Pakistan votes amid sealed borders, communications blockade and military at polling stations

Today's news: Netanyahu rejects Hamas' truce proposal and orders troops to head for Rafah; Kataib Hezbollah commander in Iraq killed in US raid; Pyongyang rips up all trade and cooperation agreements with Seoul; In Uttarakhand, the Civil Code is standardised, eliminating distinctions between believers of different religions.

PAKISTAN
Voting operations have begun in Pakistan for the general elections marked by blood following the serious attack in the south-western province of Belochistan yesterday claimed by ISIS which caused dozens of deaths. Islamabad temporarily blocked some land borders and suspended mobile phone services. Tens of thousands of army troops deployed in polling stations, strategic areas and sensitive points.

ISRAEL - PALESTINE
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the ceasefire terms proposed by Hamas, calling them inadmissible and at the same time relaunching the goal of "total victory" in Gaza within a few months. The optimism of Qatar, mediator of a possible agreement aimed at a truce and the release of prisoners together with Egypt, was disavowed in a few hours. However, mediation continues as Israeli troops head towards Rafah and the extreme south of the Strip where 85% of the population is now gathered.

IRAQ - USA
A commander of Kataib Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian armed group active in Iraq and responsible, according to the Pentagon, for the attack on US troops, was killed yesterday in an attack launched by the United States. Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, report that the militiaman hit was Abu Baqir al-Saadi, hit by a drone attack on a vehicle in the eastern part of Baghdad.

KOREA

The Pyongyang regime has given a mandate to tear up all past agreements with South Korea regarding economic and commercial collaboration, further confirming a block in relations between the two countries. The decision was voted by the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's puppet "Parliament", and concerns the promotion of cooperative relations.

INDIA
The deputies of Uttarakhand, governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have approved a law of "historic" importance which harmonizes the Civil Code without making "ad personam" distinctions between religions. A rule that Muslims consider oppressive and discriminatory, because it clearly outlaws some practices of the Islamic faith, including polygamy.

RUSSIA - CHINA - IRAN

Joint maritime military exercises between Moscow, Tehran and Beijing will begin in the coming weeks. This was announced by the rear admiral of the Islamic Republic Shahram Irani to the Tasnim agency, starting from the maritime base in the Iranian city of Menjil, and will continue until the end of the year according to the Iranian calendar, March 19, inviting several other states.

LAOS - ORTHODOX
With the blessing of the Russian Orthodox exarch for South-East Asia, the Metropolitan of Singapore Sergij (Čašin), the celebrations of the new Russian parish of St. Alexander Nevskij in Vientiane in Laos have begun. The functions take place in a domestic chapel where some priests will guarantee - for the first time ever, because it has never happened in history - continuous service to the faithful.

TAJIKISTAN
In the suburban villages that were incorporated into the territory of the capital Dušanbe three years ago, the period of permission to keep farmyard animals has ended. From now on, chickens, cows, sheep and other specimens will therefore have to be evacuated and relocated, with the risk of no longer having any family income, as no alternative jobs have been offered to small farmers.

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