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WASHINGTON: The US Congress is moving to tighten oversight of Pentagon leadership decisions and limit unilateral military action against Iran, in a rare bipartisan effort that underscores renewed tensions over presidential war powers and civilian control of the military.

On Thursday, the House Armed Services Committee adopted a bipartisan provision that would require the Pentagon to notify Congress within five days whenever a senior military officer is dismissed, along with a written explanation for the decision.

Lawmakers say the measure is intended to improve transparency over personnel changes at the top levels of the armed forces, where congressional visibility has traditionally been limited.

The move comes amid broader scrutiny on Capitol Hill of the Trump administration’s handling of military operations against Iran and recent changes in senior defence leadership.

While Congress frequently debates executive war powers, bipartisan agreement on measures that directly constrain presidential military authority is uncommon in a sharply divided Washington.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives also adopted a War Powers resolution aimed at limiting the president’s ability to continue military operations against Iran without congressional authorisation.

The measure reflects growing interest among lawmakers in reasserting legislative authority over sustained military action under the 1973 War Powers framework, which requires congressional consultation when operations extend beyond defined time limits.

The latest resolution, introduced by Democratic Representative Pat Ryan, passed on Thursday by voice vote without objection, signalling unusual bipartisan consensus on an issue that has historically divided Congress along party lines.

The push for greater oversight has been fuelled in part by reports that US War Secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed roughly two dozen senior military officers since taking office.

Some lawmakers in both parties have questioned both the scale of the removals and the absence of public explanations for the decisions.

Scrutiny intensified further after the removal of Army Chief of Staff General Randy George, a highly regarded officer with more than four decades of service.

Republican Congressman Steve Womack described Gen George as a “patriotic American,” reflecting unease within parts of the Republican caucus over the decision.

While civilian control of the military is a core principle of US governance, lawmakers have raised concerns in hearings about whether recent personnel changes have been accompanied by sufficient transparency to Congress, particularly at a time of heightened military activity in the Middle East.

The new reporting requirement still faces a long legislative path, needing approval by both chambers of Congress and the president’s signature. But its advancement at the committee level, alongside the War Powers resolution, signals a cautious but notable shift in congressional willingness to assert oversight over both military operations and senior Pentagon personnel decisions.

Even so, Republican lawmakers remain broadly supportive of the administration’s defence posture, suggesting that the emerging push for oversight is more focused on process and transparency than on a fundamental break with the White House’s military policy.

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Tremors were felt in Lahore and other districts of Punjab on Friday after a 4.9-magnitude earthquake was reported, said a statement by the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

A PDMA spokesperson said the depth of the earthquake was recorded at 18 kilometres, while the epicentre was located in the Kashmir region.

“No loss of life or property due to the earthquake has been reported in Punjab,” the spokesperson said, adding that the relevant authorities were engaged in inspecting buildings.

He further said that any earthquake-related damage could be reported to the PDMA helpline 1129, adding that district emergency operation centres across Punjab, along with the PDMA’s provincial control room, were operational round the clock.

In late May, at least one person was killed and 11 others were injured after several houses were seriously damaged following a reported earthquake in Jhelum’s Pind Dadan Khan tehsil.

On May 4, tremors were also felt in Islamabad and Rawalpindi after a 5.2-magnitude earthquake was reported.

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Spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shadab Khan starred in Pakistan’s four-wicket win in their decisive third and final one-day international against Australia in Lahore on Thursday.

Shaheen grabbed 3-30 to bundle Australia out for 157 before Shadab added a fighting 29 not out to his two wickets, helping Pakistan to their winning target in 41.5 overs.

That gave Pakistan a 2-1 series win — their third successive ODI series victory over Australia – after they won the first match by five wickets in Rawalpindi.

Australia won the second by 41 runs, also in Lahore.

Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann’s career best 3-38 — including Babar Azam’s wicket for 40 — had given the visitors some hope of an unlikely win.

At 112-6, Pakistan were in a spot of bother but Shadab found an able partner in Abdul Samad as the duo added a match-winning 49 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket stand.

Shadab’s second boundary sealed the win, while Samad’s 18 not out included one boundary.

Shaheen praised a complete team effort.

“All bowlers executed plans well to keep Australia down to 157,” said Shaheen. “The conditions were tough for the batters but the players put in a great effort.

“I think it was a complete team effort throughout the series.”

Australian captain Josh Inglis praised his team.

“I thought the bowlers and the fielding group made a great effort to put us in a position to potentially win the game, but it wasn’t to be in the end,” he said.

“We have some young and inexperienced guys so it’s a great learning experience for them.”

Earlier, Shaheen was ably supported by Abrar Ahmed (2-19) and Shadab (2-28) as Australia’s innings folded in 42 overs after they won the toss and batted.

