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Melania Trump chairs UN meeting

o Unicef warns of danger to children

Pakistanis scramble to return home TAFTAN: Pakistani nationals hauled suitcases across the border from neighbouring Iran as they scrambled to leave the country. AFP journalists saw a steady trickle of people passing through large metal gates at the remote border crossing between Iran’s Mirjaveh and Taftan in Pakistan’s western Balochistan province. “All our Pakistani brothers who were in Tehran and other cities had started to leave and were arriving at the terminal, which caused a lot of crowd pressure,” said 38-year-old trader Ameer Muhammad. “Due to the crowds, there were major transport problems.” The isolated Taftan border lies around 500km from Balochistan’s capital and largest city, Quetta. Journalists saw the Iranian flag flying at half-mast as soldiers stood guard. Most people wheeled bulky luggage over the frontier’s foot crossing, while freight lorries formed a long line. Irshad Ahmed, a 49-year-old pilgrim, said he was staying at a hostel in Tehran when he saw missiles being fired nearby. “There was an army base near the hostel and we saw many missiles being fired,” he said. “After that, we went to the Pakistani embassy so that they could evacuate us. They brought us here safely.” A teacher at Tehran’s Pakistani embassy, who gave his name as Saqib, said: “Before we left, the situation was normal. The situation was not that bad.” The 38-year-old said the strikes on Tehran on Saturday “pushed us to leave the city”. “The situation became bad on Saturday night.” – AFP United States will not deliberately target a school”. Israel’s UN ambassador said he had seen different reports, including that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted the school, but that Israel regretted the loss of life of any civilian. China’s UN ambassador, Fu Cong, said that attacks on schools were one of the grave violations against children identified by the United Nations and that the international community should respond to such incidents with robust investigations and accountability efforts. President Trump has been a vocal critic of the United Nations since his first White House term, saying the 193-member world body was ineffective and needed reforms. The first lady has stayed out of the public eye for much of Trump’s presidencies but has been an advocate for children’s causes, including by writing a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin last year calling for the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war. – Reuters

In a statement to the council, she said: “The US stands with all of the children throughout the world. I hope soon peace will be yours.” Iran has blamed Israel and the US for a strike on a girls’ primary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab on Saturday that its UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani said had killed 165 schoolgirls. Reuters could not independently confirm the reports. Iravani said it was “deeply shameful and hypocritical” that the US should convene a meeting on protecting children in armed conflict “while at the same time launching missile strikes against Iranian cities and bombing schools and killing children”. On Saturday, the UN children’s agency, Unicef, issued a statement noting the Iranian reports and saying the military escalation in the Middle East “marks a dangerous moment for millions of children in the region”, and echoing a call by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for an immediate cessation of hostilities. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday that “the

NEW YORK: US first lady Melania Trump chaired a meeting of the UN Security Council on children and education in conflict on Monday. It was the first time a spouse of any serving world leader has chaired a meeting of the 15-member Security Council, the UN body charged with maintaining international peace and security. The plan was announced last week before the launch of the US and Israeli strikes. It comes after the US took over the monthly rotating presidency of the council and was another sign of how Trump has personalised US foreign policy by involving friends and family in major issues. Melania Trump’s office said her aim was to emphasise education as a way to advance tolerance and world peace in the meeting, titled “Children, Technology and Education in Conflict”.

Melania Trump strikes the gavel as she presides over a Security Council meeting. – REUTERSPIC

Drones attack embassy in Saudi capital RIYADH: An attack by two drones early yesterday on the US embassy in Riyadh sparked a small fire, a Saudi Defence Ministry spokesman said in a statement.

“The attack resulted in a limited fire and minor material damage to the building,” it said. The embassy later confirmed an attack and urged people to stay away, saying it would be closed. “Avoid the embassy until further notice due to an attack on the facility,” a statement said, urging American citizens to “shelter in place”. Earlier, witnesses said they had seen smoke over the building housing the US mission and heard loud explosions in the diplomatic quarter, home to foreign embassies in the Saudi capital. A source close to the Saudi army, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saudi air defences intercepted four drones targeting Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter. The US embassy issued shelter in place notifications for Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran and limited non essential travel to military installations. The Saudi Defence Ministry later said it had intercepted more than half a dozen drones near Riyadh and the city of Al-Kharj. “Eight drones were intercepted and destroyed near the cities of Riyadh and Al-Kharj,” said Defence Ministry spokesman Major General

Korean protesters hold placards reading ‘Stop the war’ in front of the US embassy in Seoul. – AFPPIC

United Arab Emirates. Indian media reported one citizen killed on a vessel off Oman. Modi said on Monday he had also spoken to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he “conveyed India’s concerns over developments and emphasised the safety of civilians as a priority”. Major Gulf hubs remained closed for a fourth day. – AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from the mission. “Due to regional tensions, the US Embassy in Kuwait will be closed until further notice. We have cancelled all regular and emergency consular appointments,” the embassy said. – AFP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Middle East leaders, including the leaders of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, in which he thanked them for “taking care of the Indian community”, in posts on social media. Several South Asian citizens have been killed in the strikes, including at least one Nepali in Abu Dhabi and two Bangladeshis in Bahrain and the two ballistic missiles early yesterday, its Defence Ministry said. Iran’s salvos have hit military sites, ports, airports, residential buildings and hotels across the region. The US embassy in Kuwait yesterday said it was closed until further notice, a day after an AFP

Turki al-Malki on X. The attacks in Saudi coincided with a wave of missiles and drones launched at Gulf states with the UAE Defence Ministry saying it was dealing with a barrage of ballistic missiles coming from Iran. In Qatar, the military intercepted

Indian airlines resume limited Middle East flights NEW DELHI: Indian airlines said yesterday that they were resuming limited commercial services to the Middle East to collect thousands of passengers stranded by war. Millions of South Asian citizens live and work across the Middle East. between the countries. Air India Express said it would resume flights to the Omani capital Muscat from yesterday. But services to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates remain suspended, the airlines said in a statement.

IndiGo said it would operate four return flights to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as part of efforts to “progressively normalise” operations

Budget carrier Akasa Air said it would operate select flights to Jeddah.