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Top Ukraine security official denies accepting terms of Trump’s peace plan

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top security official denied on Friday that he had agreed to a Trump administration peace plan , and European leaders hastily sought a response to a draft that endorses most of Russia’s key wartime demands. Washington has presented Kyiv with a 28-point plan that would require Kyiv to give up additional territory, scale back the size of its military and forever abandon hope of joining the Nato alliance. Ukraine’s European allies said they had not been consulted over the plan and scheduled an urgent phone call to discuss the situation. Britain and Germany said their leaders would take part. Zelensky’s office did not say whether he would join in. US officials said the plan was drafted after consultations with Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, a close Zelensky ally who served as defence minister until July. “This plan was drawn up immediately following discussions with one of the most senior members of...
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23 terrorists neutralised in KP operations: ISPR

Security forces killed 23 terrorists in separate operations launched in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district, the military’s media affairs wing said on Thursday. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), two intelligence-based operations (IBO) were conducted and the terrorists belonged to Fitna al Khawarij . Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “On [the] reported presence of khawarij , a targeted operation was conducted by the security forces,” the statement read, without elaborating on the exact location. “During the conduct of [the] operation, own troops effectively engaged the khawarij location and after an intense fire exchange, 12 khawarij were sent to hell,” it added. The ISPR further said that security forces, “capitalising on intelligence with respect to [the] presence of another group of khawarij ” , killed 11 terrorists in another IBO. “Sanitisation operations are being con...
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Opposition leader’s fate hangs in balance as by-polls declared

• NA Secretariat sticks to its stance that disqualification is ‘sub judice’ before Peshawar High Court • Omar Ayub’s seat among 13 up for grabs on November 23 ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Secretariat maintains that the disqualification of Leader of the Opposition Omar Ayub is a sub-judice matter, even as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced by-elections in 13 constituencies, including Mr Ayub’s, on Nov 23. The NA stance came in response to PTI leader Amir Dogar’s request, drawing the NA speaker’s attention to rules 39 and 9-B of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the NA, 2007, which outline the procedure for the submission of names and the declaration of the opposition leader. As stipulated under Rule 39(2), the speaker announces the date, time, and place for members of the National Assembly to submit their duly signed proposals for the appointment of opposition leader. According to a response released by the NA Secretariat on Wednesday, Spea...
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Arshad Nadeem defends gold medal at Islamic Solidarity Games, Muhammad Yasir wins silver for Pakistan

Pakistan dominated the men’s javelin throw final at the 6th Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh as Arshad Nadeem expectedly defended his gold medal and Muhammad Yasir won silver. Arshad was in a league of his own headed into the seven-man event ; his personal best of 92.97m — which won him gold and the games record at the Paris 2024 Olympics, was head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Predictably, he had the lead from the start and was the only competitor to throw more than 80m, though he looked disappointed after most of his throws. The 28-year-old took home gold with a modest 83.05m throw on his second attempt, while Yasir shifted gears in the sixth and final throw to win silver in 76.04m after overtaking Nigeria’s Samuel Adams Kure, who bronze in 76.01m. A sparse audience at the Prince Faisal Bin Stadium was seen clustered behind the javelin throwing sector, waving Pakistani flags and holding up their mobile phones to get a picture of the javelin superstars in action. A...
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Israeli airstrikes kill 25 Palestinians in Gaza, rattling ceasefire, medics say

At least 25 Palestinians were killed in four Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday in Gaza since a shaky ceasefire took effect in October, health authorities said. Medics said 10 people were killed in the Gaza City suburb of Zeitoun, two in the Shujaiya suburb to the east and the rest in two separate attacks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military claimed its forces struck Hamas targets across Gaza after members of the Palestinian group fired on its troops in violation of the nearly six-week-old ceasefire. No Israeli forces were injured. Multiple air strikes have pointed to the fragility of the ceasefire. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for what both call violations of the US-brokered truce, the first stage of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for a post-war Gaza. All three attacks were far beyond an agreed-upon imaginary “yellow line” separating the areas under Israeli and Palestinian control, according to medics, witnesses and Palestinian media. The Z...
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First draft of climate pact lands at COP30

BELEM: COP30 hosts Brazil on Tuesday produced a first draft of an agreement between nations at the UN climate talks after negotiations on the sticking points stretched late into the night. The draft includes a sweep of options on the most difficult issues, reflecting the gulf between the nearly 200 nations in Belem and the work still ahead to refine a final compromise. The nine-page “Global Mutirao” document — a reference to an Indigenous concept of uniting toward a common goal — came after Brazil on Monday urged delegates to work day and night to produce an agreement by midweek. The text leaves open a wide range of possibilities on the flashpoint issues in Belem — trade measures, finance for poorer nations, and the global inadequacy of carbon-cutting goals. But the quick turnaround of a draft on these thorny points suggested the COP30 presidency was confident it could soon have an outcome, observers said. “It represents a steady progression from the previous iteration and is l...
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Fazl says Pakistan has moved past ‘bitter memories’, calls for new future with Bangladesh

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday said that Pakistan had moved past “bitter memories” and urged the forging of a new future with Bangladesh amid the recent warming of ties between the two countries. Ever since a popular uprising in Bangladesh toppled Sheikh Hasina’s government in August last year, there has been a thaw in ties between Islamabad and Dhaka, with trade and bilateral relations seeing a marked improvement. Fazl is currently on a visit to the country and called for stron­ger ties , telling a large religious gathering that a shared “unity of faith was a stronger bond between the two nations that cannot be abolished”. Addressing a gathering of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam members today at Dhaka’s Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre as the chief guest with several other Bengali political parties in attendance, Fazl said: “Pakistan wants Bangladesh’s prosperity and stability, has forgotten the bitter memories of the past.” He reit...
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