September 29, 2023

*) Pakistan likens Palestine to Kashmir, says won't normalise ties with Israel Pakistan will not follow other nations who are normalising relations with Israel, the South Asian country's interim foreign minister has said. "We do not follow others, we look at our national interests," said Jalil Abbas Jilani. Explaining his country’s position on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, Jilani said Islamabad's stance on the Israel or Palestine issue is "very clear" and "it will remain in the future as well." *) Kiev will secure EU from Russian nuclear blackmail — Zelenskyy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that his country will do everything to liberate the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and to secure Europe from Russian radiation blackmail. "We will do everything to implement the first point of our Peace Formula – nuclear and radiation security," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. He also added that they are preparing to yield more results for their international efforts to strengthen the country. *) Blinken meets Jaishankar amid Canada-India row over Sikh leader's murder US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with India's foreign minister amid a simmering row between New Delhi and Ottawa over allegations of Indian government involvement in the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada. Neither man spoke about the controversy that has disrupted Canada-India relations in very brief comments to reporters. "We have consistently engaged with the Indian government on this question and have urged them to cooperate," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. But a US statement after Blinken met his Indian counterpart made no mention of Hardeep Singh Nijjar's murder or of Canada as a whole. *) Number of US-bound refugees crossing dangerous Darien Gap tops 400,000 The number of US-bound refugees and migrants who have crossed through the notorious jungle stretch between Panama and Colombia has soared this year to more than 400,000. Panama's Public Security Ministry said on