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LONDON: British lawmakers voted on Tuesday against launching an inquiry into whether Prime Minister Keir Starmer misled parliament in statements about his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US.

Starmer appointed Mandelson in Dec 2024, and the ex-ambassador was sacked last September when his ties to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were found to have been deeper than previously known. Police arrested Mandelson in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office, but did not charge him.

The prime minister has resisted pressure to quit over the matter, saying Mandelson lied about his relationship with Epstein. Starmer also said officials had kept information from him about the vetting process that would have stopped him making the appointment.

On Tuesday, lawmakers voted 335 to 223 against asking the Committee of Privileges to investigate whether Starmer had misled the House of Commons on several matters, including by saying “full due process” had been followed around the appointment.

If the committee had found Starmer deliberately misled parliament, he would have been expected to resign.

Starmer had criticised the attempt, led by the opposition Conservative Party chief Kemi Badenoch, to launch an investigation, calling it a political stunt timed to sway voters before local and regional elections.

He ordered lawmakers in his centre-left Labour Party to oppose an investigation, resulting in the overwhelming rejection. Badenoch said it was a sign of Starmer’s weakness that he had to use such an order.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2026

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US intelligence agencies are studying how Iran would respond if President Donald Trump were to declare a unilateral victory in the two-month-old war that ​has killed thousands and become a political liability for the White House, two US officials and a person familiar with the matter said.

The intelligence community is ‌analysing the question along with others at the request of senior administration officials. The goal is to understand the implications of Trump potentially pulling back from a conflict that some officials and advisers worry could contribute to deep Republican losses at the midterm elections later this year, according to the sources.

While no decision has been made, and Trump could easily ramp back up military operations, a quick de-escalation could ease political pressure on the ​president, even as it could leave behind an emboldened Iran.

The sources spoke ​on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

It is not clear when the intelligence community would complete its work, ⁠but it has previously analysed the likely reaction of Iran’s leaders to a US declaration of victory.

In the days following US-Israeli strikes in Iran in late February, intelligence agencies assessed that if ​Trump were to declare victory and the US drew down its forces in the region, Iran would likely view it as a win, one of the sources said.

If Trump instead said the US ​had won but maintained a heavy troop presence, Iran would likely see it as a negotiating tactic, but not one that would necessarily lead to the end of the war, the source said.

The CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the US is still engaging with the Iranians on negotiations and would “not be rushed into making a bad deal”.

“The president will ​only enter into an agreement that puts U.S. national security first, and he has been clear that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon,” she said.

High political costs

Opinion polls show the ​war is overwhelmingly unpopular with Americans. Only 26 per cent of respondents in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week said the military campaign has been worth the costs, and only 25pc said it has made the ‌US safer.

Three people ⁠familiar with White House discussions in recent days have described Trump as keenly aware of the political price being paid by him and his party.

Twenty days after Trump declared a ceasefire, a flurry of diplomacy has failed to fully open the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran closed by attacking ships and laying mines in the narrow waterway.

Choking off the shipping that carries about 20pc of the world’s crude oil has driven up energy costs worldwide and the price at US gasoline pumps. Iran’s ability to disrupt commerce gives it powerful leverage against the United ​States and its allies.

A decision to scale ​back the US military presence in the ⁠region, paired with a mutual lifting of the blockade, would eventually bring down gasoline prices.

So far, however, the two sides appear far from any agreement.

Last weekend, Trump cancelled a trip by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to meet Iranian officials in Pakistan, telling ​reporters on Saturday that it would take “too much time” and that if Iran wanted to talk “all they had to do was call.”

Military options remain on table

Various military ⁠options remain formally on the table, with renewed airstrikes on Iran’s military and political leaders among them, according to a separate person familiar with administration dynamics.

One of the US officials and another person familiar with the discussions said, however, that the most ambitious of those options, such as a ground invasion of the Iranian mainland, appear less likely than they did a few weeks ago.

A White House ⁠official described the ​domestic pressure on the president to wrap up the war as “enormous.”

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ISLAMABAD: Energy prices are projected to surge by 24 per cent this year to their highest level since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as the war in the Middle East sends a severe shock through global commodity markets, the World Bank Group said in its latest Commodity Markets Outlook.

