Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Iran stated it has no plans to deploy mines in the Persian Gulf, citing full control over the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters, reported Tasnim News Agency on Monday. According to the Iranian news outlet, a spokesperson for Iran&rsquo;s Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters said the country has the initiative in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. He said that Iran can secure the area using existing capabilities. The spokesperson stated that Iranian armed forces, working with regional partners, can maintain security and that non-regional powers have no authority to intervene. The Middle East has seen a sharp escalation in the multi-week conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, marked by intense military strikes and a high-stakes standoff over the Strait of Hormuz. According to AFP, US President Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum on Sunday, demanding Iran fully reopen the Strait or face attacks on its power plants. Just before the deadline expired on March 23, Trump postponed strikes for five days, citing &ldquo;very good&rdquo; talks with an Iranian official. Tehran denied any negotiations, while stating the US was attempting to manipulate energy markets. The joint US-Israeli airstrikes have targeted military and infrastructure sites in Tehran, AFP reported. On Tuesday, an Iranian missile struck a building in an upscale Tel Aviv neighborhood. Iran&rsquo;s military claims full control of the Strait of Hormuz. While some friendly vessels have passed, the effective closure has driven global oil prices above $100 per barrel. Casualty estimates indicate more than 1,000 people have been killed in Iran and dozens in Lebanon since the war began.

A map shows the Strait of Hormuz on a laptop computer screen in this photo illustration in Athens, Greece, on March 3, 2026. (AFP)

Middle East

Says its forces control the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman and can maintain security without additional measures.

Iran says it has no plans to lay mines in Persian Gulf

LONDON: Mohamed Salah will leave Premier League champions Liverpool at the end of the season, the Egypt forward announced on Tuesday as he started a farewell to what the club called nine &quot;illustrious&quot; years at Anfield. The 33-year-old arrived at Anfield from Roma in 2017 &nbsp;and has made 435 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 255 goals to leave him third on the Reds&#39; all-time leading scorers chart. He has also won the Premier League Golden Boot award four times while starring for Liverpool in both their 2019/20 and 2024/25 title triumphs and their 2019 Champions League victory. His Liverpool honours also include a Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, an FA Cup and two League Cups. But Salah, who is currently injured, has scored just five Premier League goals this season, compared with 29 in last term&#39;s title-winning campaign. His Anfield future became the subject of intense speculation after a dramatic bust-up with Liverpool manager Arne Slot in December. Salah accused Liverpool of throwing him &quot;under the bus&quot; after he was benched for three games. &#39;Unfortunately, the day has come&#39;&nbsp;Salah, in a video on social media featuring highlights of his time with Liverpool, said: &quot;Hello everyone. Unfortunately, the day has come. &quot;This is the first part of my farewell. I will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season. &quot;I wanted to start by saying that I never imagined how deeply this club, this city, these people would become part of my life. Liverpool is not just a football club. &quot;It&#39;s a passion, it&#39;s a history, it&#39;s a spirit. I can&#39;t explain in words to anyone not of this club.&quot; Salah, a free agent at the end of the season, added: &quot;We celebrated victory, we won the most important trophies and we fought together through the hardest time in our life. I want to thank everyone who was part of this club throughout my time here, especially the team-mates past and present. &quot;And to the fans, I don&#39;t have enough words. The support you showed me through the best time of my career, and you stood by me in the toughest times. It&#39;s something I will never forget and something I will take with me always. &quot;Leaving is never easy. You gave me the best time of my life. I will be always one of you. This club will always be my home, to me and to my family. &quot;Thank you for everything. Because of all of you, I will never walk alone,&quot; insisted Salah in a reference to the Liverpool fans&#39; chant. Liverpool said on their website: &quot;Mohamed Salah is to bring the curtain down on his illustrious career with Liverpool at the end of the 2025-26 season. &quot;The forward has reached an agreement with the Reds that will see him close a remarkable nine-year chapter at Anfield.&quot; The statement added that &quot;with plenty still left to play for this season,&quot; the time to &quot;fully celebrate&quot; Salah&#39;s career would be when he bids farewell to Anfield. Salah was forced off at Anfield last week after scoring in Liverpool&#39;s 4-0 victory against Galatasary, which sealed their place in the Champions League quarter-finals. He had scored in three of his past four starts after an uncharacteristic lean spell, but missed last weekend&#39;s 2-1 loss at Brighton, a blow to fifth-placed Liverpool&#39;s hopes of qualifying for next season&#39;s Champions League. His time at Liverpool appeared to be nearing its end in December when, having been an unused substitute at Leeds, Salah told reporters at Elland Road: &quot;I said many times before that, I had a good relationship with the manager (Slot) and all of a sudden we don&#39;t have any relationship. &quot;I don&#39;t know why but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn&#39;t want me in the club.&quot;

