Ayesha Mir

ISLAMABAD: JD Vance is en route to Islamabad to lead high-stakes peace talks with Iran, a rare diplomatic role for a US vice president that could shape the outcome of negotiations and signal renewed US engagement in the region.

Dossier with Ayesha

JD Vance is en route to Islamabad to lead high-stakes peace talks with Iran, a rare diplomatic role for a US vice president that could shape the outcome of negotiations and signal renewed US engagement in the region.

Anti-war JD Vance leads Iran peace talks in Islamabad

GAZA CITY: Gaza&#39;s civil defense service and hospitals said Israeli attacks killed at least 10 people on Sunday, in the latest episodes of Zionist violence despite a months-old truce. A strike on a vehicle near the Al-Buraq school in western Gaza City killed four people, said the civil defense agency, which operates as a rescue service. Gaza City&#39;s Al-Shifa hospital confirmed receiving the four bodies. Another Israeli airstrike targeting a police station in the Al-Noss area of Al-Mawasi district in western Khan Yunis killed five people and wounded another 17, the agency reported. Khan Yunis&#39;s Nasser Hospital confirmed receiving five bodies and treating the wounded, some of them in &quot;critical condition.&quot; The Gaza police directorate confirmed that Israeli warplanes struck the police station in Khan Yunis. In a separate incident, Israeli naval forces shot dead a fisherman in the early hours of Sunday, the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah said after receiving his body. The Israeli military said it was looking into reports of the attacks. Sunday&#39;s bloodshed followed a deadly Saturday that saw at least 12 people killed across Gaza, including a man the Israeli military identified as a Hamas &quot;terrorist cell commander.&quot; At least 961 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect on October 10 last year, according to Gaza&#39;s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks during the same period. Restrictions imposed on media outlets and limited access in Gaza prevent AFP from independently verifying tolls or freely covering the violence there.

Middle East

At least 961 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect on October 10 last year, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Gaza health officials say 10 killed in Israeli attacks

Asfandyar Yahya

Ever notice how you naturally sit with your back against a wall? Or why that window seat always feels better than the middle of the room? There&#39;s a psychological theory that explains all of it and once you hear it, you&#39;ll start noticing it everywhere.

Tell Me Why

There's a psychological theory that explains all of it and once you hear it, you'll start noticing it everywhere.

