All posts tagged: Pakistan

Pakistan: Male contraception still taboo despite looming demographic crisis – Focus

Pakistan: Male contraception still taboo despite looming demographic crisis – Focus

Published by Sam Flores

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Try again FOCUS © FRANCE 24 Issued on: 29/05/2026 – 16:24 05:30 min From the show Reading time 1 min One of Pakistan’s greatest challenges is controlling its rapidly growing population. With more than 258 million inhabitants, the country is already the fifth most populous in the world. By 2030, its population could surpass 300 million, pushing Pakistan into fourth place globally, ahead of Indonesia. This rapid demographic growth is far outpacing the country’s capacity for socio-economic development and infrastructure expansion. In several key social sectors, Pakistan continues to lag behind neighbouring India and Bangladesh. Yet contraception remains largely taboo in a society shaped by strong traditional values, where it is sometimes viewed as religiously forbidden. A report by Shahzaib Wahlah and Ondine de Gaulle, in collaboration with Hameer M. …

Middle East war live: Trump says no country will control Hormuz Strait under future Iran deal

Middle East war live: Trump says no country will control Hormuz Strait under future Iran deal

Published by Sam Flores

27/05/2026 – 21:28 ‘More than 100,000 people live in this city’: Israel urges Tyre residents to leave homes FRANCE 24 correspondent Renée Davis reports from Beirut on the Israeli military’s call for the population of Tyre in southern Lebanon to leave their homes ahead of a fresh wave of air strikes. 27/05/2026 – 21:23 South Korea summons Iran envoy over ship attack Seoul summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest after a probe concluded it was “highly likely” that an Iranian-made missile was to blame for a strike on a South Korean ship in the Strait of Hormuz. In remarks carried by Iranian state media, Tehran’s envoy to Seoul denied his country had anything to do with the incident. The South Korean cargo ship was hit by unidentified projectiles on May 4 in the strait. US President Donald Trump claimed Iran had “taken some shots” at the Panama-flagged vessel, while Tehran had denied responsibility for the attack. Following a weeks-long investigation, the South Korean government said technical analysis concluded that the unidentified projectile that struck the vessel …

US Launches Fresh Strikes on Iran as Talks to End War Proceed

US Launches Fresh Strikes on Iran as Talks to End War Proceed

Published by Sam Flores

By Elwely Elwelly and Phil Stewart DUBAI/WASHINGTON, May 25 (Reuters) – U.S. forces on Monday conducted strikes in southern Iran against targets including boats ⁠attempting ⁠to lay mines and missile launch sites, in what it described as ⁠defensive actions. The strikes came as Iran’s top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar’s prime minister on a potential deal with the U.S. ​to end the three-month-old war, an official briefed on the visit said on Monday, after Washington and Tehran played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New Delhi earlier that the U.S. would give diplomacy every chance to ‌succeed before considering whether to deal with Iran in “another way”. There was ‌a “pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the strait (of Hormuz), get the strait open, enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter, and hopefully we can pull it off,” Rubio said. In a lengthy ⁠post on Truth …

Middle East war live: Trump urges Saudi Arabia, Qatar to sign Abraham Accords in Iran peace push

Middle East war live: Trump urges Saudi Arabia, Qatar to sign Abraham Accords in Iran peace push

Published by Sam Flores

25/05/2026 – 15:30 Israeli opposition leader Lapid says Trump’s emerging deal with Iran is ‘bad for the region’ The peace deal being discussed between the US and Iran fails to achieve any of Israel’s goals for the war, Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Monday, as he accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to influence a better agreement. Lapid, who is part of an alliance attempting to unseat Netanyahu in elections this year, said details of the emerging deal are “disturbing”. “The deal is bad for Israel, bad for the region, bad for the citizens of Iran,” Lapid told reporters in Jerusalem. According to regional officials, under the current deal being discussed Iran would give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz in exchange for ending a US blockade of Iranian ports and the lifting of sanctions against Iran. Key details on Iran’s nuclear program would then be negotiated during a 60-day period. It is unclear if the deal will address Iran’s missiles or support for …

At Least 14 Killed in Bombing Attack That Derailed a Train in Pakistan

At Least 14 Killed in Bombing Attack That Derailed a Train in Pakistan

Published by Sam Flores

At least 14 people were killed on Sunday after a bomb exploded near a passenger train in southwestern Pakistan, local officials said, in the latest outbreak of violence in a region gripped by a long-running separatist insurgency. The explosion happened around 8 a.m. local time near a railway crossing in Balochistan Province, close to Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. The area is home to numerous militant groups that have grown increasingly violent in recent years. The bomb went off as a shuttle train carrying dozens of passengers, some from a nearby military base, was on its way to the main railway station in Quetta, the provincial capital, officials said. The blast was so powerful that it derailed the locomotive and at least three coaches, with two carriages overturning, according to Pakistan’s railway minister, Muhammad Hanif Abbasi. Many of the passengers were most likely traveling to visit their families ahead of Eid al-Adha, which will be celebrated on Wednesday in Pakistan. The train would have connected with the Jaffer Express, a vital 1,000-mile rail link between Quetta …