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah reacts after a missed goal opportunity during the UEFA Champions League football match between Olympique de Marseille (OM) and Liverpool FC in Marseille, on January 21, 2026 (AFP).

Football

The player says he will leave Liverpool at the end of the 2025–26 season after a trophy-laden spell, amid injuries, declining form, and tensions with manager Arne Slot.

Salah to leave Liverpool at the end of the season

ISLAMABAD: Gurjyot Singh Keer, a member of the Sikh community, filed a police report at Mumbai&rsquo;s Mulund Police Station on Tuesday against the makers of the Bollywood movie &ldquo;Dhurandhar 2,&rdquo; alleging it has hurt Sikh religious sentiments by depicting the recitation of a sacred verse alongside smoking, according to Indian media reports.&nbsp;The scene, featuring Indian actor Ranganathan Madhavan starring Ranveer Singh and reciting a sacred verse alongside smoking, has been described as offensive by members of the Sikh community, who are demanding an apology from filmmaker Aditya Dhar, accusing the creators of disrespecting Gurbani, their spiritual leader&rsquo;s teachings.&nbsp;&ldquo;It is deeply hurtful and unacceptable to see a scene from [the movie] where R. Madhavan is shown holding a cigarette while reciting a sacred line from Gurbani,&rdquo; Keer posted on Instagram.&nbsp;Keer clarified that the scene was not just a cinematic act, but a direct insult to Sikh values, beliefs, and the teachings of the Gurus.&nbsp;The Sikh community has asked the makers of Dhurandhar 2 to remove the scene immediately and issue a public apology, warning that if their concerns are not addressed, they may be forced to protest.&nbsp;Keer said the feelings of the Sikh community were hurt, and the depiction in the movie shows a lack of respect and sensitivity toward the community.&nbsp;In a video message posted on Instagram Madhavan said &ldquo;I had clearly instructed to put out the cigarette, ensuring that there would be no smoke visible on screen&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;He further added that &ldquo;We never want to hurt anyone, knowingly or unknowingly, we stand with the entire Sikh community and always will, we have immense respect for them.&nbsp;India has previously ignited outrage among Muslims, Sikhs, and other minority groups by permitting films and media that offend their religious sentiments.&nbsp;These escalating incidents raise concerns about how minorities in India are treated, especially the Sikh community, whose religious sentiments are often disrespected in the media and public discussions

Film & TV

A Sikh leader filed a police complaint against Dhurandhar 2, saying a scene hurt Sikh religious sentiments. The incident has renewed concerns over how minorities in India, especially Sikhs, are treated in media and public discourse.

Sikh leader files police complaint, says Bollywood film 'offended minorities' sentiments

ISLAMABAD: An Indian court has sentenced prominent Kashmiri separatist leader Asiya Andrabi to life imprisonment under the country&rsquo;s stringent anti-terror legislation, in a move critics say reflects New Delhi&rsquo;s continued crackdown on dissent in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). According to Indian media reports, a Delhi Special Court on Tuesday awarded Andrabi life imprisonment under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), while her associates Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen were each sentenced to 30 years in prison. The three women had been convicted earlier this year, on January 14, for their alleged involvement with Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), an all-women Kashmiri organization advocating the region&rsquo;s separation from India. The court reportedly found the accused guilty under &ldquo;multiple provisions of UAPA, including Section 18,&rdquo; which pertains to conspiracy, and Section 38, related to membership of a proscribed organization. Prosecutors alleged that the trio were engaged in &ldquo;promoting separatist ideology, mobilizing support, and coordinating activities,&rdquo; claims long disputed by Kashmiri groups who describe such cases as politically motivated. Dukhtaran-e-Millat, founded in 1987 and led by Andrabi, was banned by Indian authorities in 2004 under the UAPA. The organization has been widely viewed in Kashmir as part of the broader political resistance movement against Indian rule. Legal proceedings against Andrabi and her co-accused began in 2021, when a Delhi court initiated trial under both the UAPA and multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The charges included &ldquo;criminal conspiracy,&rdquo; &ldquo;waging war against the government of India,&rdquo; &ldquo;sedition,&rdquo; and &ldquo;promoting enmity between different groups.&rdquo; The accused had pleaded not guilty, insisting on a full trial. Observers note that the sweeping use of anti-terror laws such as the UAPA has drawn sustained criticism from human rights advocates, who argue that such legislation is frequently employed to silence political opposition and suppress voices in IIOJK. Andrabi, a science graduate from Srinagar&rsquo;s Government Women&rsquo;s College and daughter of a local health practitioner, has remained in custody throughout the prolonged legal proceedings. The latest sentencing is expected to further intensify concerns over civil liberties and the shrinking political space in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

