Casualties as India attacks Pakistan and Islamabad 'downs Indian jets' in retaliation
Pakistan says India has launched strikes at six different sites, killing at least 26 people and injuring 46 more. In response, Islamabad claims its Air Force has shot down five Indian warplanes and some drones, calling the Indian attack ""cowardly and shameful"
At a pre-dawn news conference in Rawalpindi, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said India used a variety of weapons to hit six targets, resulting in 24 impact sites. He added that the strikes hit locations inside Pakistan and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir—including a mosque.
It's a shame, Trump says as India launches attack on Pakistan
Over in Washington, US President Donald Trump reacted to the India-Pakistan escalation by calling it ""a shame"", and said he hoped the situation would cool off quickly.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said they'd just gotten word of the strikes as they were walking into the Oval Office.
He noted that many people expected something like this might happen, given the long and tense history between the two countries.
Israeli strikes on school shelter kill 31 Palestinians
In Gaza, another tragedy: Israeli strikes on a school being used as a shelter for displaced families have killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens more.
According to Palestinian civil defence, the air strikes hit a school in the Bureij refugee camp, located in central Gaza.
A spokesperson said it was sheltering many who had already been forced to flee their homes due to ongoing Israeli war.
Germany's Merz elected chancellor in second round
Friedrich Merz has been elected Germany's new chancellor after a dramatic second round of voting in parliament.
The 69-year-old leader of the conservative CDU/CSU alliance secured three hundred and twenty five votes, just enough for an absolute majority, after falling short in the first round.
He now heads a coalition government alongside the centre-left Social Democrats, taking over from outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Turkish intelligence foils another pager bomb plot in Lebanon
Turkish intelligence has reportedly foiled yet another plot involving explosive devices disguised as everyday items—this time, pagers and chargers.
According to details shared by the *Sabah* newspaper, Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization, or MIT, uncovered the plot at Istanbul Airport in 2024, though the news has only just come to light.
The intercepted shipment had come from Hong Kong and was headed to Lebanon. Inside were 1,300 pagers and over 700 chargers, all cleverly hidden in boxes labelled as food choppers.