Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the 5th Antalya Diplomacy Forum, with both leaders calling for urgent use of the current diplomatic opening to secure durable peace in the Middle East. The meeting, attended by Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Information Minister Ataullah Tarar on the Pakistani side, and Turkish FM Hakan Fidan among others, covered updates on Pakistan's ongoing mediation efforts, including extending the ceasefire and resuming talks toward a formal peace agreement. The two governments also agreed to convene the eighth High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council meeting in Ankara later this year, with both sides pledging to accelerate implementation of existing bilateral initiatives and expand economic engagement. On the same sidelines, US President Trump's Senior Adviser for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, met Shehbaz and expressed Washington's interest in deepening engagement with Pakistan on counter-terrorism, economic development, and shared multilateral priorities. Shehbaz's broader Antalya schedule included meetings with the Qatari Emir, the Syrian, Azerbaijani, and Kazakhstani presidents, and several foreign ministers. Dar separately held bilateral meetings with counterparts from Austria, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Cyprus, and Singapore, with multiple officials publicly acknowledging Pakistan's role in brokering the initial ceasefire and facilitating dialogue.
Iranian armed forces attacked a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, briefly halting traffic through the waterway. The strike threatens a fragile US-Iran arrangement and could push shipping insurance costs and oil prices higher.
The US has struck Iran, with President Trump citing an Iranian attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz as justification. The action raises immediate risks for global oil flows through one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints.
The US struck ten Iranian targets on the second consecutive day of military action, putting a fragile ceasefire under serious pressure. The escalation raises immediate risks for Gulf shipping, global oil supply, and regional stability.
Venezuela's twin earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, have killed at least 164 people and injured 971, interim president Delcy Rodriguez confirmed Thursday. The quakes are the country's strongest since 1900, collapsing buildings across Caracas and prompting a state of emergency, with the death toll expected to rise as