India

A Delhi court convicts three women linked to Dukhtaran-e-Millat under UAPA provisions, citing conspiracy and membership charges, while prosecutors allege promotion of separatist ideology, a move critics describe as politically motivated suppression in IIOJK.

Indian court hands life sentence to prominent Kashmiri leader Andrabi

COPENHAGEN: Danes voted Tuesday in a general election, where Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is seen as the favorite after standing up to US President Donald Trump over Greenland.&nbsp;Frederiksen, a Social Democrat who has been in office since 2019, has been praised for her leadership after fending off Trump&#39;s repeated demands to annex Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory he claims the United States needs for national security reasons.&nbsp;&quot;We stand firm when the winds blow. And it has been blowing around our kingdom,&quot; she wrote on Instagram, as she spent part of the day in Aalborg, her electoral stronghold in the country&#39;s northwest, with Greenlanders living in Denmark.&nbsp;The latest polls give the left-wing bloc, for which Frederiksen is the self-proclaimed candidate, a nine-seat lead over the right-wing bloc, but neither side is projected to win a majority of the 179 seats in Denmark&#39;s parliament, the Folketing.&nbsp;&quot;People may not really like her, but they see her as the right leader,&quot; Elisabet Svane, political analyst at Danish newspaper Politiken, told AFP.&nbsp;Frederiksen, who had &quot;a prime minister you can count on&quot; as one of her campaign slogans, &quot;is a unifying figure in a world full of insecurity, and Danes are quite anxious -- there&#39;s Greenland, Ukraine, (and mystery) drones&quot; that flew over the Scandinavian country last year, Svane said.&nbsp;The four overseas seats held by Denmark&#39;s two autonomous territories -- two for Greenland and two for the Faroe Islands -- could tip the balance if the election result is very close.&nbsp;More than 3,000 kilometers away, in Greenland&#39;s capital Nuuk, voters were lining up to cast their ballots as soon as polling stations opened.&nbsp;Serious situationThe campaign has generated more interest than usual in the vast Arctic territory, with more than 20 candidates in the running for the two seats.&nbsp;&quot;I think it&#39;s the most important election for the Danish parliament in Greenland in history,&quot; Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told AFP in Nuuk.&nbsp;&quot;We are in a time where we have a superpower trying to acquire us, take us, control us,&quot; he added, stressing that the territory still found itself in a &quot;serious situation&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;I think the most important thing that all the parties in Greenland have agreed on is that we need to work together, whoever gets elected for the parliament,&quot; he said.&nbsp;But Greenlandic voter Lars did not share the view that Greenland&#39;s parties stood more united, saying he kept seeing divisions play out on social media.&nbsp;&quot;Everybody is fighting. Greenlanders are fighting. It&#39;s terrible,&quot; the lawyer told AFP.&nbsp;Greenland&#39;s main political parties all want independence from Denmark, but differ on the pace of the separation.&nbsp;The centrist Moderate party, led by Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, a two-time former prime minister, could end up kingmaker.&nbsp;New beginningIn Denmark, the row over the vast Arctic island has however not been central in the campaign.&nbsp;In the wealthy nation of six million people, the campaign has instead focused on domestic issues, including inflation, the welfare state and high nitrate levels in water from agriculture.&nbsp;&quot;I think that the center government has not ensured clean water in Denmark. They have not ensured that we have invested in welfare instead of taxation reliefs,&quot; Pia Olsen Dyhr, leader of the socialist Green Left, told AFP after casting her voting.&nbsp;In a country where the far right has heavily influenced policy since the late 1990s, immigration has also been a hot topic, with the Social Democrats advocating even tighter regulations.&nbsp;Frederiksen has also defended as &quot;fair&quot; a proposal to deny non-essential health care to people of foreign origin who threaten medical personnel.&nbsp;Three populist parties are also in the running and opinion polls see them garnering around 19 percent of the vote.&nbsp;The most established of those is the far-right Danish People&#39;s Party, which slumped in the 2022 election but has seen an upswing in opinion polls.&nbsp;&quot;I want a new beginning for Denmark, and that requires a strong Danish People&#39;s Party,&quot; party leader Morten Messerschmidt told AFP after voting in Copenhagen.&nbsp;Elections in Denmark enjoy high participation rates and in 2022, 84.1 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot.&nbsp;Polling stations in Denmark close at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT), with exit polls expected to be published just after.&nbsp;

