👉Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim on your podcast app👈

As international criticism of Israel’s latest military offensive in Gaza mounts, Richard and Yalda ask how likely a ceasefire is in the coming weeks.

Also, one of Richard’s contacts tells him how Israel is using talking drones in Gaza which he describes as ‘like something from Black Mirror’.

Yalda unpacks her interview with a Hamas official, who has an interesting revelation about negotiations.

Meanwhile, Richard gives his thoughts on a possible US-Iran nuclear deal. He also unveils the life of the super-rich in Iran’s capital.

Later on, they both try to make sense of the latest drama between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

To get in touch or to share questions for Richard and Yalda, email theworld@sky.uk.

Episodes of The World With Richard Engel And Yalda Hakim will be available every Wednesday on all podcast platforms.

A potential water war is in the making after India suspended the Indus Water Treaty.

The decision came in retaliation to terror attacks in Kashmir, which were followed by a four-day conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Pakistan says, if not reversed, it amounts to an act of war. India’s response – blood and water cannot flow together.

What is the Indus Water Treaty?

The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) of 1960 governs how the six rivers that flow through India are shared.

While India gets unrestricted use of the three eastern rivers – the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej, Pakistan is allotted the lion’s share of the three western rivers – the Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum.

The average annual flow of the western rivers (135.6 million acre ft) is more than four times that of the eastern ones (32.6 million acre ft).

Though India can use a fraction of the waters of the western rivers for irrigation and hydropower, it has to eventually release all the waters downstream.

Surinder Thapa, former chief engineer of the Baglihar Dam, who has been associated with the Indus Water Treaty Commission over the past 20 years, told Sky News: “It’s totally a biased treaty as it was not negotiated on minute technical parameters as there is unequal share of the volume of water.

“India has suffered and is still struggling with its water projects. Some have even closed because they have become economically unviable.”

How India could respond

India demanded a modification of the treaty under Article XII in 2023, to take into consideration its changing demographics, water and energy requirements, climate change disaster mitigation, and cross-border terrorism.

The treaty has provisions for modification under certain circumstances – but there are no clauses for unilateral exit or suspension. India is taking its position as a legal decision under international law.

It cannot stop water from flowing across the border, as it lacks storage infrastructure and the capacity to divert large amounts of water.

But there are ways in which India could potentially harm its neighbour – by not sharing data on the volume of water in the rivers, withholding flow or releasing or even tampering with the volume, that could affect agriculture, power generation, consumption, and even cause floods in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s reliance on the network

More than 80% of Pakistan’s irrigated land is watered by the Indus network.

Agriculture is its backbone, employing more than half its population and contributing almost a quarter of its GDP.

It is already one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. Disruption to its rivers would have massive effects on its economy and people.

Across the border in Pakistan, farmers are worried about the uncertainty of its neighbour.

Muhammad Nawaz, a farmer from Nikaiyan Da Kot in Gujrat, Pakistan, told Sky News: “Our government must respond, we already have nothing, and if they stop giving us water, then what is left for us.”

More on this story:
The story of India and Pakistan’s deadly conflict
The site targeted by deadly Indian missile strikes is a mass of rubble

Hassan Ullah, who lives in the village of Kot Nikka, said: “India is violating the agreements made with the government. Pakistan should take up this issue at the international level.”

Since the suspension, India has carried out flushing and desilting of its dams – helping to increase its storage and making its hydropower projects more efficient.

Mr Thapa said: “For all these years we cooperated 120% with Pakistan but they kept raising irrelevant technical questions only to delay our projects – causing huge financial losses.

“We don’t want to bleed people in Pakistan, but we are left with no option but to teach them a lesson of how much sacrifice we have made.

“We need to make huge storage dams and navigation projects with no checks by anyone anymore.”

Recent India-Pakistan conflict

The fraught relationship between the two nuclear-armed neighbours worried the world when both countries attacked each other. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds of livelihoods were destroyed on both sides of the border.

The village of Kot Maira in Akhnur district, just a couple of miles from the Pakistan border, has been one of the most targeted in the region.

Bari Ram, 59, had a miraculous escape. He left his home with his son just a few minutes before artillery shells destroyed it, killing all his cattle.

He told Sky News: “This happened after the ceasefire, everything is destroyed. We can’t sleep as we don’t know when the next bomb will fall.”

Read more from Sky News:
Controversial US-backed aid operation starts in Gaza
British man jailed in Bali has death penalty dropped
Mount Everest guide breaks his own summit record

In a hospital room in Jammu, 46-year-old Rameez is having his wounds dressed. He’s not completely out of danger as shrapnel is still embedded in his liver and ribs. He’s already lost a lot of blood and doctors don’t want to operate on him just yet.

But it’s not the physical pain that traumatises him as much as the loss of his twins, 12-year-olds Zoya and Zain.

They got caught up in heavy Pakistani shelling when they tried to escape from their home.

Their aunt Maria Khan told Sky News: “The bombs fell behind them while they were getting out, Zoya was hit at the back of her head, her ribs were broken and she was bleeding.

“My brother picked her up and within seconds she died in his arms. He saw a neighbour trying to resuscitate Zain, but he had already died.”

Unable to hold back tears, she added: “That’s why us who live on the border areas want only peace. We know and experience the effects of real war. Our innocent children have died. This pain is unbearable and unreplaceable.”

For the moment, the precarious ceasefire between the countries is holding. But for so many it has come too late.

The Trump administration has stopped the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students hoping to study in the US while it prepares to expand social media vetting of applicants.

A US official said on Tuesday the suspension is intended to be temporary and does not apply to applicants who already have visa interviews scheduled.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an internal administration document.

A downturn in enrolment of international students could hurt university budgets in the US.

To make up for cuts in federal research funding, some colleges previously shifted to enrolling more international students, who often pay full tuition.

Now, an internal cable signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and seen by the Associated Press news agency shows how new student visa interviews are being halted as the US State Department plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting.

The cable says that “in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consulate sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor visa appointment capacity” until the guidance is issued.

It also says the halting of new visa interviews is “effective immediately”.

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

Asked about the suspension at a briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the US uses every available resource to vet people applying for visas.

“We will continue to use every tool we can to assess who it is that’s coming here, whether they are students or otherwise,” Ms Bruce said.

The move, first reported by Politico, is the latest in the White House’s crackdown on international students.

Last week, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students, removing the college from the programme that allows schools to sponsor foreign students for visas.

That effort was quickly challenged in court and for now is blocked by a federal judge.

Read more US news:
Diddy ‘kidnapped aide at gunpoint’
SpaceX rocket spins out of control
Envoy ‘regrets’ association with Epstein

This spring the Trump administration also revoked the legal status of thousands of international students already in the country, leading some to leave the US out of fear of deportation.

After many students filed successful legal challenges, the administration said it was restoring the students’ legal status.

But the government also expanded the grounds for terminating international students’ legal status going forward.

Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

US President Donald Trump’s previous administration stepped up scrutiny of all visa applicants, introducing reviews of their social media accounts.

The policy remained during President Joe Biden’s administration.

An extended pause in scheduling student visas could lead to delays that may disrupt college, boarding school or exchange students’ plans to enrol in summer and autumn terms.