unidentified gunmen opened indiscriminate fire. In a statement on Monday, PM Shehbaz expressed deep concern and strongly condemned the incident. He also directed the relevant authorities to swiftly complete the inquiry so that those responsible could be identified and brought to justice. Calling Gadhi one of the PML-N’s hardworking workers, the prime minister said that the attack on the MPA while he was listening to public grievances was extremely concerning. He offered prayers for those who lost their lives in the incident and for the recovery of the injured. Those killed in the incident on Sunday night were identified as Zaig...
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Aurat March restrictions

THE Sindh government’s 28-point list of restrictions imposed on Aurat March Karachi is a distressing example of familiar double standards: women are celebrated in speeches and choreographed photo opportunities, only for the state to recoil the moment they demand their rights. The organisers sought permission to march peacefully for women’s rights. What they received, instead, was a document dripping with authoritarian anxiety. The message could not have been clearer: women may gather, but only if they remain politically harmless. Rather than facilitating peaceful assembly, the administration chose to police slogans, speech and even clothing. The vague and sweeping conditions betray insecurity. Why does a march calling attention to gender violence and economic inequality provoke such discomfort in official circles? Why are women demanding bodily autonomy and constitutional rights treated as a threat? Secure governments do not fear placards, nor do t...
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South Korea welcomes rare baby bump as population shrinks

Kim Su-jin and her husband have set aside their doubts and embraced parenthood, joining a small but notable wave of South Korean couples having children despite the country’s steep demographic decline. South Korea has one of the world’s lowest birth rates, and the government has spent billions of dollars trying to encourage citizens to have more babies and cushion the worst impacts of a shrinking population . The Asian nation is still nowhere near reversing the trend, but a modest baby bump has come after years of consistently low statistics — even as experts disagree on the underlying causes. Kim, 32, a freelance music industry worker, gave birth to her daughter in January last year despite earlier financial concerns during her four-year marriage. She shook off worries over housing, schooling and work “because we believed that having (a baby) would bring us happiness”, she told AFP . This picture taken on April 30, 2026 shows a man pushing a stroller as he v...
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A look at the new capabilities Pakistan employed against India during Marka-i-Haq

A year ago, Pakistan and India fought a short but intense war — the worst military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in decades. During the period of Marka-i-Haq (the battle for truth), Indian fighter jets were shot down, and Pakistan launched Operation Bunyanum Marsoos — a barrage of attacks against Indian military targets — in retaliation for missile strikes by New Delhi. The conflict ended with a US-brokered ceasefire. During the four-day war, Pakistan showcased a wide variety of weaponry and military technology, ranging from advanced missiles to network-linked warfare systems. Let’s take a look at some of them here. ‘Seeing without seeing’ — network-centric warfare One of the deadliest tools in Pakistan’s arsenal was unleashed in the early hours of May 7: the use of network-centric warfare. This doctrine involves sharing real-time data and information across multiple domains, such as between fighter jets, airborne early warning aircraft and ground-based ...
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