The United States (US) has approved the “release and export” of a $686 million support package to upgrade Pakistan’s F-16 fighter aircraft, according to letters sent by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) to Congress.

The DSCA notification, issued under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act, states that Congress must be informed in advance of certain proposed arms sales. The agency said the package is intended “to retain interoperability with US and partner forces in ongoing counterterrorism efforts.”

The DSCA said the sale supports US foreign policy and national security objectives. It added that the upgrades would help Pakistan “meet current and future threats by updating and refurbishing its fleet.”

The package includes major defense equipment valued at $37 million, notably 92 Link-16 systems and six Mk-82 inert 500-lb general-purpose bomb bodies, along with $649 million worth of non-major defense items.

The updates are expected to “provide more seamless integration and interoperability between the Pakistan Air Force and the US Air Force in combat operations, exercises, and training,” the DSCA wrote.

It further noted that the refurbishment would extend the aircrafts’ service life “through 2040 while addressing critical flight safety concerns.”

The letters state that Pakistan has demonstrated its commitment to maintaining its military forces and “will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.”

A final determination concluded that Pakistan can provide “substantially the same degree of protection for the sensitive technology” as the United States.

• Referendum on ‘July Charter’ reform plan to be held alongside polls.
• BNP seen as frontrunner, Jamaat returns to electoral politics.
• Hasina’s Awami League barred from election, warns of unrest.
  

Bangladesh will vote on February 12 to elect a new parliament, the country’s Election Commission said on Thursday, its first national election since a deadly student-led uprising forced then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India last year.

An interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has since governed the Muslim-majority South Asian country of 173 million people, but has been grappling with rising discontent over delays in promised reforms, fuelling fresh protests and political division.

A national referendum on implementing the so-called ‘July Charter’, a state reform plan drafted in the aftermath of the unrest, will also be held on the same day, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said in a national broadcast.

The charter proposes wide-ranging changes to state institutions, including curbing executive powers, strengthening the independence of the judiciary and election authorities, and preventing the misuse of law-enforcement agencies.

Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is widely seen as the frontrunner in the upcoming polls, competing alongside the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which has returned to electoral politics after the interim government eased restrictions.

Jamaat, Bangladesh’s biggest Islamic party, could not contest elections after a 2013 court ruling that its registration as a political party conflicted with the country’s secular constitution.

The National Citizen Party, formed by student leaders after the 2024 uprising, is seen trailing behind BNP and Jamaat, as it struggles to convert street power into electoral strength.

Hasina’s Awami League, which has been barred from contesting the election, has warned of unrest if the ban is not lifted.

Restoring democratic rule, reviving the economy after disruptions hurt the export-driven garment industry, repairing ties with giant neighbour India — strained by New Delhi sheltering Hasina — tackling corruption, and ensuring media freedom are among the key issues for voters.

At least 30 people were killed, including patients, after an airstrike by the country’s ruling junta hit a major hospital in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, according to a rebel group, an aid worker and a witness said on Thursday.

More than 70 people were injured, they said.

The hospital in Rakhine’s Mrauk U township was struck late on Wednesday by bombs dropped by a military aircraft, said Khine Thu Kha, a spokesman for the Arakan Army, which is battling the ruling junta along parts of the coastal state.

“The Mrauk U General Hospital was completely destroyed,” Khine Thu Kha told Reuters. “The high number of casualties occurred because the hospital took a direct hit.”

A junta spokesman did not respond to calls for comment.

Myanmar has been gripped by conflict since the military suppressed protests against a 2021 coup that unseated the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The 300-bed hospital was overflowing with patients at the time of the strike, said aid worker Wai Hun Aung, as most healthcare services across swathes of Rakhine state have been suspended amid the ongoing fighting.

Hospital in ruins

On Thursday morning, the facility lay in complete ruins, with a collapsed roof, shattered columns and beams, and the bodies of victims laid out on the ground, according to images shared by Wai Hun Aung that he also posted on social media.

Reuters could not immediately verify the images.

“The remaining patients have been moved to a safe location,” he told Reuters.

Soon after he heard the sound of explosions on Wednesday night, a 23-year-old resident of Mrauk U said he rushed to the site.

“When I arrived, the hospital was on fire,” he said, asking not to be named because of security concerns. “I saw many bodies lying around and many injured people.”

The junta, which has the only air force in Myanmar, has been increasingly using airstrikes to hit targets inside rebel-held areas.

From January to late November this year, the junta conducted 2,165 airstrikes, compared to 1,716 such incidents during the whole of 2024, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

Resistance groups formed in the wake of the coup have combined with major ethnic armies like the Arakan Army to take on the military, which is fighting the rebellion on multiple frontlines.

Since the breakdown of a ceasefire in 2023, the Arakan Army has pushed the military out of 14 of Rakhine’s 17 townships, gaining control of an area larger than Belgium, according to an analysis published by the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.

Mrauk-U township, located in the north of Rakhine state, has been under the control of the Arakan Army since last year and there has been no recent fighting in the area, Khine Thu Kha said.