Tell me why you prefer sitting against a wall

TIJUANA: Iran&#39;s World Cup squad landed in Mexico on Sunday under the shadow of a bitter diplomatic row, after the United States &mdash; in open military conflict with Tehran &mdash; refused to issue visas for some team support staff. Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei complained on arrival at Tijuana airport that &quot;we should have been here last week because a 12-hour time difference needs two weeks of adjusting.&quot; He added: &quot;Usually in these tournaments, before technical matters, ethical and human considerations must be respected &mdash; which I think for us it was not the case.&quot; The dispute erupted just days before Thursday&#39;s kickoff of the 2026 World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. After departing from their training camp in Turkey a day earlier, the Iran team landed around 5 am (1200 GMT) Sunday in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, AFP journalists there witnessed. The squad and their coaching staff left their plane amid tight security which included a contingent of Mexican national guard troops. Just a handful of fans waving Iranian flags were present at the airport to welcome them from a distance. The Iranian team will be based in Tijuana throughout the tournament, despite playing their entire group stage in the United States &mdash; two games in Los Angeles and another in Seattle as they tackle New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt in Group G on June 15, 21 and 26. When they do play in the US, it will be the first World Cup to see a host nation receive the team of a country it is at war with. &#39;Upset&#39; Ghalenoei thanked FIFA for its efforts to help secure entry, but said &quot;we are upset about this behavior. It has certainly never happened before.&quot; Team captain Ehsan Hajsafi said he wanted to convey his grievance to FIFA about the delay in getting US visas. &quot;Why so late?&quot; he demanded. Hajsafi stressed the difficult backdrop for the team&#39;s participation, as &quot;in the last year, we experienced two imposed wars in our country.&quot; But he stated &quot;the team is 100% ready&quot; and believed &quot;we can advance&quot; in its group matches.&quot; Another player, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, said the team&#39;s condition was &quot;positive&quot; after a good training camp. &quot;We are surely doing all we can to prepare for the first game against New Zealand.&quot; Iran&#39;s team spent nearly three weeks at the training camp in Turkey, using their time there to apply for visas to travel to Mexico, Canada and the United States. On the eve of their departure for Mexico, the players finally received their US visas, Washington&#39;s envoy to Turkey Tom Barrack said on X late Friday. But Iran&#39;s embassy to Turkey said support staff had been denied visas &mdash; 15 administrative and management staff are concerned, an Iranian diplomat and state TV said. The embassy slammed what it called &quot;deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran&#39;s national football team&quot; and called for FIFA &quot;to hold the US accountable for violations of its rules.&quot; Adding to the tensions, Iran&#39;s ambassador to Mexico said Saturday the squad had been notified that, under their visa conditions, the team must enter and leave US soil on the same day as their matches. &quot;We can enter in the morning and we must leave the same day,&quot; Iran&#39;s envoy Abolfazl Pasandideh told reporters. That appeared to contradict what the team&#39;s spokesman Amir Mahdi Alavi told state TV earlier. &quot;The visas issued for the national team are multiple-entry visas, and the national team will arrive at the match venue one day before the first game and, for the following games, two days prior to each match,&quot; Alavi said. FIFA rules for World Cups stipulate that a team&#39;s coach must give a news conference on the eve of the match at the venue where the game will be played. US wary of &#39;terrorists&#39; Iran&#39;s Football Federation &mdash; whose chief Mehdi Taj was reportedly among those denied a visa &mdash; has described the decision as &quot;political interference in sport in its worst form.&quot; A US administration official did not directly address the matter of those whose visas were refused, saying only: &quot;We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.&quot; In April, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any problem would not be with the Iranian players but &quot;some of the other people (they) would want to bring with them,&quot; suggesting some had ties to the Revolutionary Guards, a group on the US terror blacklist. Taj himself is a former Guards member, Iranian media in the diaspora have reported. Daniel Mercado, working at a taqueria eatery near the heavily-guarded Tijuana hotel hosting Iran&#39;s team said he regretted the politicization of the sport. &quot;They shouldn&#39;t mix football and politics &mdash; they are two very different things,&quot; insisted the 38-year-old. The Middle East war erupted when the United States and Israel started bombing Iran on February 28. An April 8 ceasefire, which largely halted the fighting, has come under strain from recent exchanges of fire.

Football

Middle East war erupted when the United States and Israel started bombing Iran on February 28; an April 8 ceasefire, which largely halted the fighting, has come under strain from recent exchanges of fire.

Iran's World Cup team blast US visa row on arrival in Mexico

KYIV: Russia fired waves of drones and other munitions at Ukraine on Sunday, killing at least four people and damaging a nuclear storage facility in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukrainian officials said. Radiation levels at the facility remained within normal limits following the attack, although the building&#39;s reception was &quot;partially destroyed,&quot; according to Ukraine&#39;s Energoatom nuclear energy operator. Moscow and Kyiv have intensified drone strikes on each other in recent months as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war, now in its fifth year, remain stalled and sidetracked by the conflict in the Middle East. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet his allies in London later Sunday for talks on how to pressure Russia to end the fighting, after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected direct peace talks with the Ukrainian leader. &quot;A &#39;shahed&#39; hit one of the buildings of the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility,&quot; Zelensky said in a post on X, referring to the Iranian-designed &quot;Shahed&quot; drones that Russia fires at Ukraine on a nightly basis. &quot;As of now, there are no readings exceeding normal background radiation levels. But there is certainly an increase in Russia&#39;s brazenness, which long ago went off the charts,&quot; he added. The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was dispatching a team to inspect the damage, calling the incident &quot;deeply concerning.&quot; The facility is located in a remote area of forest around a dozen kilometers (seven miles) from the site of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, and is designed to house spent nuclear fuel from Ukraine&#39;s three active nuclear plants. Strikes on Ukraine Russian strikes killed and wounded multiple civilians on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. A Russian bombardment of a public transport stop in Ukraine&#39;s southern Zaporizhzhia region left at least two people dead, while a nearby drone strike killed a 56-year-old minibus driver, authorities said. A separate attack on the central Dnipropetrovsk region killed a 59-year-old man, governor Oleksandr Ganzha posted on Telegram. Hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their home since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia &mdash;which denies targeting civilians &mdash; now occupies around a fifth of its neighbor: the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, most of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk &mdash; collectively referred to as the Donbas &mdash; and large parts of the southern Zaporizhzhia and Khe

Europe

Radiation levels at the facility remained within normal limits following the attack, although the building's reception was "partially destroyed," according to Ukraine's Energoatom nuclear energy operator.

