preparing

Lots of people travel on planes as it’s hard to resist a break away in the sun; however, if you’re preparing to board soon, then you need to be aware of some health advice

Lots of people travel on planes, but there are a few rules people may want to follow if they want to keep on top of their health while flying. Holidaymakers often worry about jet lag, but there’s another mid-air menace many don’t talk about, and it’s known as travel constipation.

From uncomfortable bloating to sluggish digestion, pharmacists say flying creates the perfect storm for gut trouble but, with the right prep, it doesn’t have to ruin your trip. In fact, if you travel a lot, there’s a simple way you can keep on top of your health when flying.

Pharmacist Seema Khatri of Roseway Labs explained: “Airplane cabins are pressurised to the equivalent of around 6,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level. That lower pressure makes gases in your digestive system expand, which is why so many people feel bloated in the air.

“Add in dry cabin air, sitting still for hours and a disrupted eating routine, and your gut slows right down. It’s no surprise constipation is one of the most common post-flight complaints.”

She added that fizzy drinks, beans, garlic and onions are frequent culprits for in-flight bloating, as they create gas which expands more at altitude. Alcohol, meanwhile, not only dehydrates but can irritate the digestive tract, making matters worse.

According to Khatri, many people unknowingly make choices that compound the issue. “Skipping water in favour of coffee or wine is one of the biggest mistakes,” she added. “Both dehydrate you further. Another common mistake is ignoring the urge to use the plane toilets, but holding it in just makes things harder later.

“Heavy, processed meals before or during flights are another trigger. Fast food and sugary snacks often replace fibre-rich meals when people are travelling, and that low fibre intake makes constipation far more likely.”

To keep things moving, the expert shared some top tips. Khatri’s top pharmacist-approved strategies include:

• Stay well-hydrated before and during your flight. Start increasing your water intake one to two days before you travel, aiming for 2.7 to 3.7 litres a day, depending on your body size. Continue to sip water throughout the flight.
• Get up and walk the aisle every hour or do stretches in your seat.
• Choose herbal teas over fizzy or caffeinated drinks to stimulate digestion.
• Don’t ignore the urge to go. Use the toilet when you need it.

Khatri added: “Hydrate properly in the days before flying, keep meals light and fibre-rich and avoid alcohol where you can. Sticking to your normal sleep and bathroom routine also helps reduce disruption. With just a little preparation, you can save yourself a very uncomfortable holiday start.”

She said you can also pack some snacks to aid matters such as oat bars to give you a fibre boost without the bloat. Nuts and seeds are also filling, light and digestion-friendly.

As well as this, bananas and dried fruit are also good things to add. Khatri explained there are also a few mistakes you should avoid, which include:

• Swapping water for wine or coffee.
• Holding it in instead of using the loo.
• Loading up on fast food and fizzy drinks pre-flight.

BALTIMORE — Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles, is located a short walk from M&T Bank Stadium, where the Rams began an extended road trip on Sunday with a 17-3 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

For much of this week, the baseball stadium will serve as the Rams’ home away from home as they prepare for Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London.

This is not the first time that the Rams have played an away game and then remained in the city before traveling abroad.

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Gary Klein breaks down what went right for the Rams in their 17-3 win over the Baltimore Ravens as they prepare to play the Jaguars in London on Sunday.

In 2017, coach Sean McVay’s first season, the Rams defeated the Jaguars in Jacksonville, Fla., and then stayed in town before traveling to defeat the Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham Stadium in London.

Two years later, the Rams beat the Falcons in Atlanta, and then remained there for a few days before traveling to London and defeating the Cincinnati Bengals at Wembley Stadium.

Several players said they would rely on the Rams’ training staff to help them modify weekly routines that include massage, acupuncture and other bodywork sessions with California providers outside of the organization.

Rams safety Quentin Lake noted that last season, the Rams stayed in Arizona for a few days before they played the Minnesota Vikings in an NFC wild-card game that was moved from SoFi Stadium because of wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

“You’re in an unfamiliar environment and … it’s just the team and staff,” Lake said Sunday, adding, “Nothing truly is going to change in terms of our routine. … Honestly I love it because it’s fun.

“It’s fun for us to be in a different environment and really just lock in on football and focus on the task at hand.”

Last week, McVay and several players said that while adjustments were necessary for a long trip, none were too onerous.

The Rams are practicing this week at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore before heading to London.

