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- Ukrainian allies lift restrictions on long-range missiles.
Ukrainian allies lift restrictions on long-range missiles.
Good afternoon,
Today’s news: Globally, updates from Gaza, Ukraine, and Liverpool. Locally, Pakistan’s budget delayed over IMF disputes, Imran Khan calls for nationwide protests, and a policeman guarding a vaccination team killed amid the polio drive.
☕ Grab your chaye, let’s go.
Around The World

Updates from Ukraine. Germany and other Ukrainian allies have lifted restrictions on Kyiv firing long-range missiles into Russia for the first time after days of massive Russian aerial attacks over the capital and other regions. This marks a significant change in approach from key allies, which until now had largely resisted Ukraine’s requests to use Western-supplied weapons deep inside Russia.
Russia has openly threatened that any lifting of restrictions on long-range weapons would mean war with NATO. Putin has warned the West that Moscow would consider any assault supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack, and that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it were struck with conventional missiles.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has accused China of supplying Russia’s arms industry, providing important materials and equipment to 20 Russian military factories. China denied the allegations, saying it has never provided lethal weapons to any parties to the conflict in Ukraine and strictly controls dual-use items.
Updates from Gaza. Medical sources say that at least 81 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since early Monday, including 53 in Gaza City. Meanwhile, very different messages are emerging from Hamas and United States officials amid reports that the Palestinian group has agreed to a US ceasefire proposal for Gaza. The deal reportedly includes a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living captives held in Gaza, over two stages.
A US official rejected the claim and said the deal being discussed by Hamas was “unacceptable” and “disappointing”. Israeli officials also denied that the proposal was from the US, saying that no Israeli government could accept it. In Israel, Netanyahu issued a recorded message promising to bring back the 58 Israeli captives remaining in Gaza, of whom some 20 are believed to still be alive.
Update from Liverpool. A British man has been arrested after he drove his car into a crowd of Liverpool FC football fans celebrating their team’s Premier League victory, hospitalizing some 27 people, including four children. Police said they believe the man acted alone and the incident was not being investigated as an act of terrorism.
Pakistan

Fiscal fumble. The Finance Ministry has delayed the presentation of Pakistan’s Federal Budget 2025-26 from June 2 to June 10 due to unresolved disagreements with the IMF over key figures, including subsidy allocations, which remain capped under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility. During a National Assembly Sub-Committee meeting, officials discussed the Rs 317.5 billion in outstanding receivables owed to the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), leading to tensions between the Finance Ministry and TCP over loan markups and approvals.
While the IMF has rejected revisions to the proposed budget figures, efforts are underway to resolve TCP’s dues. The panel approved an initial Rs 90 billion disbursement and called for a special audit of TCP’s commercial loans, as concerns were raised by lawmakers about delayed payments and unresolved markup issues.
Locked & loaded. Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has called on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and supporters to prepare for a nationwide protest movement, rejecting any notion of a deal for his release and vowing never to submit to authoritarianism. In a social media message from prison, Khan criticized the current government, judiciary, and military, reiterating his commitment to the rule of law and peaceful protest as the only remaining path amid what he described as a crackdown on PTI.
Another frontline. A policeman guarding a polio vaccination team was shot dead on Tuesday by unknown attackers in Balochistan’s Noshki district. Despite the attack, officials affirmed the anti-polio campaign would continue, with heightened security for health workers. The incident, condemned by President Asif Ali Zardari, PM Shehbaz Sharif, and other officials, was described as a cowardly attempt to derail a vital national initiative. The attack followed the abduction of two polio workers in KP’s Tank district the day before, during the country’s third polio drive of the year, officially launched at the National Emergency Operations Centre in Islamabad.
What Else Is Happening?
🤝Amid the ongoing U.S.-China trade tensions, Nvidia is reportedly looking to maintain its foothold in the Chinese market by launching a cheaper version of its flagship Blackwell AI GPU. With scaled-down specs, the chip will be priced between $6.5K and $8K, much lower than the H20’s $10–12K range.
🧺The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said that less than five percent of the Gaza Strip’s cropland can be cultivated, and warned that the destruction of agricultural infrastructure amid Israel’s war on Gaza is “further deteriorating food production capacity and exacerbating the risk of famine”.