Russian strikes kill four, damage nuclear storage facility: Kyiv

LONDON: England thrashed New Zealand by 115 runs to win the first Test at Lord&#39;s on Sunday. New Zealand, set 254 to win, were bowled out for 138 before lunch on the fourth day, with paceman Gus Atkinson taking 5-30 &mdash; the fourth time in three Tests at Lord&#39;s he has had five wickets in an innings. Victory in the 150th Test staged at Lord&#39;s &mdash; the most at any ground &mdash; gave England a 1-0 lead in a three-match series. Bowlers on both sides were on top throughout under overcast conditions and on a pitch of uncertain bounce, with Ollie Robinson marking his return to England duty for the first time in over two years with a Test-best 5-39 in New Zealand&#39;s meagre first-innings 113 all out. Emilio Gay scored 57 on England debut during a second-innings total of 226 as the hosts enjoyed a comprehensive win in their first Test since a 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia completed in January. This series continues across London at the Oval, where the second Test starts on June 17.

Cricket

Emilio Gay scored 57 on England debut during a second-innings total of 226 as the hosts enjoyed a comprehensive win in their first Test since a 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia completed in January; series continues across London at the Oval, where the second Test starts on June 17.

England beat New Zealand by 115 runs in first Test

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Fox News presenter Kayleigh McEnany posted on X on June 6 that an Indian institution reportedly sold more than &ldquo;36,000 fake degrees&rdquo; to applicants seeking US work visas. The disclosure has prompted renewed scrutiny of credential fraud in India that affects the H-1B program, a work visa that allows American companies to hire skilled foreign workers. According to McEnany&#39;s post, the US Department of Labor has reportedly processed nearly 7 million H-1B visa holders since 2015, with over 70% originating from India. A major investigative report by Bloomberg in July 2024 revealed the scope of the deception. Bloomberg obtained unreleased H-1B petition records from 2020 through 2023 through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, exposing systematic manipulation by Indian IT staffing firms. The investigation found that staffing companies submitted thousands of duplicate applications for the same individuals through shell companies to significantly increase their odds of winning the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (D Visa) lottery. Bloomberg estimated that roughly 15,500 visas (about one in six awarded in a single year) were obtained through this fraudulent scheme. In one instance, a single staffing firm operator used a dozen separate companies to enter the same applicant up to 15 times. The credential-forgery infrastructure supporting this scheme came into public view in December 2025, when police in Kerala, a southern Indian state, arrested 11 suspects and seized nearly 100,000 counterfeit university certificates, according to local news outlets, including Mathrubhumi and Malayala Manorama. The mastermind of the operation, identified as Dhaneesh (alias &quot;Dany&quot;), coordinated document forgery across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Major national investigations found that forged certificates were sold for approximately $790 to $1,580 each. Mahvash Siddiqui, a US consular officer who reviewed about 51,000 visa applications at the American consulate in Chennai between 2005 and 2007, detailed the fraud mechanism during a Center for Immigration Studies podcast interview. Siddiqui stated that up to 90% of applications from Indian nationals contained fraudulent documents or involved unqualified applicants. In the Indian state of Hyderabad, a major technology hub, Siddiqui explained that visa consultancy shops produced counterfeit degrees, fake transcripts, and forged bank statements on an industrial scale. Applicants submitted Microsoft IT certifications instead of the required computer science degrees to circumvent the requirements. Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Cognizant (India&#39;s largest technology staffing companies) employed workers in the US with fabricated credentials, according to statements from a fraud task force cited by Siddiqui. Indian supervisors at these companies extracted monthly payments of $2,000 to $4,000 from employees earning $12,000 annually to retain their jobs. Job interviews were conducted by qualified proxies rather than by actual applicants, allowing fraudulently hired workers to pass screening. US Department of Justice records show that IT staffing executives at S-Team Software pleaded guilty to submitting fraudulent visa petitions and fabricating job offers and institutional ties to secure approvals. According to Bloomberg, IT staffing firms intentionally paid lower salaries than mainstream American technology companies. Reports from Business Standard, an Indian financial newspaper, detailed how this fraud displaced qualified domestic job candidates. According to Department of Labor data cited by McEnany in a video published on the June 6 post, 83% of H-1B visa holders obtained junior or entry-level positions. The H-1B program officially targets high-skilled positions. A 15-member fraud task force of US consular officers filed an official dissent cable to the State Department, documenting widespread fraud affecting 80% to 90% of H-1B applicants from India, according to Siddiqui. The unit was characterized as a &quot;rogue operation&quot; by consular leadership, citing political pressure from Indian officials demanding increased visa approvals. The Texas Attorney General launched investigations into dozens of companies suspected of maintaining &quot;ghost offices&quot;: fake business locations used to sponsor foreign visas without actual operations. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement flagged 10,000 foreign students linked to shell employer companies under the Optional Practical Training work program, which allows international graduates to work in the United States after completing university degrees. In response, US Citizenship and Immigration Services restructured its H-1B visa lottery system to adopt &quot;beneficiary-centric&quot; selection, allowing each individual exactly one entry regardless of the number of employer registrations. Official USCIS data shows that eligible registrations dropped from 470,342 in fiscal year 2025 to 343,981 in fiscal year 2026, a 26.9% reduction. The average number of registrations per individual fell to 1.01, eliminating duplicate entries. The visa fraud has sent ripples across the world. Australia tightened skilled worker visa protocols, warning that permanent residency can be revoked if applications used forged credentials, according to the country&rsquo;s immigration authorities. Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom have similarly activated credential verification audits, according to immigration tracking reports.