(Terrance Williams / Associated Press)

During the Rams’ first two trips abroad, McVay was neither married nor a father. This time, McVay said that his wife, Veronika, who has roots in the region, and son, Jordan, would make the trip to Baltimore.

“I’ll keep it as normal as possible,” McVay said. “What I like about these things is you get a chance to be around the guys a little bit more because of the nature of what this trip entails. … I try to keep a normal rhythm and routine.

“You just might be in a different location, but we have the film, we have the field and most importantly, we have the players. We’ll be in good shape.”

For quarterback Matthew Stafford “the biggest thing is not being in your own house, not having your family around, all that kind of stuff,” he said.

“I won’t be sleeping in my own bed and I won’t be doing some of the things that I’m accustomed to doing,” he said. “I just change location, really. What I would do maybe at home I’ll do wherever our setup is when we stay there.”

Receiver Davante Adams, a 12th-year pro in his first season with the Rams, said that he once was part of an extended trip that included a game in New Orleans and then a stay in Sarasota, Fla., before playing in Jacksonville. But this will be the first time Adams will be on an extended trip that includes a game in London.

It will be different, Adams said, because he has “a lot of different checkpoints and things throughout the week that I do locally. It’s going to be different for me for sure.”

Especially being away from family.

“The main thing for me is just being away from my kids, honestly more than anything,” he said. “That’s a big part of my healing process and mentally throughout the week just resetting, going home, spending time with them and my wife. Not having that element. … I mean, we’ll get through it.”

This will be the first extended trip that will end in London for defensive lineman Kobie Turner and other young players. Turner said he and his wife grew up about an hour outside Baltimore, so they were looking forward to spending time this week with his wife’s family.

“It will be interesting to see how it all plays out,” he said.

Former investment banker Austin Beutner, an advocate for arts education who spent three years at the helm of the Los Angeles Unified School District, appears to be laying the groundwork for a run against Mayor Karen Bass in next year’s election, according to his social media accounts.

At one point Saturday, Beutner’s longtime account on X featured the banner image “AUSTIN for LA MAYOR,” along with the words: “This account is being used for campaign purposes by Austin Beutner for LA Mayor 2026.”

Both the text and the banner image, which resembled a campaign logo, were removed shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday. Beutner did not immediately provide comment after being contacted by The Times.

New “AustinforLA” accounts also appeared on Instagram and Bluesky on Saturday, displaying the same campaign text and logo. Those messages were also quickly removed and converted to generic accounts for Beutner.

It’s still unclear when Beutner, 65, plans to launch a campaign, or if he will do so. Rumors about his intentions have circulated widely in political circles in recent weeks.

Beutner, who worked at one point as a high-level aide to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, would instantly become the most significant candidate to run against Bass, who is seeking a second four-year term in June.

Although seven other people have filed paperwork to run for her seat, none has the fundraising muscle or name recognition to pose a threat. Rick Caruso, the real estate developer whom Bass defeated in 2022, has publicly flirted with another run for the city’s top office but has yet to announce a decision.

A representative for Bass’ campaign did not immediately comment.

Beutner’s announcement comes in a year of crises for the mayor and her city. Bass was out of the country in January, taking part in a diplomatic mission to Ghana, when the ferocious Palisades fire destroyed thousands of homes and killed 12 people.

When she returned, Bass faced withering criticism over the city’s preparation for the high winds, as well as fire department operations and the overall emergency response.

In the months that followed, the city was faced with a $1-billion budget shortfall, triggered in part by pay raises for city workers that were approved by Bass. To close the gap, the City Council eliminated about 1,600 vacant positions, slowed down hiring at the Los Angeles Police Department and rejected Bass’ proposal for dozens of additional firefighters.

By June, Bass faced a different emergency: waves of masked and heavily armed federal agents apprehending immigrants at car washes, Home Depots and elsewhere, sparking furious street protests.

Bass had been politically weakened in the wake of the Palisades fire. But after President Trump put the city in his crosshairs, the mayor regained her political footing, responding swiftly and sharply. She mobilized her allies against the immigration crackdown and railed against the president’s deployment of the National Guard, arguing that the soldiers were “used as props.”

Beutner would come to the race with a wide range of job experiences — the dog-eat-dog world of finance, the struggling journalism industry and the messy world of local government. He also is immersed in philanthropy, having founded the nonprofit Vision to Learn, which provides vision screenings, eye exams and glasses to children in low-income communities.

