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No Strait answer: Can international law stay afloat in Hormuz?

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On Sunday, President Donald Trump stepped in to raise the stakes of an already volatile standoff, announcing that the United States Navy would begin “BLOCKADING” the Strait of Hormuz — delivered, in classic Trump fashion, the emphatic all-caps. The deadline passed at 7pm (PST) on Monday. The developments came after a night of diplomacy in Islamabad that promised more than it delivered, with inconclusive takeaways and very little to show for 21 hours of deliberations. The negotiations ended with a terse briefing from JD Vance, confirming what everyone had been hoping to avoid: nothing had been agreed. Judging from the string of off-the-cuff, rhetorically charged posts on Trump’s Truth Social feed, he appears to have revived what once again looks like the ‘madman theory’ — using brinkmanship and unpredictability as a strategic bargaining chip. He seems to be signalling that if Iran can rattle markets by blocking one of the world’s primary energy arteries, Washington can rattle t...
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Two Customs officers arrested for allegedly replacing 400kg of seized silver with lead

The Pakistan Customs said on Monday that two of its preventive officers had been arrested on charges of “swapping 400 kilogrammes of seized silver bullion with lead”. In a statement on X, the Pakistan Customs said the alleged replacement of silver with lead was carried out “during official transportation from Quetta to Pakistan Mint Lahore”. A first information report had been registered and both officers were in custody, the statement said. It added, “The officers were officially deputed to transport 688 kg of confiscated silver in 36 sealed boxes via Pakistan International Airlines from Quetta to Lahore. Upon unpacking at Pakistan Mint, 400 kg of silver was found to have been replaced with fake lead bricks of identical weight and packaging.” According to the statement, CCTV footage from Safe City in Quetta “confirmed the deliberate swapping of the transportation vehicle carrying the original silver”. from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/cW0PdoR
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LHC sets aside ruling that struck down policy for regulating foreign funding of NGOs, NPOs

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday set aside a ruling that had struck down a federal government policy introduced in 2022 to regulate foreign funding of non-governmental and non-profit organisations. The policy was set aside by a single bench in September 2024, with Justice Asim Hafeez observing the constitutional scheme did not envisage the exercise of legislative powers by the federal cabinet unless such power or authority was exercised under the authority of the legislature. He had declared the policy unlawful, invalid and of no legal effect. But a two-member bench comprising Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal and Justice Syed Ahsan Raza Kazmi observed today that such policy-making squarely fell within the executive domain and was protected from “undue judicial interference”. The bench restored the Policy for Local NGOs/NPOs Receiving Foreign Contributions 2022. Multiple intra-court appeals were filed by the federation in the wake of a Sept 6, 2024 judgment. Advocate Saqib...
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Israeli minister storms Al Aqsa Mosque again amid restrictions on worshippers

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Sunday stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem under heavy police protection. Citing the Jerusalem Governorate, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the incursion came amid an ongoing escalation of violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in East Jerusalem, as well as continued restrictions on worshippers’ access to the mosque. Such incursions by Ben-Gvir are typically carried out without prior public announcement. Israeli ministers are only permitted to enter the Al Aqsa compound with advance approval from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The minister has continued these provocations despite repeated Arab, Islamic, and international condemnations. Al Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times. Sunday’s raid comes after Israeli forces turned part...
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Viktor Orban concedes ‘painful’ defeat to conservative Peter Magyar in Hungary polls

Nationalist Viktor Orban, who has ruled Hungary for 16 years, on Sunday conceded defeat to conservative Peter Magyar in parliamentary elections. With votes in almost 67 per cent of precincts counted, Magyar’s party stood to have gained 137 seats, or more than two-thirds of all 199 parliamentary seats, according to official election results. The vote on Sunday was being closely watched across Europe and in the United States, with US President Donald Trump endorsing Orban, a self-described “thorn” in the European Union’s side and a defender of “illiberal democracy” who is also close to  Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The election results, though not yet final, are clear and understandable; for us, they are painful but unambiguous,” Orban, 62, told reporters. “We have not been entrusted with the responsibility and opportunity to govern. I congratulated the winning party,” he said. Magyar, 45, a political newcomer and former government insider, posed on social media that Orban...
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The US-Iran ceasefire appears to be holding. What next?

A historic meeting, 21 hours of negotiations, and one “final” offer. Yet, the high-level ‘ Islamabad Talks ’ between the United States and Iran ended inconclusively early Sunday morning. Although commentators and analysts say the dialogue was unlikely to end any other way, the heart wants what it wants, and the entire world sat on the edge of their seats, hoping for nothing short of a miracle. After a day and an entire night of talks, US Vice President JD Vance finally addressed journalists at a press briefing at 6:30am, where he announced the “bad news”. “We have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” he said, elaborating that Iran had chosen “not to accept our terms”. “We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance added. Shortly after, he flew back to the US...
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Israel kills 18 in Lebanon, West Bank and Gaza

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BEIRUT: Israeli strikes killed more than a dozen people in Lebanon and Gaza on Saturday, while an Israeli settler shot dead a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, according to officials. The widespread violence came a day after plans were announced for potential ceasefire talks between Lebanon, Israel and the United States. Israeli strikes on a village near Sidon in south Lebanon on Saturday killed eight people and wounded nine others, five of them seriously, the Lebanese health ministry said. Lebanon’s health ministry also said a total of 10 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the country’s south on Saturday, with state media reporting Israeli raids on more than a dozen locations. Earlier in the day, officials said strikes killed 10 people in the Nabatiyeh district. The ministry said the dead included a member of the Lebanese civil defence and two paramedics from the Islamic Health Committee, decrying Israel’s “systematic” targeting of emergency workers. Hezbollah ...
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