Europe

Denmark held a general election with PM Mette Frederiksen favored to win. Campaign focused on domestic issues, while Greenland’s vote and far-right parties could influence the final balance in parliament.

Denmark votes in close election, outgoing PM tipped to win

KABUL: Afghanistan&#39;s Taliban government announced on Tuesday that it was freeing a US national who had been detained for more than a year.&nbsp;The foreign ministry said the family of linguist and researcher Dennis Coyle had written to the supreme leader of Afghanistan, requesting his release for Eid.&nbsp;&quot;The Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate deemed his period of detention sufficient and decided on his release,&quot; a statement read.&nbsp;The announcement came after a meeting of Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, US former special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, the UAE ambassador to Kabul Saif Mohammed Al-Ketbi, and a member of Coyle&#39;s family.&nbsp;The UAE facilitated the release, the ministry said, adding that Coyle had been reunited with his family in Kabul on Tuesday.&nbsp;Coyle, 64, was arrested by the Afghan authorities in January 2025, according to the Foley Foundation, which advocates for the release of Americans taken hostage or arbitrarily detained abroad.&nbsp;A website set up by his family, freedenniscoyle.com, said he was &quot;legally working to support Afghan communities as an academic researcher&quot; when he was detained.&nbsp;They said he had been held in &quot;near-solitary conditions, requiring permission even to use the bathroom, and without access to adequate medical care&quot;.&nbsp;Coyle first travelled to Afghanistan in the early 2000s &quot;to survey Afghanistan&#39;s rich linguistic diversity and help Afghan communities develop resources in their own languages&quot;, they added.&nbsp;&quot;Throughout his years of service, Dennis maintained a home in Kabul and built deep, meaningful relationships with the Afghan people,&quot; the website read.&nbsp;&quot;Those who know him speak with profound appreciation for both the man and his work. Dennis has always embraced Afghan culture with genuine warmth sharing cups of traditional green tea, enjoying dried fruit snacks, and engaging in the kind of heartfelt conversations that bridge cultures.&nbsp;&quot;His love for the Afghan people isn&#39;t just professional; it&#39;s personal and deeply felt.&quot;&nbsp;Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States had formally placed Afghanistan on its list of countries engaged in &quot;wrongful detentions&quot;.&nbsp;The Afghan authorities called that &quot;regrettable&quot; and pointed to talks between the two sides and previous releases with mediators from Qatar.&nbsp;In 2025, five American citizens were released in what the Taliban authorities said was a &quot;goodwill gesture&quot;.

Asia

The Afghanistan’s Taliban government said it released US citizen Dennis Coyle after holding him for more than a year. The UAE helped with his release, and he was reunited with his family in Kabul before Eid.