He is a co-founder and former president of Evercore Partners, a financial services company that advises its clients on mergers, acquisitions and other transactions. In 2008, he retired from that firm — now simply called Evercore Inc. — after he was seriously injured in a bicycling accident.

In 2010, he became Villaraigosa’s jobs advisor, taking on the elevated title of first deputy mayor and receiving wide latitude to strike business deals on Villaraigosa’s behalf, just as the city was struggling to emerge from its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Beutner worked closely with Chinese electric car company BYD to make L.A. its North American headquarters, while also overseeing decisions at the Department of Water and Power and other agencies.

Slightly more than a year into his job, Beutner filed paperwork to begin exploring a run for mayor. He secured the backing of former Mayor Richard Riordan and many in the business community but pulled the plug in 2012.

In 2014, Beutner became publisher of the Los Angeles Times, where he focused on digital experimentation and forging deeper ties with readers. He lasted roughly a year in that job before Tribune Publishing Co., the parent company of The Times, ousted him.

Three years later, Beutner was hired as the superintendent of L.A. Unified, which serves schoolchildren in Los Angeles and more than two dozen other cities and unincorporated areas. He quickly found himself at odds with the teachers’ union, which staged a six-day strike.

The union settled for a two-year package of raises totaling 6%. Beutner, for his part, signed off on a parcel tax to generate additional education funding, but voters rejected the proposal.

Beutner’s biggest impact may have been his leadership during COVID-19. The school district distributed millions of meals to needy families and then, as campuses reopened, worked to upgrade air filtration systems inside schools.

In 2022, after leaving the district, Beutner led the successful campaign for Proposition 28, which requires that a portion of California’s general fund go toward visual and performing arts instruction.

Earlier this year, Beutner and several others sued L.A. Unified, accusing the district of violating Proposition 28 by misusing state arts funding and denying legally required arts instruction to students.

GERMANY’S army is preparing its forces to treat 1,000 injured troops a day as the prospect of a war between NATO and Russia looms ever larger.

Berlin’s war planning lays bare the scale of devastation that such a conflict would unleash upon the continent.

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The Kremlin denies that it wants a war against Russia’s Western rivals.

But recent incursions of military jets into NATO airspace has amplified fears that Putin has his sights on members of the alliance.

Since Russia‘s brutal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western countries have been forced to reckon with the prospect of a major war breaking out on European soil once again.

It has prompted military leaders to warn of the scale of casualties that could come if Moscow attacked the alliance.

Germany’s Surgeon General Ralf Hoffmann told Reuters that the exact number would depend on the intensity of fighting.

But he said: “Realistically, we are talking about a figure of around 1,000 wounded troops per day.”

Berlin is far from the only country to ramp up planning for mass casualties in the face of Russian sabre-rattling.

France has also placed its hospitals on a war-footing, with health bosses ordered to be ready for a “major engagement” by March 2026.

In anticipation of a large influx of wounded soldiers, Paris has ordered the country’s health centres to integrate the “specific needs of defence” into their planning.

They want French hospitals to be prepared to take in not only their own country’s injured troops, but also those of NATO allies.

Hoffmann added that Germany needs to look to the war in Ukraine to adapt how it approaches medical training for the battlefield.

“The Ukrainians often cannot evacuate their wounded fast enough because drones are buzzing overhead everywhere,” he warned.

Flexible transport options would be needed to get injured troops out of harm’s way, Hoffmann said, such as how Ukraine has used hospital trains.

Germany’s chief of defence General Carsten Breuer issued a stark warning this summer as to how soon a Russian attack could come.

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He told the BBC that Moscow’s increased military production represents a “a very serious threat” that could come as soon as 2029.

“This is what the analysts are assessing – in 2029. So we have to be ready by 2029,” he warned.

“If you ask me now, is this a guarantee that’s not earlier than 2029?

“I would say no, it’s not. So we must be able to fight tonight.”

In Britain, government officials are hurriedly updating decades-old contingency plans to protect the country in the event of Russian aggression.

Former NATO commander Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon previously told The Sun: “Britain is very much in the sights of Putin’s derision, and we are the ones likely to be attacked first.

“Britain really has got to dust off its contingency plans.

“Over 20 years of neglect, and we understand that’s exactly what this report is about at the moment.”

An assault on one NATO country by Russia would require all other member states to take up arms in their support.

This is because of the alliance’s Article 5 protection guarantee, which makes an attack on one an attack on all.