Overall, commodity prices are forecast to rise 16pc in 2026, driven by soaring energy and fertiliser prices and record-high prices for several key metals, according to the assessment.  

“The shock will have serious implications for job creation and development,” the analysis indicates.  

The World Bank noted: “Attacks on energy infrastructure and shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, which handles about 35pc of global seaborne crude oil trade, have triggered the largest oil supply shock on record, with an initial reduction in global oil supply of about 10 million barrels per day.

“Even after moderating from their recent peak, Brent oil prices remained more than 50pc higher in mid-April than they were at the start of the year. Brent oil is forecast to average $86 a barrel in 2026, up sharply from $69 a barrel in 2025.”

These forecasts assume that the most acute disruptions end in May and that shipping through the Strait of Hormuz gradually returns to pre-war levels by late 2026, the analysis concludes. 

On this, the group’s Chief Economist  Indermit Gill said, “The war is hitting the global economy in cumulative waves: first through higher energy prices, then higher food prices, and finally, higher inflation, which will push up interest rates and make debt even more expensive. 

“The poorest people, who spend the highest share of their income on food and fuels, will be hit the hardest, as will developing economies already struggling under heavy debt burdens. All of this is a reminder of a stark truth: war is development in reverse.” 

Fertiliser prices are projected to increase by 31pc in 2026, driven by a 60pc jump in urea prices, according to the analysis.

“Fertiliser affordability will fall to its worst level since 2022, eroding farmers’ incomes and threatening future crop yields. If the conflict proves more prolonged, these pressures on food supply and affordability could push up to 45m more people into acute food insecurity this year, according to the World Food Programme.”

Moreover, prices for base metals, including aluminum, copper, and tin, are also expected to reach all-time highs, reflecting strong demand related to industries including data centres, electric vehicles, and renewable energy.

Precious metals continue to break price and volatility records, with average prices forecast to increase 42pc in 2026, as geopolitical uncertainty fuels demand for safe-haven assets, the assessment says.

It further states that rising commodity prices caused by these shocks will increase inflation and dampen growth worldwide.

“In developing economies, inflation is now projected to average 5.1pc in 2026 under the baseline assumptions — a full percentage point higher than was expected before the war and an increase from 4.7pc last year. Growth in developing economies will also deteriorate as higher prices for essentials weigh on incomes and exports from the Middle East face sharp curbs.

“Developing economies are expected to grow by 3.6pc in 2026, a downward revision of 0.4 percentage point since January. Economies directly impacted by conflict will be hardest hit, and 70pc of commodity importers and more than 60pc of commodity exporters worldwide could see weaker growth than was projected in January.” 

According to the analysis, commodity prices could rise even higher if hostilities escalate or supply disruptions from the war last longer than projected.

Brent oil prices could average as high as $115 a barrel in 2026 in a scenario where critical oil and gas facilities suffer more damage and export volumes are slow to recover, it says, adding that this, in turn, would have ripple effects on prices for fertiliser and alternative energy sources such as biofuels.

“Under this scenario, inflation in developing economies could rise to 5.8pc this year, a level exceeded only in 2022 over the past decade.”

World Bank’s Deputy Chief Economist Ayhan Kose says, “The succession of shocks over the decade has sharply reduced the fiscal space available to respond to the current historic energy supply crisis. Governments must resist the temptation of broad, untargeted fiscal support measures that could distort markets and erode fiscal buffers. Instead, they should focus on rapid, temporary support targeted to the most vulnerable households.” 

The report finds that oil-price volatility during periods of rising geopolitical risk is roughly twice as high as during calmer periods, with a geopolitically driven 1pc decline in oil production pushing prices up by an average of 11.5pc.

“Critically, these effects spill over into other key commodity markets, with an impact roughly 50pc larger than under normal market conditions … A 10pc oil price increase triggered by a geopolitical supply shock leads to natural gas price increases peaking at about 7pc and fertiliser price increases peaking at over 5pc. These peaks typically occur about a year after the initial oil price shock, with adverse consequences for food security and poverty reduction,” it states.

