Author: i2wtc

Shehbaz open to talks if Afghans serious, Pakistan warns patience wearing thin, Accuses India of trying to escalatePakistan-Afghanistan border at Chaman. PHOTO: FILE ISLAMABAD: Senior officials from Pakistan and the Taliban regime are expected to meet in Doha to find a solution to the banned TTP and other terror groups operating from Afghanistan, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said Pakistan was ready to talk to Kabul provided it showed seriousness to address the country’s legitimate security concerns. As the truce holds, the prime minister told his cabinet colleagues that despite repeated efforts to convince Kabul to take action…

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressing crowd of demonstrators outside the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty ImagesOpenAI halted artificial intelligence-generated videos of Martin Luther King Jr. after users utilized its short-form video tool Sora to create “disrespectful depictions” of the civil rights leader.”While there are strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures, OpenAI believes public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used,” OpenAI said in a post to social media platform X.The ChatGPT maker said it will work to toughen…

ISLAMABAD: A session of the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research on Thursday witnessed sharp criticism from members over the ministry’s performance and lack of follow-up on previous meeting directives. The panel, chaired by Senator Syed Masroor Ahsan, was informed that the report on the implementation of decisions from earlier meetings could not be presented. Several senators expressed dissatisfaction, saying the ministry appeared indifferent to parliamentary oversight. Senator Dinesh Kumar remarked that such committee meetings served little purpose when all members remained unaware of progress on key issues. Federal Minister for National Food Security Rana Tanveer Hussain…

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will speak by phone on Friday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss the ongoing trade negotiations between the United States and China, a senior Trump administration official told CNBC’s Eamon Javers.Additional details about the call, including the specific time it would take place or the next steps to be discussed, were not immediately clear.But the scheduled conversation could signal progress in the U.S.-China relationship, which hit a rocky patch this past week after President Donald Trump reacted to Beijing’s new export controls by threatening an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports.Trump, asked in a…

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 leads Carlos Sainz of Spain driving (55) the Ferrari SF-24 and Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes into turn 1 at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos RodriguezPeter Fox – Formula 1 | Formula 1 | Getty ImagesApple and Formula 1 announced a five-year media rights deal Friday that will bring every F1 race to Apple TV beginning in 2026.Apple TV will provide coverage of all Formula 1 events, including practice, qualifying and Sprint sessions, as…

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMeta on Friday announced new safety features that will allow parents to see and manage how their teenagers are interacting with artificial intelligence characters on the company’s platforms.Parents will have the option to turn off one-on-one chats with AI characters completely, Meta said. They will also be able to block specific AI characters, get insight into the topics their children are discussing with them.Meta is still building the controls,…

Afghan security stands guard at a fenced corridor of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan on December 3, 2023. PHOTO: AFP PESHAWAR: With the onset of winter, Pakistani security agencies have warned of a growing threat of terrorists crossing over from Afghanistan into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). Officials say terrorist groups have altered their strategy, attempting to infiltrate through the border regions of Chitral, Kurram, Bajaur, and Khyber. However, timely response by security forces successfully foiled these attempts and prevented the formation of new terror networks. According to police sources, a fresh security plan has been drawn up following recent cross-border…

An automatic teller machine at the Zions Bank headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, on July 10, 2023.Kim Raff | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThis is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:1. Calling the exterminatorStocks dropped yesterday amid mounting fears on Wall Street about the prevalence of bad loans, and what it means for a slew of regional banks. That’s led to some “cockroach” hunting, as investors race to assess the health of financial institutions’ lending businesses.Let’s break this down:Earlier this week, JPMorgan…

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 21, 2023 shows the full Internet of Things container terminal of Tianjin Port in north China’s Tianjin. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)SHANGHAI, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) — China has built 60 automated container terminals, continuing to lead the world in smart port construction, according to a press conference on the upcoming 2025 North Bund Forum held on Friday.In addition to the scaled development of automated container terminals, the construction of smart waterways is also accelerating. China’s national electronic waterway chart covers total mileage of over 10,000 kilometers.In the first eight months of 2025, China’s waterway freight volume reached…

Court grants protective bail till No 18, orders full disclosure of cases against K-P CM PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday approved the protective bail plea of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and restrained law enforcement agencies from arresting or harassing him. The court also directed the authorities to submit details of all criminal cases registered against the chief minister. The case was heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Ejaz Anwar and Justice Naeem Anwar. Chief Minister Afridi was represented by his counsels Bashir Khan Wazir, Alam Khan Adinzai, and Advocate General Shah Faisal Utmanzai. In the…