Fears of confrontation with Russia have spiked since Moscow’s air force launched incursions into NATO airspace in recent weeks.

Russian MiG-31 fighters entered the skies over Estonia earlier this month, prompting Western jets to be scrambled in response to shoo them away.

Moscow’s drones have also entered Polish and Romanian airspace over the past weeks.

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Israel has announced preparations to forcibly evacuate Palestinians from “combat zones” to southern Gaza from Sunday, days after it announced a new offensive to seize control of Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre.

The army’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Saturday that residents would be provided with tents and other shelter equipment transported through the Karem Abu Salem, or Kerem Shalom, crossing by the United Nations and international relief organisations.

The UN has not commented on the plan or on its alleged role in providing humanitarian assistance.

The statement comes less than a week since Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that the military had been given the green light to “dismantle” what he described as two remaining Hamas strongholds: Gaza City in the north and al-Mawasi further to the south.

The army has not specified whether the shelter equipment was intended for Gaza City’s population, estimated at around one million people presently, and whether the site to which they will be relocated in southern Gaza would be the area of Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

The UN did not immediately comment on the Israeli announcement, however, it warned on Thursday that thousands of families already enduring appalling humanitarian conditions could be pushed over the edge if the Gaza City plan moves ahead.

The Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, described the military’s announcement as “part of its brutal attack to occupy Gaza City” and “a blatant and brazen mockery of international conventions.”

“Forcing people to flee amidst starvation, massacres, and displacement is an ongoing crime against humanity. Criminal behaviour in Gaza is inseparable from the daily crimes committed by the occupation in the occupied West Bank,” the group said in a statement.

Israeli forces have increased operations on the outskirts of Gaza City over the past week. Residents in the neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Shujayea have reported heavy Israeli aerial and tank fire.

An Israeli drone targeted a group of people in the Asqaula area of the Zeitoun neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City, killing two and wounding several others, the Wafa news agency said.

Another person was killed and three were injured when a house near the al-Alami Mosque on az-Zarqa Street, also in eastern Gaza City, was hit.

The tented encampment of al-Mawasi, in southern Gaza, also came under attack on Saturday. An Israeli air raid killed Motasem al-Batta, his wife and their baby daughter in their tent. The area was designated a so-called “humanitarian”, or “safe”, zone early in the war, but it has nonetheless repeatedly come under attack.

A neighbour of the family, Fathi Shubeir, told The Associated Press that displaced civilians were living in the densely populated al-Mawasi area. Speaking of the baby girl, he said, “Two and a half months, what has she done?”

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,827 people since October 2023. Malnutrition has killed 251 people so far, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Eleven people, including a child, have starved to death in the past 24 hours, the ministry said on Saturday.

At Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, the lives of more than 200 patients were hanging by a thread, due to acute shortages of medicine and malnutrition.

Director Mohammed Abu Salmiya said the hospital was overcrowded with wounded patients amid relentless Israeli bombardments and doctors were performing an increasing number of amputations as they were unable to combat the infection of wounds.

According to the World Health Organisation, more than 14,800 patients need lifesaving medical care that is not available in Gaza. Yet, leaving the Strip is not always enough to save a life.

Twenty-year-old Marah Abu Zuhri arrived in Pisa on an Italian government humanitarian flight overnight on Wednesday while severely emaciated. The University Hospital of Pisa said she had a “very complex clinical picture” and serious wasting, before she was reported dead on Friday.

Director-General of Gaza’s Health Ministry Munir al-Bursh told Al Jazeera that 40,000 infants in the territory were suffering from severe malnutrition amid critical food shortages caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid into Gaza.

Al Jazeera correspondent Hind Khoudary said the reality of hunger in Gaza was “devastating.”

“Palestinians have no choice but to see their children die of malnutrition and starvation,” she said. “The latest to have died from hunger were siblings, aged 16 and 25, who died on the same day.”

According to Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, “only 10 percent” of the daily food supplies needed are entering the territory, “while the health system is collapsing day by day and our capacity is very limited”.

He said Israel’s war in Gaza destroyed its socioeconomic structure, leaving Palestinians in the territory “totally dependent on humanitarian aid”.

What is making it into the country is “a very limited amount, which is only to keep the people alive [at a] minimum level,” he added.

The United Nations has warned that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began.

The families of 50 Israeli captives still held in Gaza were shaken by the recent release of videos showing their emaciated relatives pleading for help and food.