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SpaceX’s board approved a compensation plan for founder Elon Musk with goals as futuristic and celestial as the company’s ambitions: colonising Mars and running data centres in outer space.

The details of Musk’s sweeping pay package were revealed in the company’s confidential registration statement filed in recent weeks with the Securities and Exchange Commission and have been reviewed by Reuters.

The lofty rewards dangled for Musk by SpaceX show the challenge of holding the attention of the serial entrepreneur as he prepared to take the rocket maker public. They also potentially set up SpaceX investors for tensions with shareholders of Tesla, where Musk is chief executive officer (CEO), said corporate governance experts.

Connecting science-fiction visions with accounting commitments, the SpaceX board in January approved a pay package for the world’s richest man that would award 200 million in super-voting restricted shares if the company hit a market value of $7.5 trillion and established a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million people, according to excerpts from the company’s registration statement reviewed by Reuters.

His Mars-shot performance package also gave him as many as 60.4m in restricted shares awarded on March 23, if SpaceX met separate valuation goals and operated data centres in space that provided at least 100 terawatts of compute capacity — a colossal amount of power equal to 100,000 gigawatts — or about 100,000 one-gigawatt nuclear reactors running all at once.

Both awards came with super-voting Class B restricted stock, which carried 10 votes to every one Class A share, and vested in tranches as the company’s value rose.

Conditional rewards, stock options

However, he would not receive a single share if the company failed to reach the board’s lofty valuation targets, which were not tied to a specific timeline other than his continued employment.

He received a nominal salary from SpaceX of $54,080 per year since 2019. The value of the pay package could not be determined since SpaceX is privately held.

SpaceX is targeting an initial public offering around the time of Musk’s birthday on June 28, which could value the company at some $1.75 trillion.

As of December 31, he held 68.8m in previously awarded Class B stock options with a strike price of about $42 that expires in 2031, allowing Musk to pocket any profit above that amount if he exercises the options before that date.

Musk is already worth $776 billion by Forbes’ estimate. SpaceX aside, he could more than double that if he achieves separate, ambitious performance goals at Tesla — the EV automaker he also runs. He owned about 20 per cent of that company’s stock as of November, according to the registration statement.

SpaceX and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.

The Information and Reuters previously reported SpaceX paid targets for Musk linked to a Mars colony and to space data centres.

Executive compensation expert Eric Hoffmann, who is chief data officer for corporate governance consulting firm Farient Advisers, said he knew of nothing remotely comparable in compensation packages at other companies.

Space targets stand alone

“I am not a physicist or astronomer, and I wouldn’t know where to start,” he said.

“The measuring stick is: has it been done in human history? These haven’t. So that’s hard. Now, SpaceX and Tesla are effectively competing over Musk,” Hoffmann added.

He noted how just last autumn, Tesla’s board argued it needed to pay Musk generously to keep him focused on the automaker. Musk, in fact, threatened to leave Tesla if shareholders failed to approve the plan, Tesla previously disclosed.

“What’s interesting about this situation is now, SpaceX and Tesla — both effectively controlled by Elon Musk — are now bidding against each other for his attention,” Hoffmann said.

Equilar Director of Research Courtney Yu also said the goals of colonising Mars and building space data centres stood out because he could not remember any other company aside from Tesla using metrics beyond standard financial ones, like measures of earnings or revenue to set CEO pay.

It is up to the boards of the respective companies — SpaceX and Tesla — to determine how best to structure Musk’s time, Yu said.

While a $7.5 trillion market capitalisation for SpaceX may seem extraordinary, Yu said in a telephone interview, “it does help with setting expectations for investors as to what the goals of the company really are”.

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LONDON: Britain’s parliament will vote on Tuesday on launching an inquiry into Prime Minister Keir Starmer to determine whe­­ther he misled the House of Commons over the app­o­intment of former US amb­assador Peter Mandelson.

Any such inquiry could have serious implications for Starmer’s future. If the prime minister is found to have knowingly misled par­­­liament, his position would likely become untenable.