India

US investigations expose systematic credential forgery and employment fraud by major Indian tech consultancies.

How Indian tech companies orchestrate massive H-1B visa fraud in US

ISLAMABAD: Cockroach Janta Party Founding President Abhijeet Dipke on Sunday said that if India&rsquo;s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is not removed or does not step down within the next seven days, the party will be forced to continue its protest on the ground. Hundreds of young students gathered in New Delhi on Saturday for the first street protest organized by the &quot;Cockroach People&#39;s Party&quot; over alleged irregularities in recent major examinations. Protesters, some in paper cockroach masks &mdash; a reference to reported remarks by India&#39;s top judge &mdash; called for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the irregularities, including question paper leaks and technical glitches. In a post on X on Sunday, Dipke said that thousands of people had participated in a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar, which he described as a demonstration of unity and anger over the education system. <div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 2;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-4" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-4&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2063503296745140510&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=bbc4afe59cbec63f3957b28db6d1bde5f70ccf95&theme=light&widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 672px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div>He stated that many of those who joined the protest had never participated in one before but felt encouraged by the collective presence to express their frustration. He also thanked participants, including young children and students, for attending the demonstration despite the hot weather. Dipke said that peaceful protest was the movement&rsquo;s greatest strength and asserted that a unified, peaceful movement could not be suppressed. Issuing a warning to the government, he said, &ldquo;Dharmendra Pradhan has wronged an entire generation. If he is not removed or does not step down within the next 7 days, we will be forced to continue our protest on the ground.&rdquo; He also announced that he would address supporters during an Instagram Live session later on Sunday. &#39;No credibility&#39;&nbsp;Last month, authorities scrapped the nationwide medical college entrance test, one of the country&#39;s most competitive exams, after investigators uncovered a question paper leak. That came on top of another scandal related to the online marking system of tests taken by nearly two million high school students. &quot;India deserves better administration of such crucial exams,&quot; said 20-year-old protester Sarthak, who gave only one name. Sapan Gyan, 52, who accompanied his sons to the protest, said that &quot;young people... can&#39;t have a situation where these exam systems have no credibility left.&quot; Environmental activist Sonam Wangchuk, 59, who has been at loggerheads with the government over demands for greater autonomy for the Himalayan region of Ladakh, said the students affected by the exam failures &quot;have no voice, no say.&quot; The CJP &mdash; whose pages have been blocked on some social media platforms &mdash; has over 22 million followers on Instagram, well above Modi&#39;s ruling party or India&#39;s main opposition party.

In a post on X, movement’s founder Dipke says thousands of people have participated in a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar, which demonstrates unity and anger over India’s education system.