A group representing the families urged Israelis into the streets on Sunday. “Across the country, hundreds of citizen-led initiatives will pause daily life and join the most just and moral struggle: the struggle to bring all 50 hostages home,” it said in a statement.

Netanyahu has rejected criticism that his plan to widen the military offensive would endanger the lives of the remaining captives. The mobilisation of forces is expected to take weeks, and the Israeli prime minister has defended his decision, saying he had “no choice” but to attack Hamas in Gaza.

As the conflict between Iran and Israel escalates, United States President Donald Trump’s administration is offering mixed signals about whether it still backs a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear programme.

Publicly, it has backed a negotiated agreement, and US and Iranian negotiators had planned to meet again this week. As recently as Thursday, Trump insisted in a Truth Social post: “We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution.”

But 14 hours later as Israel began its attacks on Iran, Trump posted that he had given Iran a 60-day deadline to reach an agreement – and that the deadline had passed. By Sunday, Trump was insisting that “Israel and Iran should make a deal” and they would with his help.

On Monday as Trump prepared to leave the Group of Seven summit in Canada early, his warnings grew more ominous: He posted that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” The US president later denied speculation that he had returned to Washington, DC, early to negotiate a ceasefire, noting that it was for something “much bigger than that”.

Trump’s ambiguous statements have fuelled debate among analysts about the true extent of US involvement and intentions in the Israel-Iran conflict.

Debating Trump’s wink and a nod

Trump has denied any US involvement in the strikes. “The U.S. had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight,” he wrote on Sunday.

Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the US-based Arms Control Association, said Trump’s messaging had been clear. “I think that President Trump has been very clear in his opposition to the use of military force against Iran while diplomacy was playing out. And reporting suggests that he pushed back against [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” she said.

What’s more likely, Davenport said, is that “Israel was worried that diplomacy would succeed, that it would mean a deal” and “that it did not view [this as] matching its interests and objectives regarding Iran”.

Richard Nephew, a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, agreed, saying it was Trump’s consistent march towards a deal that troubled Israel.

“I think it is that consistency that’s actually been the thing that’s the problem,” said Nephew, who served as director for Iran at the US National Security Council from 2011 to 2013 under then-President Barack Obama.

But Ali Ansari, a professor of Iranian history at St Andrews University in Scotland, disagreed.

“The US was aware. … Even if the specific timing did surprise them, they must have been aware, so a wink is about right,” he told Al Jazeera.

“At the same time, the US view is that Israel must take the lead and should really do this on their own,” he said.

Could Trump get sucked into the conflict?

Israel is believed to have destroyed the above-ground section of Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. The facility has enriched uranium to 60 percent purity – far above the 3.67 percent needed for nuclear power but below the 90 percent purity needed for an atomic bomb. Power loss at Natanz as a result of the Israeli strike may have also damaged the underground enrichment section at Natanz, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

But in the IAEA’s assessment, Israel did not damage Iran’s other uranium enrichment plant at Fordow, which is buried inside a mountain and also enriches uranium to 60 percent purity.

“It’s likely that Israel would need US support if it actually wanted to penetrate some of these underground facilities,” Davenport said, pointing to the largest US conventional bomb, the 13,600kg (30,000lb) Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

“[With] repeated strikes with that munition, you could likely damage or destroy some of these facilities,” Davenport said, noting that Washington “has not transferred that bomb to Israel”.

Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center, a US-based think tank, also told Al Jazeera that Israel would need US weapons to complete its stated mission of destroying Iran’s nuclear programme.

Nephew, for one, did not discount the chances of that happening.

“We know that [Trump] likes to be on the side of winners. To the extent that he perceives the Israelis as winners right now, that is the reason why he is maintaining his position and why I think we have a wink [to Israel],” he said.

On Friday, the US flew a large number of midair-refuelling planes to the Middle East and ordered the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz to sail there. On Tuesday, it announced it was sending more warplanes to the region.

Ansari agreed that the initial success of Israel’s attacks could mean that “Trump is tempted to join in just to get some of the glory,” but he thinks this could force Iran to stand down.

“It may well be that the US does join in on an attack on Fordow although I think even the genuine threat of an American attack will bring the Iranians to the table,” Ansari said. “They can concede – with honour – to the United States; they can’t to Israel, though they may have no choice.”

Wary of American involvement, US Senator Tim Kaine introduced a war powers resolution on Monday that would require the US Congress to authorise any military action against Iran.

“It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States,” Kaine said.