Spinners Abrar and Shadab built on Shaheen’s early strikes as Pakistan made a strong comeback after a disappointing loss in the second game.

Inglis top-scored with a 71-ball 65 which included eight boundaries and a six, with Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey scoring 19 each and Adam Zampa making 10.

Shaheen had Matthew Short caught off the second ball of the match before Inglis added 46 for the second wicket with Labuschagne and another 52 for the third with Carey.

But Australia lost their last seven wickets for a meagre 38 runs with two run outs also hurting their innings.

Australia won the toss and chose to bat against Pakistan at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

On Tuesday, an understrength Australia shocked Pakistan by 41 runs in the second ODI in Lahore, levelling the three-match series 1-1, with fast bowler Nathan Ellis taking a career-best four-wicket haul.

Teams

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Maaz Sadaqat, Babar Azam, Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Salman Ali Agha, Abdul Samad, Shadab Khan, Arafat Minhas, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.

Australia: Josh Inglis, Matt Short, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Oliver Peake, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa.

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WASHINGTON: Three senior Democratic leaders urged their colleagues in the US Senate on Thursday to support the move to prevent President Donald Trump from continuing the war against Iran without congressional approval.

Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a joint statement that the House of Representatives on Wednesday “successfully passed a War Powers Resolution” and that it is “now time for Senate Republicans to do the right thing.”

They reminded Republican lawmakers that the Iran war has now lasted more than 90 days.

The 90-day period is significant because a US law designed to limit a president’s ability to wage war requires the “president to seek authorisation from Congress if military operations continue beyond that timeframe”.

The statement comes as the legislation moves into the Senate, where lawmakers are expected to decide whether to take up and pass a companion measure or adopt the House-passed version directly.

The resolution is part of a broader congressional effort under the War Powers Resolution framework, which allows Congress to challenge or limit sustained military operations initiated without explicit authorisation.

What happens next in the Senate

The immediate next step is a Senate floor process. The chamber will likely debate and vote on a version of the resolution, following earlier procedural votes that allowed similar measures to advance.

Several senators from both parties have previously supported moving the legislation forward, increasing the likelihood of formal consideration.

However, significant uncertainty remains over final passage. Republican leadership has generally opposed restricting the president’s wartime authority, arguing that such measures could interfere with ongoing military and diplomatic operations.

At the same time, Democrats are unified in pushing for congressional oversight of any continued military engagement with Iran.

Expected outcome after Congress

Even if the Senate approves the resolution, it is expected to face a presidential veto from President Donald Trump. The administration has argued that congressional restrictions would undermine national security decision-making and limit executive flexibility during an active conflict.

Overriding a veto would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate, a threshold that current political alignments make highly unlikely.

Although the measure faces steep procedural and political hurdles, its advancement reflects renewed tensions between Congress and the White House over war-making authority.

Regardless of its final fate, the debate underscores ongoing disputes about the limits of presidential power in authorising and sustaining military operations abroad.

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday affirmed that achieving export-led growth targets was the government’s top priority, directing the National Tariff Commission (NTC) to play an active role in facilitating investors, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

According to the PMO, Prime Minister Shehbaz chaired a review meeting on overall economic growth and the implementation of the National Tariff Policy 2025-30 on Thursday.

Prime Minister Shehbaz emphasised that the “active and transparent performance of the NTC was essential for the promotion of industry, trade and investment in the country”, the PMO added.

He directed the NTC to play an active role in facilitating investors and industrialists.

According to the PMO, the prime minister said the NTC should be modernised by adopting international best practices and using modern technology, including information technology and artificial intelligence.

The PMO further said that the meeting was briefed on the implementation of the National Tariff Policy 2025-30.

“The briefing stated that under the policy, tariffs for various sectors would be reduced gradually with the objective of achieving export-oriented economic growth targets,” the PMO said, adding that duties on reefer containers and semi-trailers would be abolished to promote and develop the logistics sector.

“The briefing further stated that customs duties on specialised vehicles and machinery were being reduced to support the construction sector.”

The PMO stated that customs duties on raw materials, particularly those used in cancer medicines, would also be abolished to facilitate the pharmaceutical sector.

Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, Federal Minister for Climate Change Musadik Malik, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, and others attended the meeting.

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The Ebola outbreak raging in central Africa had a “big head-start”, the World Health Organisation (WHO) chief acknowledged Wednesday, but insisted efforts to rein in the deadly virus were making progress.

The outbreak, which was declared on May 15 in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has so far been confirmed to have infected 359 people, including 61 who have died.

But the actual numbers could be far higher, with the virus believed to have been spreading under the radar for some time before it was detected.