India's ‘Cockroach Party’ threatens more protests unless education minister resigns

LONDON:&nbsp;British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will stand if a leadership contest is triggered, a senior minister said Sunday, after media reported Starmer had contacted key backers insisting he would run in any race. This came after popular northern mayor Any Burnham, who is standing in a key by-election this month, said last week he would participate in any leadership race, although none has yet been triggered. Starmer &quot;has been absolutely clear -- were there to be a contest &nbsp;-- you need <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/uk-govt-to-release-second-batch-of-files-on-exus-envoy-mandelson" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">81 signatures</a> (of MPs) to launch a contest -- he will be part of that contest,&quot; Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told Sky News on Sunday. The <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/british-pm-battles-to-stay-in-power-amid-rebellion" style="color:#0073e6;">prime minister</a> would automatically be included in any leadership ballot if he wanted to participate.&nbsp;&lsquo;Fight it&rsquo;The BBC and The Sun newspaper reported Sunday, citing unnamed MPs, that Starmer has been calling key supporters this weekend to say that if there is a contest he would &quot;fight it&quot;. The Sun reported: &quot;Sir Keir has hardened his position and is hellbent on running against Mr Burnham.&quot; Labour veteran Burnham is standing to become an MP again in a June 18 vote in Makerfield in northwestern England.&nbsp; If elected, he would be able to take part in a leadership contest. Burnham said on a BBC talkshow Thursday that he would seek to challenge Starmer if he won the by-election and if a race is triggered.&nbsp;&lsquo;Not going to walk away&rsquo;He said former health minister Wes Streeting, who resigned last month with an open letter expressing no confidence in Starmer, &quot;seems to have launched a leadership contest. So if that is running, I would seek to join it.&quot; The prime minister has repeatedly rejected calls to resign and insisted he wants to stay on as leader of the Labour party after winning a general election in 2024. Starmer told LBC radio station on Friday &quot;I&#39;m not going to walk away&quot;, adding he did not want to &quot;plunge our country into the chaos of a leadership fight&quot;.

United Kingdom

This comes after popular northern mayor Andy Burnham, who is standing in a key by-election this month, says he will participate in any leadership race, although none has yet been triggered.

Starmer will be 'part of' any leadership race: British deputy PM

WASHINGTON:&nbsp;The Pentagon has raised its counterintelligence threat level for Israel to its highest level, US media reported on Saturday. The Pentagon&#39;s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said Israel&#39;s &quot;ability to conduct human espionage and technical collection is at a &#39;critical level&#39;,&quot; NBC News said, citing US officials. The move came after concerns that Israel had been attempting to spy on top US officials to get information on &quot;the Trump administration&#39;s internal deliberations and decision-making on the conflicts in the Middle East,&quot; the American network said. The New York Times cited reports of Israeli efforts to eavesdrop on senior officials, including President Donald Trump&#39;s top negotiator, Steve Witkoff, and the Pentagon&#39;s top policy official, Elbridge Colby. The United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, triggering the war. Since then, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&#39;s relationship appears to be under strain. Trump unleashed a tirade over the phone at Netanyahu over Israel&#39;s threats to bomb the Lebanese capital Beirut, fearing it would undermine talks with Tehran, the Axios news outlet and ABC News reported earlier in the week.

The move comes after concerns that Israel is attempting to spy on top US officials to obtain information on 'the Trump administration’s internal deliberations and decision-making on the conflicts in the Middle East,' an American network says.

Pentagon raises threat of Israeli spying to 'critical': US media

ISLAMABAD: Extreme heat is increasingly disrupting the lives and livelihoods of women workers in India&rsquo;s capital, with studies showing that rising temperatures are directly linked to income losses and worsening health conditions. According to a Greenpeace India report, around 76% of women workers in Delhi are employed in the informal sector, including street vending, domestic work, waste collection and gig services, where exposure to outdoor heat is highest. The report found that for every 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature, earnings in the informal sector can drop by up to 19%, while heatwave conditions can push income losses to nearly 40%. In Old Delhi&rsquo;s busy markets, women vendors say rising temperatures are forcing them to shorten working hours as the heat approaches 40 C by midday. Many report dehydration, dizziness and fainting spells due to prolonged exposure. Domestic workers across the city face similar challenges, traveling long distances in peak heat and working in poorly ventilated homes with tin roofs that retain heat throughout the day and night. Gig workers, including home-based service providers, also report income losses due to cancellations, delayed travel and reduced bookings during peak heat hours, alongside growing physical strain. A study published in Scientific Reports shows heatwaves in India have become 1.5 times more frequent and intense over recent decades, increasing the number of heatwave days across the country. The World Health Organization has warned that extreme heat is a growing public health risk, linked to heat exhaustion, dehydration, kidney-related illnesses and mental stress, particularly among outdoor workers.

Street vendors are among the self-employed and daily wage labourers severely affected by the rise in temperatures. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Avatrava)

Another study in Scientific Reports shows heatwaves in India have become 1.5 times more frequent and intense over recent decades, increasing the number of heatwave days across the country.