Diplomacy vs force

Obama did not believe a military solution was attractive or feasible for Iran’s nuclear programme, and he opted for a diplomatic process that resulted in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. That agreement called for the IAEA to monitor all of Iran’s nuclear activities to ensure that uranium enrichment only reached the levels required for energy production.

According to Nephew and Davenport, Trump indirectly fanned the flames of the military option when he pulled the US out of the JCPOA as president in 2018 at Israel’s behest.

Two years later, Iran said it would enrich uranium to 4.5 percent purity, and in 2021, it refined it to 20 percent purity. In 2023, the IAEA said it had found uranium particles at Fordow enriched to 83.7 percent purity.

Trump offered no alternative to the JCPOA during his first presidential term, nor did President Joe Biden after him.

“Setting [the JCPOA] on fire was a direct contribution to where we are today,” Nephew said. Seeking a military path instead of a diplomatic one to curtail a nuclear programme “contributes to a proliferation path”, he said, “because countries say, ‘The only way I can protect myself is if I go down this path.’”

Davenport, an expert on the nuclear and missile programmes of Iran and North Korea, said even the regime change in Tehran that Netanyahu has called for wouldn’t solve the problem.

“Regime change is not an assured nonproliferation strategy,” she said. “We don’t know what would come next in Iran if this regime were to fall. If it were the military seizing control, nuclear weapons might be more likely. But even if it were a more open democratic government, democracies choose to build nuclear weapons too.”

Islamabad, Pakistan – When Indian Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh visited the Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier INS Vikrant on May 30, nearly three weeks after a ceasefire was announced with Pakistan after a four-day conflict, he had stern words for Islamabad.

Wearing an Indian Navy baseball cap, with his initial “R” emblazoned on it, Singh declared that Pakistan was fortunate the Indian Navy had not been called upon during the recent hostilities.

“Despite remaining silent, the Indian Navy succeeded in tying down the Pakistani Army. Just imagine what will happen when someone who can keep a country’s army locked in a bottle, even by remaining silent, speaks up?” Singh said, standing in front of a Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jet on the deck of the 262-metre-long (860 feet) ship.

Just two days later, on June 1, the Pakistan Navy issued a pointed response. In a message posted on X, it announced a two-day exercise, “focusing on countering sub-conventional and asymmetric threats across all major ports and harbours of Pakistan”.

PN conducted 2-day Ex focusing on countering sub-conventional & asymmetric threats across all major ports & harbours of Pak, aimed at validating & refining Tactics, Techniques & Procedures to ensure robust defence of critical maritime infrastructure against asymmetric threats.1/3 pic.twitter.com/R1IsajwyBB

— DGPR (Navy) (@dgprPaknavy) June 1, 2025

These symbolic shows of strength followed India’s “Operation Sindoor” and Pakistan’s “Operation Bunyan Marsoos“, the countries’ respective codenames for the four-day conflict that ended in a ceasefire on May 10.

The standoff was triggered by an April 22 attack in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 26 civilians, almost all tourists, were killed. India blamed armed groups allegedly backed by Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denied.

On May 7, India launched missile strikes at multiple sites in Pakistan’s Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, killing at least 51 people, including 11 soldiers and several children. Over the next three days, the two countries exchanged artillery and air power, hitting each other’s airbases.

The 96 hours of conflict brought 1.6 billion people to the brink of war. But while the navies largely remained passive observers, they monitored each other’s movements – and were ready for action.

Satellite imagery showed that the INS Vikrant moved towards Pakistan soon after the Pahalgam attack and remained deployed for four days in the Arabian Sea before returning to its base in Karnataka.

Pakistan also mobilised its fleet, which was bolstered by the docking of a Turkish naval ship in Karachi on May 2. According to the Pakistani Navy, Turkish personnel engaged in “a series of professional interactions” with their counterparts.

Now, even amid the current pause in military tensions, analysts say Singh’s remarks and Pakistan’s naval drills highlight the growing part that maritime forces could play in the next chapter of their conflict. This is a role the Indian and Pakistani navies are well-versed in.

Early naval conflicts

After independence from Britain in August 1947, India inherited two-thirds of British India’s naval assets.

These saw no use during the first India-Pakistan war in 1947, over the contested Himalayan region of Kashmir. India and Pakistan both administer parts of Kashmir, along with China, which governs two thin strips. India claims all of Kashmir, while Pakistan claims all the parts not controlled by China, its ally.

