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Six days after Pakistan decided to shut its airspace to all flights owned and operated by Indian carriers, New Delhi has announced a reciprocal move by shutting down its airspace to all Pakistan owned and operated planes.

Amid escalating tension between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, the United States has encouraged New Delhi and Islamabad to de-escalate tensions.

In the wake of a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that claimed 26 civilian lives, India has reached out to its counterparts from eight non-permanent member nations of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General Mohammad Asim Malik has been appointed the country's new National Security Adviser (NSA), as per a local report.

All eyes on Reform as 24 councils, six mayoralties and a parliamentary byelection are contestedPolling has opened across England in a series of local, mayoral and parliamentary races that will be the first major electoral test of Keir Starmer’s Labour government.The elections cover 24 councils across England, as well as six mayoralties and a byelection in the formerly Labour-held seat of Runcorn and Helsby in Cheshire. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Sun reporter also wrote that former MP ‘must die’, according to claims in newly disclosed documentRebekah Brooks, the chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s UK company, took a “deeply concerning interest” in the phone-hacking campaigner Tom Watson while one of her journalists wrote that he “must die”, according to claims in a newly disclosed court document.Referring to a potential place for Watson on a parliamentary committee looking into unlawful behaviour, Brooks allegedly told Will Lewis, the then general manager of News Group Newspapers (NGN) – who is now the chief executive and publisher of the Washington Post – in June 2011 to pass on a message that the company would “go for broke if watson on – and downing street need to be warned”. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: ​With more than 1,600 council seats and key mayoralties in play, Reform UK eyes its first chance at governanceGood morning. You may not be terribly excited about today’s local elections in England, but let me tell you: a significant cadre of political dorks are swivel-eyed with anticipation.In play today are more than 1,600 council seats in 37 councils, six mayoralties, and a byelection in Runcorn for good measure. Those choices will give us the first real-world measure of how the public’s view of the parties has shifted since the general election – and for Labour and the Conservatives, it’s likely to be a very stern test indeed.US news | The US’s economy has shrunk in the first three months of Donald Trump’s second term, triggering fears of an American recession and a global economic slowdown. Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter of the year, and comes alongside a huge fall in consumer sentiment, which dropped 32% in April.Climate crisis | Tony Blair has faced a storm of criticism over his claims that the political case for phasing out fossil fuels is “doomed to fail”. As Downing Street officials accused Blair of undermining Keir Starmer on a key issue, his thinktank issued a statement saying that the government’s net zero policy was “the right one”.Ukraine | The US and Kyiv have signed an agreement to share revenues from the future sale of Ukrainian minerals and rare earths, sealing a deal that Donald Trump has said will provide an economic incentive for the US to continue to invest in Ukraine’s defence and its reconstruction after he brokers a peace deal with Russia.Health | Scientists have used living human brain tissue to mimic the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, in a breakthrough that will accelerate the hunt for a cure. The groundbreaking move could make it easier to test new drugs and boost the chances of finding ones that work.UK news | Video footage of what prosecutors say is the moment the Sycamore Gap tree was felled has been shown to the jury in the trial of the two men accused of illegally cutting down the famous tree on Hadrian’s Wall, which stood in a gap in the wall for over a century. Continue reading...

Democratic presidential candidate speaks in San Francisco in first significant appearance since election defeatKamala Harris delivered a searing indictment of Donald Trump’s first 100 days in power, warning in her first major address since leaving office that the nation was witnessing a “wholesale abandonment of America’s highest ideals” by its president.Speaking to an audience of Democrats in San Francisco, the former vice-president struck a defiant posture as she praised the leaders and institutions pushing back against Trump and his aggressive agenda – from the members of Congress acting boldly to the judges “who uphold the rule of law in the face of those who would jail them”, the universities defying the administration’s “unconstitutional demands”, and the everyday Americans rallying to protect social security. Continue reading...