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US vows insurance, escorts as oil, gas flows disrupted

• Crisis deepens as US sub sinks Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, killing 87 • Hormuz shipping paralysed for fifth day; traffic plunges 90pc • Major shipping firms halt transits; insurers withdraw war-risk cover • Qatar halts LNG liquefaction; S. Arabia reroutes crude via Red Sea LONDON: The US Iran war widened on Wedne­sday after a US strike hit an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, deepening a crisis that has paralysed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz for a fifth day and choked off vital Middle East oil and gas flows. The US submarine stri­ke on the Iranian vessel, which killed 87 sailors, came as US President Donald Trump pledged to provide insurance and navy escorts to ships expo­rting oil and gas from the Middle East in a bid to contain soaring energy prices. However, the world’s top shipping companies have announced they will not send their vessels through the Strait of Hormuz and major insurers have pulled war risk coverage. The energy market inte­l­l­igence firm Kpler sa...
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US banks on high alert for cyberattacks as Iran war escalates

The US financial services industry is on heightened alert for potential cyberattacks amid the unfolding US war in Iran, with firms stepping up monitoring for threats that often rise during periods of geopolitical conflict, said executives and analysts. The assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei last weekend in an air strike has sparked a conflagration in the Middle East that has roiled markets globally and stoked concerns over the potential for Iran-linked cyberattacks on US financial services operations. Cybersecurity has long been a top priority for the financial services industry, which operates critical US infrastructure, including payments, clearing and settlement systems, as well as trading platforms and Treasury markets, making it a top target of cyberattacks, according to industry data. “The industry remains vigilant and ready to respond to cyber threats at all times, and especially when global cybersecurity risks are heightened,” said Todd Klessman, managing ...
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‘False solution’ hampering Pakistan’s climate goals

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s climate action plan submitted to the United Nations before COP30 in Brazil lists controversial ‘Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage’ (CCUS) technology as one of the approaches to address climate change and decarbonise in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement . The climate goals, or the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), are submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by all countries, outlining their ambition to decarbonise economies and transition away from fossil fuels. In their third iteration, Pakistan pledged to ‘phase down’ coal by reducing emissions by 50 per cent, including 33pc funded by international finance, by 2035. For this task, Pakistan “ requires $565.7 billion ”, the document read. These climate goals were prepared through a “participatory, open and transparent approach”, according to the government, but they have come under scrutiny for “carbon-intensive steps” and the absence of concrete measures to addres...
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Pims says Imran’s vision has improved ‘remarkably’ as he undergoes another checkup

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) said on Tuesday night that PTI founder Imran Khan was examined at Adiala jail for the follow-up treatment of his eye ailment, which showed that his vision had “improved remarkably”. However, the party asserted that any medical examination carried out without the presence of Imran’s personal physicians and his immediate family lacked “transparency and credibility”. In a press release, a copy of which is available with Dawn , the Pims administration said that Imran was examined by a medical board comprising Dr Nadeem Qureshi, the head of the vitreoretinal department at Al–Shifa Trust Eye Hospital in Rawalpindi, and Dr M Arif Khan, the head of the ophthalmology department at Pims, Islamabad. The same team had examined Imran last month in Adiala jail, where the former premier is incarcerated. “This examination was performed as a follow-up of his second dose of intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF,” the press release said. ...
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Israeli strikes massacre 52 in Lebanon

• Bombings on Beirut suburbs, southern towns trigger mass exodus • Lebanese government outlaws Hezbollah military activities after attacks • Israel issues evacuation warnings BEIRUT: Hours after Israeli air strikes massacred at least 52 people across Lebanon on Monday, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for several towns, signaling another imminent strike. Monday’s attacks marked a brutal escalation of hostilities following a retaliatory strike by the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah for the US-Israeli assassination of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel’s military vowed to intensify its unrelenting assault on the country and make Hezbollah pay a “heavy price”. It launched several strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs and south Lebanon, both strongholds of the resistance. The Israeli strikes wounded 154 on Monday, the Lebanese government said in an updated toll. A previous toll shared by the health ministry said 31 people were killed and 149 ...
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Senior security official dismisses speculation that Pakistan could be next target after US-Israeli strikes on Iran

ISLAMABAD: A senior security official on Monday dismissed speculation that after Iran , Pakistan could be the next target of US-Israeli military action, saying such perceptions were “devoid of facts” and were being spread by “agents of chaos”. According to a brief shared with Dawn , the official said Pakistan was unlike Iran, that it was fully integrated with the world and fully capable of defending itself. He said that those spreading “alarmist narratives” were pursuing “nefarious and vested interests.” His remarks came amid an escalating war in the Middle East in which Israel and the United States, for the second time in eight months, launched coordinated strikes against Iran. Tehran retaliated by targeting Israeli territory and American military facilities in neighbouring countries, raising fears of a wider regional conflagration. Following the US-Israeli airstrikes, there has been speculation and concerns that Pakistan could face similar aggression. Some analyses from Western t...
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Death toll from girls’ school attack in Iran surges to 148

• Israeli military says ‘unaware of the attack’ • US claims strike reports being looked into • Malala urges all states, parties to ‘safeguard schools’ PARIS: The death toll from the Israeli strikes that hit a girls’ school in southern Iran surged to 148, with nearly 100 others wounded, Al Jazeera reported. While Iranian officials claimed the attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the Minab city killed more than 100 people, neither the United States nor Israel confirmed that any such attack has taken place. Israel’s military on Sunday said it was “not aware” of any US or Israeli strike on any school in Iran. When asked about the strikes on school, Israel’s military spokesman Lt-Col Nadav Shoshani said, “At this point not aware of an Israeli or an American strike there… We’re operating in an extremely accurate manner.” However, The New York Times later quoted a CENTCOM spokesperson as saying: “We are aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ...
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