By the 1965 war, also over Kashmir, Pakistan had expanded its fleet with aid from the United States and United Kingdom, its Cold War allies. It had acquired Ghazi, a long-range submarine, giving it an edge over India, which lacked a submarine at the time, though it owned an aircraft carrier. Pakistan, to date, does not have an aircraft carrier.

While the land war started on September 6, the Pakistan Navy joined the conflict on the night of September 7-8. A fleet of seven warships and submarine PNS Ghazi left Karachi harbour and made their way towards the Indian naval base of Dwarka in the western state of Gujarat, roughly 350km (217 miles) away.

They were tasked with carrying out the “bombardment of Dwarka about midnight using 50 rounds per ship”, according to the Pakistan Navy’s official account, targeting the base’s radar and other installations.

The selection of Dwarka was significant from a historical and strategic perspective. The city is home to one of the most sacred sites for Hindus, the Somnath Temple, on which the Pakistan Navy named its operation.

Militarily, the radar installations in Dwarka were used to provide guidance to the Indian Air Force. Knocking them out would have made it harder for India to launch aerial attacks against Pakistani cities, especially Karachi. That, in turn, would have forced India to send out its warships from the nearby port of Bombay (now Mumbai) – and PNS Ghazi, the submarine, could have ambushed them.

But the Pakistani plan only partly worked. Many Indian warships were under maintenance, and so the Indian Navy did not send them out to chase the Pakistani fleet.

According to the Pakistan Navy’s accounts, after firing about 350 rounds, the operation ended in “four minutes” and all its ships returned safely.

Syed Muhammad Obaidullah, a former commodore in the Pakistan Navy, recalled the attack.

“We were able to send eight vessels, seven ships and a submarine – that surprised the Indians, as our ships targeted the radar station used to assist Indian planes,” Obaidullah told Al Jazeera.

Muhammad Shareh Qazi, a Lahore-based maritime security expert, added that the operation was a tactical surprise, but did not lead to any gains in territory or of the maritime continental shelf.

“All our ships returned safely, without resistance, but it was only an operational-level success for the PN, not a strategic one,” he said, referring to the Pakistan Navy.

Official Indian Navy records claim that most of the shells fired by Pakistani ships caused no damage and remained unexploded.

Anjali Ghosh, a professor of international relations at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, in her book India’s Foreign Policy, described the attack as “daring” but symbolic rather than strategically meaningful.

Decisive turn in 1971

The 1971 war, fought over East Pakistan’s secession to become Bangladesh, saw more substantial naval engagements.

India launched two operations – Trident and Python – which dealt major blows to Pakistan’s Navy, sinking several ships, including the destroyer PNS Khaibar and minesweeper PNS Muhafiz, and destroying fuel tanks at Karachi Harbour.

Uday Bhaskar, a former commodore in the Indian Navy, said the navy played a pivotal role in India’s 1971 victory.

“The naval role enabled the final outcome on land,” Bhaskar, the current director of the Society for Policy Studies, an independent think tank based in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera.

Pakistan also suffered the loss of its prized submarine Ghazi, which sank while laying mines near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, home to India’s Eastern Naval Command.

The one major victory for the Pakistani Navy was its torpedoing of the Indian frigate INS Khukri using its submarine Hangor, which killed more than 170 Indian sailors.

Qazi, who is also an assistant professor at Lahore’s Punjab University, said that the Indian Navy replicated the Pakistani playbook from the 1965 war in the way it surprised the Pakistan Navy.

“India caused a heavy blow to Pakistan and our naval capabilities were severely dented,” he said.

Diverging strategies

Since the 1971 war, India and Pakistan have approached different naval strategies.

Obaidullah, who retired from the Pakistan Navy in 2008, said that India has tried to build a “blue water navy” capable of projecting power across oceans. The idea: “To assert its dominance in [the] Indian Ocean,” he said.

Qazi, the maritime expert, agreed, saying that the Indian Navy has focused not just on building a numerical advantage in its naval assets but also on partnerships with nations such as Russia, which have helped it develop a powerful fleet.

“The Indian Navy now has the ability to conduct missions that can cover long distances, all the way down to Mauritius near southern Africa, or even some adventures in [the] Pacific Ocean as well,” he said.

As the world’s fifth-largest economy, India has invested heavily in naval development.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based research institute focusing on defence and security issues, India has 29 principal surface combat vessels, including two aircraft carriers, 12 destroyers, 15 frigates and 18 submarines, of which two are nuclear-powered.