Afghanistan announces release of detained US citizen

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&#39;s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that Islamabad was ready to host negotiations to help stop the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as US President Donald Trump reposted the prime minister&#39;s message on his Truth Social platform. &quot;Pakistan welcomes and fully supports ongoing efforts to pursue dialogue to end the WAR in Middle East, in the interest of peace and stability in (the) region and beyond,&quot; the premier wrote on X. &quot;Subject to concurrence by the US and Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honoured to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict.&quot;&nbsp;The statement by Pakistan&#39;s prime minister came after the Tehran foreign ministry suggested on Monday that it had received messages from &quot;some friendly countries indicating a US request for negotiations to end the war,&quot; according to the official IRNA news agency. PM Sharif said he had spoken with Iran&#39;s President Masoud Pezeshkian, promising his government&#39;s help in bringing peace to the region. Pakistan&#39;s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said he had been in touch with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi. Iran is a long-standing ally of Pakistan, and Islamabad condemned the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It also sent congratulations to his son and successor, Mojtaba.&nbsp;Trump postpones military strikes for five daysEarlier on Monday, President Trump stated on Truth Social that the US and Iran had &ldquo;over the last two days&rdquo; very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East. While he stated that the &ldquo;constructive conversations&rdquo; will continue throughout the week, he added that he has directed the Department of War to &ldquo;postpone any and all military strikes against Iran&#39;s power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period.&rdquo; He stated that the pause in the strikes was contingent on the success of ongoing meetings and discussions.&nbsp;Later in the day, while speaking at a roundtable in Memphis, President Trump reiterated that he directed the Department of War to temporarily postpone planned strikes against major energy and electricity targets in Iran.&nbsp;China praises Pakistan&rsquo;s role in Middle EastAt a press conference in Islamabad, Ambassador Jiang Zaidong of the People&#39;s Republic of China commended Pakistan&#39;s mediation role in the Middle East.&nbsp; He said China supports resolving disputes through dialogue rather than force, and opposes unilateral actions and power politics in the Middle East. He said China opposes subordinating international law to domestic law, as the actions taking place in the Middle East are violating the UN Charter.&nbsp;&nbsp;He also emphasized that non-military targets should not be attacked and the security of sea lanes should not be disrupted. On-going casualitiesThe ongoing US-Israel war on Iran has entered its fourth week, with the joint strikes resulting in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1976870" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">assassination&nbsp;</a>of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini, and Ali Larijani, a military officer and former speaker of the Iranian parliament.&nbsp;The conflict, which began on Feb. 28 last month and has now entered its 24th day, has caused widespread economic destruction and casualties in the region.

Security

Foreign Affairs

In his post on X, PM Sharif wrote: "Subject to concurrence by the US and Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honoured to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict."

Pakistan PM says ready to host US-Iran talks, Trump reposts on Truth Social

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka ordered street lights, neon signs and billboard lighting to be switched off from Tuesday as part of measures to cut energy consumption by 25 percent to tackle supply shortages.&nbsp;Government spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said all state institutions had been asked to reduce the use of air conditioning as the Middle East war entered its fourth week, driving up oil and gas prices.&nbsp;Sri Lanka has already raised fuel prices by a third since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, triggering retaliatory attacks that have disrupted global energy supplies.&nbsp;&quot;We need to reduce consumption by at least 25%,&quot; Jayatissa told reporters in Colombo. &quot;We hope the private sector too will abide by the guidelines drafted by a panel of experts.&quot;&nbsp;The island has introduced a four-day work week and brought back work-from-home arrangements since last week, to reduce pressure on the transport network.&nbsp;The minister said the new measures include switching off advertising illumination after 9:00 pm (1530 GMT) and all street lights, except in high security areas.&nbsp;An energy ministry official said peak demand was being met with coal and diesel, and that the island faced a risk of nationwide power cuts unless consumption was drastically reduced.&nbsp;Last week, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake urged electric car owners to avoid overnight charging, saying the resulting demand surge of 300 megawatts had forced the country to burn more coal and diesel to maintain the grid.&nbsp;About half of Sri Lanka&#39;s electricity is generated by coal and diesel. The country has yet to install battery storage for renewable energy, which is in surplus during the day.

Sri Lanka has switched off street lights, neon signs and billboards, cut air conditioning, and introduced a four-day work week to reduce energy use by 25% as Middle East war disruptions push up oil and gas prices.