“The outbreak had a big head-start and we’re still behind,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the UN health agency’s headquarters in Geneva, but insisted that “we’re catching up”.

Tedros, who had just returned from a trip to DRC, where he travelled to the outbreak’s epicentre in Ituri province, said he had been “very encouraged by the level of commitment I saw everywhere I went”.

But challenges remain, he said, warning that “the virus is ahead of us… we need to move faster”.

It has been clear from the start that the difficulties would be daunting, with the outbreak concentrated in Ituri, where decades of armed conflicts have forced millions of people from their homes and into crowded camps.

Ebola patient visited UAE

The region’s insecurity, limited testing capacity, lagging contact tracing and mistrust among some of the population are among the challenges facing the response, Tedros said.

On top of that, no vaccine or approved treatment exists for Bundibugyo, the rare strain of Ebola behind the current outbreak.

Ebola, which is passed on through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.

The current outbreak — the 17th to hit the DRC — has to date seen 344 confirmed Ebola cases across three of the country’s provinces, including 60 deaths, said the WHO.

The UN health agency also tallied 116 suspected cases of the disease.

Fifteen cases, including one death, have also been reported in neighbouring Uganda, including a Congolese resident who had arrived there after first travelling to the United Arab Emirates, Tedros said.

“WHO is working with public health authorities in Uganda and the UAE to gather additional information, assess the risk of exposure during travel, and to facilitate contact tracing,” he said.

Speed up contact tracing

The agency has said the risk from the outbreak is “very high” at the national level, “high” at the regional level, and “low” at the global level.

Tedros stressed on Wednesday that while the WHO recommends exit screening at airports, ports and border crossings in affected countries to prevent the spread of the virus, broader limits were unhelpful.

“Blanket travel restrictions imposed by some countries are disrupting supply chains and hindering the response,” he warned.

“We ask countries that have imposed blanket travel restrictions to lift them.” Reining in the outbreak would instead centre on significantly bolstering and speeding up the response on the ground, including by decentralising laboratory testing in Ebola hotspots, Tedros said.

At present, only around 45 per cent of known contacts of Ebola cases have been followed up, the WHO chief said.

“To get ahead of the outbreak, we need to get that number up to above 90pc.” Abdi Rahman Mahamud, the WHO’s emergency alert and response director, told reporters that so far, more than 1,400 tests had been conducted.

But decentralisation across five priority locations – Mongbwalu, Beni, Aru, Nyakunde and Tchomia – should soon make it possible “to do 1,000 tests a day”.

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ISLAMABAD: Only two in 10 Pakistanis surveyed believe the country is on the right track, with optimism higher among some groups, a survey conducted by market research company Ipsos shows.

Men are more optimistic than women, while rural residents show more optimism than those in urban areas. Of the four provinces, respondents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were the most optimistic about Pakistan’s economy.

The survey also found that confidence in the country’s direction has fallen to 22pc, following a 40pc peak earlier this year amid US–Iran tensions.

The drop indicates a sharp reversal of recent gains, returning to levels broadly comparable with the Covid-19 period.

The survey, conducted last month, included interviews with more than 1,000 people from all four provinces of Pakistan, as well as Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

The most pressing issues mentioned in the survey include economic anxiety, unemployment and inflation.

When asked about the current state of the economy, only one in five respondents said the economy was strong.

Among respondents, men were more optimistic than women, and young people were more optimistic than older people.

Furthermore, residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan were more optimistic than those in Punjab.

Respondents identifying as lower-middle-income also showed more optimism than those in other income groups.

As many as 7pc of respondents said they feel comfortable making household purchases, with comfort higher among young people, the upper-middle class, urban residents and respondents in Sindh.

The level of comfort with household purchases has returned to Covid-era levels after a period of stabilisation amid global economic pressures.

The survey shows that only two in 10 respondents expect the economy to strengthen, with optimism concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, affluent areas, rural areas and among older respondents.

“Expectations for the economy have declined as rising economic pressures drive a gradual return of pessimism. Personal financial optimism has fallen to 31pc amid weaker sentiment and continued sensitivity to geopolitical shocks such as US–Iran tensions,” it stated.

It also found that confidence in personal financial situations has fallen to 31pc, with relatively higher optimism among youth, men, rural residents, respondents in Punjab and Balochistan, and upper-income groups.

“Confidence in investment remains low at 14pc after a period of stabilisation, with higher optimism among the upper-middle class, respondents in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and among men. Comfort in making major purchases remains low at 5pc, stabilising after earlier gains during and after the Pakistan–India conflict,” it said.

The findings show that only one in five Pakistanis feel secure in their jobs, with higher confidence among men, young people, mid-career cohorts and rural residents.

Job security confidence, which had nearly doubled over the past two years, has now fallen to 17pc amid US–Iran tensions.

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