Dozens killed in suicide bombing targeting Pakistani passenger train

Dozens killed in suicide bombing targeting Pakistani passenger train

Published by Sam Flores

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a railway track as a passenger train passed through the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Sunday, killing at least 24 people and wounding more than 70 others, a senior official told AFP. The force of the explosion caused two of the train cars to overturn and catch fire, sending thick black smoke into the air, according to footage shared online. The attack happened in an area where security forces are usually stationed, badly damaging several nearby buildings and smashing more than a dozen vehicles parked along the road, according to witnesses and images circulating on social media. Doctors at local hospitals said they had received the wounded, with 20 in critical condition. Three security officials told the Associated Press the bodies were transported to hospitals following the attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to speak to the media. The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, which demands independence from Pakistan’s central government, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement …

Middle East war live: Rubio says announcement on Iran war possible later Sunday

Middle East war live: Rubio says announcement on Iran war possible later Sunday

Published by Sam Flores

24/05/2026 – 11:01 24/05/2026 – 10:32 Iran has accepted ‘no actions’ in nuclear domain at this stage, Tasnim reports Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that Tehran has “accepted no actions whatsoever in the nuclear domain at this stage”, saying the matter of nuclear negotiations has been deferred until after the war would be ended. 24/05/2026 – 10:22 24/05/2026 – 10:22 https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/2058457450475376903 24/05/2026 – 09:59 24/05/2026 – 09:52 Iran has not agreed to hand over highly enriched uranium stockpile, source says A senior ​Iranian source ​told Reuters that Tehran has not agreed ​to ‌hand ⁠over its highly enriched uranium ‌stockpile. The source said ⁠Iran’s nuclear issue was not part of ​the preliminary agreement ‌with the United States. “The nuclear issue will ‌be addressed in negotiations ​for a final agreement and are therefore not part ​of the current ​deal. There has ​been no agreement over ​Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile to be shipped out of the ⁠country,” said the source. 24/05/2026 – 09:46 Rubio says announcement possible later Sunday on Iran war US Secretary of State Marco Rubio …

Iran, US and Pakistan report progress in talks on ending war

Iran, US and Pakistan report progress in talks on ending war

Published by Sam Flores

Senior US and Iranian officials said on Saturday they could be close to a breakthrough in talks to strike a draft deal, while remaining cautious about the chances of ending the war in the Middle East. US President Donald Trump told CBS in a phone interview on Saturday that the two sides were “getting a lot closer” to a deal, but also warned that if they do not reach an agreement “we’re going to have a situation where no country will ever be hit as hard as they’re about to be hit”. Iran said gaps remain between the parties, and the dispute over its nuclear programme would not be part of the initial talks, but that it was finalising a 14-point framework for a deal. Read moreMiddle East war live: US and Iran are ‘getting a lot closer’ to finalising agreement, Trump says In a sign of the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the talks, Trump also told another US outlet, Axios, on Saturday that the chances of a deal were a “solid 50/50”. Iranian …

Third Qatari LNG Tanker Heads Through Hormuz to China, Data Shows

Third Qatari LNG Tanker Heads Through Hormuz to China, Data Shows

Published by Sam Flores

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) – A ⁠Third ⁠Qatari liquefied natural gas ⁠tanker is transiting the Strait of Hormuz and heading ​to China, ship-tracking data showed on Friday, as a Qatari negotiating team ‌arrived in Tehran to ‌try to help secure a deal to end the war ⁠with Iran. As ⁠shipments through the waterway continue to be erratic, this third ​transit of a Qatari LNG tanker is taking place nearly two weeks after a first such cargo passed through the strait under an Iran-Pakistan ​arrangement. The vessel, Al Sahla, with a capacity of 211,842 cubic metres, ⁠left Ras ⁠Laffan and is expected ⁠to ​arrive at China’s Tianjin LNG terminal on June 14, according to LSEG ​shipping data. The previous ⁠two Qatari LNG tankers to make it through the Strait of Hormuz since U.S.-Israeli airstrikes unleashed the Iran war at the end of February were sold by Qatar to Pakistan under a government-to-government ⁠deal, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people said ⁠Iran approved the shipment to help build confidence between Qatar and Pakistan, …

Middle East live: US military at ‘peak readiness’, CENTCOM says, as Pakistan mediates Iran talks

Middle East live: US military at ‘peak readiness’, CENTCOM says, as Pakistan mediates Iran talks

Published by Sam Flores

22/05/2026 – 11:00 UAE-Israel ties under scrutiny as Iran war deepens Gulf divides Relations between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran have been severely strained since the US and Israel launched the war on Iran. The UAE, which signed the Abraham Accords with Israel in 2020, has come under repeated Iranian attacks since February. Israeli media reports last week of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s secret wartime visit to the UAE has put the focus on ties between the two countries. Andreas Krieg from King’s College London notes that the Israeli leak could have been aimed at potentially driving a wedge between the UAE and other Gulf states. He describes Israel as “the arsonist who then appeared as a firefighter” while the UAE and other Gulf states are “prisoners of geography”.  22/05/2026 – 10:36 Saudis warn against political chants, flags as Iran war casts shadow over Hajj pilgrimage More than a million Muslims are gathering in Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage overshadowed by the Middle East war, as animosity smoulders across the region despite a fragile …