Pakistan, by contrast, has prioritised its land and air forces. Its navy has grown more slowly, mainly through cooperation with China and Turkiye. It regularly holds major naval exercises with its allies, with the last one taking place in February this year.

IISS data shows that Pakistan’s navy lacks aircraft carriers and destroyers but includes 11 frigates, eight submarines and at least 21 patrol vessels.

Obaidullah explained that Pakistan’s naval ambitions and objectives are very different from those of India.

“India aims to project global power. We have a defensive navy to secure our sea lines of communication and deter aggression,” the former naval officer said. With more than 95 percent of Pakistan’s trade sea-based, protecting maritime routes is its top priority.

Maritime expert Qazi also said that the Pakistani Navy is focused on defending its “littoral zones”. From a naval perspective, a “littoral zone” is a critically important area close to coastlines, unlike the open ocean’s “blue water” expanse. It is within this space that countries engage in coastal defence.

“Pakistan has a small economy, and we do not have blue water ambitions. We do not have the capacity to build a fleet, nor [do] we need one,” Qazi said. “Our defence paradigm is about defending our coastlines, and for that, we have our submarines, which carry cruise missiles.”

Naval engagements in future conflicts?

The latest conflict saw both conventional and modern warfare, including drones used to strike deep inside each other’s territory. But Singh’s May 30 remarks suggest a more assertive naval posture in future conflicts, say analysts.

“If Pakistan does any unholy act this time, it is possible that the opening will be done by our navy,” Singh said during his speech on May 30.

Bhaskar, the Indian commodore who retired in 2007, agreed that future conflicts could see naval escalation.

“If another military conflict escalates, the probability of navies being actively involved is high,” he said.

Bashir Ali Abbas, a New Delhi-based maritime affairs expert and former fellow at the Stimson Center, in Washington, DC, said that naval platforms inherently serve multiple roles.

Abbas said that warships and submarines can switch from patrolling missions or exercises to operational missions on short notice. But that would carry risks of its own.

“Should the Indian Navy play a substantial role in operations against Pakistan following the next crisis, then the element of escalation control practically disappears. Any ship-on-ship, or ship-on-land engagement will imply that India and Pakistan are at war,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that the risk of inadvertent nuclear escalation is also potentially highest in the nuclear domain.

Qazi, however, said that Singh’s statement was ambiguous about whether the Indian Navy would engage in surveillance or aggression.

Any attack on Karachi, Pakistan’s economic hub, would provoke a strong response, the Lahore-based analyst said.

“I believe India will choose to play hide and seek like it did this time,” Qazi said. But he added that there was a “high probability” that India could attack Pakistan’s naval installations on land, including its planes and radar stations. And that, he said, was an “alarming possibility”.

SIR Keir Starmer is preparing to wave the white flag to Brussels in a fresh Brexit betrayal, Kemi Badenoch has warned.

The Tory chief accused the PM of lining up a string of concessions to the EU just to say he’s “reset” Brexit relations.

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It comes as the PM is heading to Albania today for last-minute talks with EU leaders ahead of a major London summit, where he’s expected to sign a new defence and trade pact.

It is understood that in return, Sir Keir has put fishing rights, immigration rules and legal powers all on the line.

Writing for The Sun, Ms Badenoch said: “Keir Starmer walks into negotiations with a white flag at the ready…

“The Brexit vote was not a polite suggestion, it was a clear instruction: to put Britain first.” She warned British waters could be handed back to French trawlers “for no good reason”, calling it “a fundamental betrayal of Britain’s fishing community”.

And she raised alarm over Labour’s support for an EU Youth Mobility Scheme, saying it “would see us accepting seemingly unlimited numbers of unemployed 20-somethings from Romania and Bulgaria… all coming over here to take UK jobs.”

The Tory leader accused Labour of preparing to make Britain “a rule-taker from Brussels once again” by aligning food laws, restricting farmers from using modern crops.

And she warned the plan to join the EU’s carbon trading scheme will leave Sun readers “saddled with even more expensive bills, just so Keir Starmer can say he ‘got closer’ to Europe.”

Vowing to reverse any Brexit row backs, Ms Badenoch said: “A future Conservative Government will take them back. I will always put Britain first. And when the time comes – I will make it right.”

Ms Badenoch will head to Brussels herself today to speak at the IDU Forum – a global gathering of centre-right parties.

She will argue Britain’s relationship with EU countries can be improved without “being supplicant”.