Sri Lanka switches off lights as Mideast war squeezes energy supply

GENEVA: The death toll from a strike on a hospital in East Darfur has risen from 64 to 70, the WHO said Tuesday, calling the hit an attack on survival in Sudan&#39;s devastating war.&nbsp;The World Health Organization said the number of people injured in Friday&#39;s strike on the El-Daein Teaching Hospital in the state capital of East Darfur had also increased from 89 to 146, with the facility now out of action.&nbsp;Hala Khudari, the deputy WHO representative in Sudan and the UN agency&#39;s health emergency lead in the country, called it an &quot;atrocious attack&quot;.&nbsp;She said the death toll included seven women and 13 children, one doctor and two nurses, while those injured included patients, their family members and eight health workers.&nbsp;&quot;The hospital sustained severe damage, particularly to the outpatient and emergency departments,&quot; she told a press briefing in Geneva, speaking from Port Sudan.&nbsp;&quot;This hospital had already been damaged in a previous attack in August 2024. Since this latest attack, the hospital is no longer functional.&quot;&nbsp;The facility served as a referral hospital for more than two million people across El-Daein city and nine localities in East Darfur state. Patients may now need to travel 160 kilometers (around 100 miles) to reach the next referral hospital, said Khudari.&nbsp;&quot;An attack on a hospital is not only an attack on a building. It is an attack on people seeking care, on health workers risking their lives to save others, and on the very possibility of survival in times of crisis,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&quot;Access to care is shrinking. And efforts to repair or restore damaged facilities and equipment are being undermined.&quot;&nbsp;Khudari said the WHO&#39;s Sudan health response for 2026 was currently only 5.7 percent funded.&nbsp;Since erupting in April 2023, the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands and forced 11 million people to flee their homes.&nbsp;Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers reported that the hospital was hit by an army drone strike.&nbsp;The RSF dominates the vast Darfur region in western Sudan, while Sudan&#39;s army is in control of the east, center and north.&nbsp;RSF-controlled El-Daein has been regularly attacked by the Sudanese army, which is trying to push the paramilitaries back towards its Darfur strongholds and away from Sudan&#39;s central corridor.

Africa

A strike on El-Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur killed 70 and injured 146, the WHO said, calling it an atrocious attack that shut a key hospital serving over two million people amid Sudan’s war.

Sudan hospital attack toll rises to 70: WHO

ISLAMABAD: China said it was &ldquo;deeply shocked&rdquo; after a Japanese soldier broke into its embassy in Japan, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday, Xinhua News Agency reported. According to the Chinese state broadcaster, the person climbed over a wall to enter the compound. The spokesperson said that China lodged &ldquo;solemn representations&rdquo; and a protest with Japan over the incident. Meanwhile, local Japanese media reported that the man, in his 20s, entered the Chinese embassy grounds in Tokyo&rsquo;s Minato ward at around 9 a.m. local time. He was restrained by embassy staff and handed to the city&rsquo;s metropolitan police. The man is believed to be a member of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and threatened to kill a diplomat, local Japanese media reported. Investigators said the man may have entered from the fourth floor of an adjacent building, local Japanese media reported. A knife believed to have been brought by the man was found inside the embassy grounds. No injuries have been reported. Relations between China and Japan deteriorated in 2026, marked by economic measures, military activity, and diplomatic tensions, according to AFP. The friction intensified following policy shifts after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi&rsquo;s election. Frosty relations Relations between China and Japan have sharply deteriorated in 2026, marked by economic sanctions, military activity, and diplomatic tension. Tensions rose over Taiwan after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested Japan could intervene militarily, and China criticized a March visit by Taiwan&rsquo;s premier to Tokyo, the first such visit by a sitting premier since 1972, AFP reported. Economic and military measures have also escalated. In February, China restricted exports from 40 Japanese companies and imposed tariffs on rubber products effective mid-March. Meanwhile, Japan seized a Chinese fishing vessel in February and plans missile deployments in its southwest region and on Yonaguni Island. Coast guard standoffs continue near the disputed Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, AFP reported.

A Japanese soldier broke into China’s Tokyo embassy, threatened a diplomat, and was detained by staff and police with no reported injuries.

Iran says it has no plans to lay mines in Persian Gulf

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Latest News

Salah to leave Liverpool at the end of the season

Sikh leader files police complaint, says Bollywood film 'offended minorities' sentiments

Indian court hands life sentence to prominent Kashmiri leader Andrabi

Denmark votes in close election, outgoing PM tipped to win

Afghanistan announces release of detained US citizen