House of Commons Spe­aker Lindsay Hoyle said he approved a request from opposition Conser­vative Party leader Kemi Bade­noch for a debate and vote on whether the Committee of Privileges should investigate the matter.

The controversy stems from Starmer’s decision to hire Mandelson, who was fired last September after his relationship with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was found to be deeper than previously known.

The incident has raised doubts about Starmer’s judgement, particularly after it was revealed a security vetting body was leaning against granting clearance for the appointment — a decision foreign ministry officials overruled without telling the prime minister.

A spokesperson from Starmer’s office described the push for a vote as a “des­­perate political stunt” ahe­ad of local elections on May 7.

The government also published a letter from a former senior civil servant saying he concluded “that appropriate processes were followed”. If approved, the inquiry would focus on Starmer’s statements that due process was followed when hiring Mandelson.

The same committee found that former prime minister Boris Johnson had knowingly misled parliament over parties held during Covid, a report that pre­­­c­eded his resignation.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2026

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MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has promulgated the AJK Elections (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026, introducing changes to the electoral law aimed at facilitating refugee voters and extending the scope of political party restrictions in line with laws applicable in Pakistan.

According to the ordinance, which surfaced on Sunday, after approval by acting president Chaudhry Latif Akbar, amendments have been made to the AJK Elections Act, 2020.

Under the amendment to Section 24, the post-1989 refugees from occupied Jammu and Kashmir who have shifted between refugee camps or changed their place of residence within AJK will now be entitled to enrol at their new place of residence and cast their vote accordingly.

Move extends scope of party restrictions in line with laws applicable in Pakistan

The ordinance also empowers the AJK Election Commission to issue necessary directions, prescribe procedures, prepare supplementary electoral rolls, and take any other steps deemed appropriate to implement the provision.

In a separate amendment to Section 126, the ordinance provides that if a political party is banned, dissolved or prohibited under the laws of Pakistan, then such a party, along with its branches, organisational extensions, affiliated entities or regional units acting on its behalf, shall also stand prohibited in AJK.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2026

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Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Sunday that traffic restrictions around Islamabad’s Red Zone and Serena Hotel, which was expected to be the venue for the now cancelled US-Iran talks, had been lifted.

“Traffic restrictions around the Serena Hotel and the Red Zone in Islamabad have been lifted today. I extend my heartfelt thanks to the people of Pakistan — especially the residents of Islamabad and Rawalpindi — for their patience and cooperation.

“Your support enables us to ensure the safety of our guests and to continue our efforts for peace in the region. We remain committed to these goals and are grateful for, and in need of, your prayers and wishes,” Dar posted on X.

The restrictions were placed on April 19, with Red Zone being closed to the public as the federal capital braced to welcome foreign delegations for expected talks between the US and Iran.

Entry of heavy transport had also been suspended in Islamabad, but authorities later relaxed the restriction for vehicles carrying petroleum products, food items and medicines.

Reports from the ground on Sunday said several areas in Rawalpindi and Islamabad had reopened. However, residential and commercial areas around Nur Khan Airbase were reported to have remained closed.

The Metro Bus Service between Rawalpindi and Islamabad also resumed operations; however, its route was limited from Saddar to the Shaheed-i-Millat bus stop.

Electric buses in the twin cities were also plying on their routes on Sunday.

“We started running the metro bus service between Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Sunday morning and electric buses on different routes,” Punjab Mass Transit Authority Operations Manager Wajid Saleem told Dawn.

Meanwhile, streets, link roads, markets and banks around the old airport in Rawalpindi remained closed, causing inconvenience for the residents of Shah Faisal Colony, Khalid Colony, Gulzar-i-Quaid, Fazal Town and other areas.

Imtiaz Ahmed, a resident of Faisal Colony, said localities around Nur Khan Airbase were still closed and there was a shortage of water and food items in his area. “I got drinking water from nearby localities, while there is a dire need for water tankers, as there is no water supply from the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa). Wasa is charging monthly bills but fails to supply water to the colony,” he said.

Mohammad Umer, a resident of Gulzar-i-Quaid, said, “Saturday and Sunday were weekly shopping days for families … but they could not go out because of the blockades.”

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that areas that were still closed were likely to reopen by Monday.

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