AT LEAST 44 KILLED IN PAKISTAN AFTER EXPLOSION AT ISLAMIST POLITICAL RALLY

At least 44 people have been killed in an explosion in Pakistan during a rally organised by an Islamist party.

More than 100 people were also injured in the explosion in north-west Bajaur district, where Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) was holding a meeting.

Police told the BBC that they have found evidence suggesting the explosion was a possible suicide attack.

A rescue operation has been completed and all injured have been taken to hospital, officers said.

Officials have warned the death toll may rise further, as 15 people are in a critical condition.

The motivation behind the attack is not yet clear. Security forces have cordoned off the area and an investigation into the explosion is taking place.

Hundreds of people were attending the JUI-F workers' convention on Sunday in the town of Khar, in the Pakistani tribal district of Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the border with Afghanistan.

Images broadcast on local TV show ambulances ferrying injured people to hospital, while police confirmed those with serious injuries have been flown by military helicopters to nearby Peshawar for urgent medical treatment.

Authorities have declared a health emergency at the district hospital.

Some badly injured people have been waiting in the hallways of health clinics struggling to cope with the high number of casualties.

A regional leader of the JUI-F, Maulana Ziaullah, was killed in the blast, local officials told the BBC.

JUI-F is a major religious political party and forms part of the government coalition in Pakistan's parliament.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned those responsible as being terrorists who have "targeted those who speak for Islam, the Quran and Pakistan" and said they would face "real punishment".

"The terrorists are enemies of Pakistan, we will eliminate them from the face of existence," the PM said in a statement.

PUTIN SAYS HE DOES NOT REJECT PEACE TALKS, BUT KYIV’S OFFENSIVE A HURDLE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he does not reject the idea of peace talks on Ukraine.

Speaking after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg, he said African and Chinese initiatives could serve as a basis for finding peace.

But Putin also said there could be no ceasefire while the Ukrainian army was on the offensive.

In the hours after he spoke, Russia said a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow had damaged two office blocks.

Flights were briefly suspended from Vnukovo Airport, south-west of the city centre, and one person was injured, Russia's state news agency Tass reported.

Ukraine has not commented on the drone incident.

Moscow argues instead that for negotiations to take place, Kyiv would have to accept its country's "new territorial reality".

Putin told the late-night press conference on Saturday that there were no plans to intensify actions on the Ukrainian front for now.

In the wide-ranging briefing, the Russian president told reporters that Moscow carried out some "preventive strikes" after an explosion on a Crimean bridge earlier this month.

Following the bridge incident - which left two people dead - Putin vowed to respond to what he claimed was a "terrorist" act by Ukraine. Kyiv did not officially say it was responsible for the blast on the bridge, which links the occupied peninsula to Russia.

Meanwhile, Putin reviewed a parade of warships and nuclear submarines in St Petersburg on Sunday and announced that the Russian navy would receive 30 new ships this year. It comes amid rising missile attacks in the Black Sea after Russia pulled out of a deal that had enabled millions of tons of food to be exported out of Ukraine’s ports.

WAR IS COMING TO RUSSIA: ZELENSKY

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that “war” was coming to Russia after three Ukrainian drones were downed over Moscow. “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia,” he said. “Ukraine is getting stronger.” Zelensky also said that he expects Russia to resume its attacks on Ukraine’s energy system once cold weather returns, and vowed to do everything possible to protect the power grid. Nearly 40% of the Ukrainian energy system was damaged in Russian strikes over the past winter.

US AID TO TAIWAN WON’T STOP REUNIFICATION BID: CHINA

Taipei: China accused the United States of turning Taiwan into an “ammunition depot” after the White House announced a $345 million military aid package for Taipei, and the selfruled island said Sunday it tracked six Chinese navy ships in waters off its shores. China’s Taiwan affairs office issued a statement late Saturday opposing the military aid to Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.

“No matter how much of the ordinary people’s taxpayer money the . . . Taiwanese separatist forces spend, no matter how many US weapons, it will not shake our resolve to solve the Taiwan problem. Or shake our firm will to realise the reunification of our motherland,” said Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the Taiwan affairs office. “Their actions are turning Taiwan into a powder keg and ammunition depot, aggravating the threat of war in the Taiwan Strait,” the statement said.

China’s People’s Liberation Army has increased its military maneuvers in recent years aimed at Taiwan, sending fighter jets and warships to circle the island. On Sunday, Taiwan’s ministry of national Defence said it tracked six Chinese navy ships near the island.

JOINING CHINA BRI WAS AN ATROCIOUS ACT: ITALY MINISTER

Italy made an “improvised and atrocious” decision when it joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) four years ago as it did little to boost exports, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said in an interview published on Sunday.

Italy signed up to the BRI under a previous government, becoming the only major Western country to have taken such a step.

“The decision to join the (new) Silk Road was an improvised and atrocious act” that multiplied China’s exports to Italy but did not have the same effect on Italian exports to China, Mr. Crosetto said.

“The issue today is: how to walk back (from the BRI) without damaging relations (with Beijing). Because it is true that China is a competitor, but it is also a partner,” he added.

FRENCH EMBASSY IN NIGER ATTACKED AS PROTESTERS WAVING RUSSIAN FLAGS MARCH THROUGH THE CAPITAL

Security in Niger took a turn for the worse on Sunday, as protesters marched through the capital in support of the recent military coup, the French embassy was attacked, and a regional economic bloc raised the possibility of military intervention if the president was not reinstated within a week. Thousands of junta supporters surged through the streets of Niamey, the capital, waving Russia flags, chanting the name of the Russian president and forcefully denouncing former colonial power France.

The protesters marched through the city to the French embassy, where a door was lit on fire. Smoke could be seen rising from across the city. The army broke up the crowd.

Russian mercenary group Wagner is already operating in neighbouring Mali, and President Putin would like to expand his country’s influence in the region. However, it is unclear yet whether the new junta le aders will move toward Moscow or stick with Niger’s Western partners. On Sunday at an emergency meeting in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, the West African ECOWAS bloc said it was suspending ties with Niger and authorised the use of force if the president was not reinstated within a week. Pre sident Mohamed Bazoum was democratically elected two years ago in Niger’s first peaceful transfer of power since independence from France in 1960.

Niger had been seen as the last reliable partner for the West in efforts to battle the jihadis in Africa’s Sahel region, where Russia and Western countries have vied for influence. France has 1,500 soldiers in the country. The US and other European countries have helped train the nation’s troops. Niger is also the world’s seventh-biggest producer of uranium, the radioactive metal widely used for nuclear energy and in nuclear weapons.

CHINESE VICE-PREMIER ARRIVES IN PAKISTAN

Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng on Sunday arrived here to attend a ceremony marking 10 years of the ambitious multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Mr. He, who is a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, during his visit from July 30 to August 1 will hold meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi.

A statement issued by the Foreign Office earlier on Saturday said the Chinese Vice Premier played a “prominent role” in China’s international economic relations and implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, of which CPEC is a flagship project.

‘IMMORAL’: TALIBAN STAGE BONFIRE OF MUSIC EQUIPMENT

Herat (Afghanistan) : Authorities from Afghanistan’s vice ministry created a bonfire of confiscated musicial instruments and equipment in Herat province at the weekend, deeming music immoral. “Promoting music causes moral corruption and playing it will cause the youth to go astray,” said Aziz alRahman al-Muhajir, head of the Herat department of the ministry for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice. Since seizing power in August 2021, Taliban authorities have steadily imposed laws and regulations that reflect their austure vision of Islam. Saturday’s bonfire saw hundreds of dollars worth of musical gear go up insmoke. Women have borne the brunt of the new government regulations, and are not allowed in public unless wearing a hijab.

CHINA USING FAMILIES AS 'HOSTAGES' TO QUASH UYGHUR DISSENT ABROAD

China is pressuring Uyghurs living abroad to spy on human rights campaigners by threatening families back home, researchers say. Refugees and activists tell the BBC intimidating tactics are tearing communities apart.

The tactics employed by governments to police their diasporas abroad are known as transnational repression.

Research suggests this particular kind - controlling access to family members in the home country through video calls, in exchange for compliance overseas - is commonly used by Chinese police.

Dr David Tobin at the University of Sheffield has conducted some of the most comprehensive research on the topic to date, with his colleague Nyrola Elimä. They have interviewed and surveyed more than 200 members of the Uyghur diaspora in several countries. He says all Uyghurs living outside China are victims of transnational repression.

"Family separation is the central tactic," he says. Even where phone calls are technically possible, relatives still living in China won't pick up, according to Dr Tobin. He says there is an assumption that calls will be monitored, and a fear that communicating freely will put them at risk.

This severing of family ties allows Chinese police to step in and offer tightly managed access - over video calls - as an incentive to comply, with the threat of repercussions for the family if they do not.