Author: i2wtc
Firefighters are struggling to contain the wildfires, which continue to grow rapidly in size, fuelled by strong winds and dry conditions.South Korean authorities have declared ongoing wildfires the worst to ever hit the country, as the death toll rose again and the affected area doubled in size. The wildfires – which began late on Friday in Sancheong county in Northern Gyeongsang province – have now killed at least 26 people, local authorities said on Thursday. Approximately 81,500 acres (33,000 hectares) of land have burned, more than double the area that was reported on Wednesday and far surpassing South Korea’s previous…
LAHORE: After Germany’s junior hockey team, Oman’s national squad is visiting Pakistan from April 6 to play four matches against Pakistan juniors, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Tariq Hussain Bugti said on Wednesday. Bugti said this while addressing a press conference after Pakistan hockey player Ammad Shakeel Butt was honoured for being awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz on the Pakistan Day. Bugti was flanked by Ammad, PHF secretary Rana Mujahid and newly-appointed head coach Tahir Zaman. The PHF said that it was a moment of pride for the country’s hockey fraternity that Ammad was honoured with a civil award. “The Oman team will…
Listen to article ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan has clarified that no visit to Israel was possible under existing regulations using Pakistan’s passport which was not valid for the purpose. The spokesperson, responding to media queries, said that the Government of Pakistan had noted reports regarding Pakistani journalists traveling to Israel. “In this regard, it is clarified that Pakistani passports explicitly state they are “not valid for travel to Israel.” Therefore, no such visit is possible under existing regulations,” he explained. The spokesperson said that Pakistan’s position on Israel remained unchanged. Pakistan does not recognize Israel and steadfastly supports the…
US president said ‘we have to convince them’, as he claimed taking control of Greenland was essential for US national security.United States President Donald Trump has re-asserted his desire for Washington to take control of Greenland, in advance of a controversial planned visit to the Danish autonomous territory by Vice President JD Vance. “We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it,” Trump said in an interview on Wednesday. “I hate to put it that way, but we’re going to have to have it,” he said. Since returning to the White House in…
Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip, Palestine – Listening to the radio a few days ago outside the tent he now has to call home, 77-year-old Mohammed al-Nabahin heard about an Israeli plan to establish a “voluntary” migration office for Palestinians in Gaza. The news report gave al-Nabahin the details. An agency planned by Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, and approved by the cabinet. Its aim was to organise and secure the exit of Palestinians “wishing to migrate” to third countries. Palestinians returning to their original villages in historical Palestine was not mentioned. The plan follows some similar suggestions by US President Donald…
Listen to article ISLAMABAD: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Wednesday said reaffirmed its previous stance that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Transgender Bill contains the same unIslamic elements as the Transgender Act of 2018, which had been declared inconsistent with Islamic principles by the council and the Federal Shariat Court. The matter was taken up during a meeting in which the CII members deliberated on a total of 19 agenda items. The session was chaired by CII Chairman Dr Muhammad Raghib Hussain Naeemi. Additionally, the council expressed concerns over the bill’s inclusion of the Guru-Chela (mentor-disciple) concept, deeming it unIslamic. The council…
The Alibaba office building in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, on Aug. 28, 2024.CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesAlibaba Cloud launched Thursday its latest artificial intelligence model in its “Qwen series,” as large language model competition in China continues to heat up following the “DeepSeek moment.”The new “Qwen2.5-Omni-7B” is a multimodal model, which means it can process inputs, including text, images, audio and videos, while generating real-time text and natural speech responses, according to an announcement on Alibaba Cloud’s website. The company says that the model can be deployed on edge devices like mobile phones, offering high efficiency without compromising performance. “This…
WELLINGTON: Pakistan are looking to play white-ball cricket with a new approach and it will take some time before they start reaping the benefits of it, the team’s Twenty20 International captain Salman Ali Agha has said. Salman led an inexperienced side — barring the likes of a few seniors — against New Zealand in the five-match series, which ended with Pakistan’s eight-wicket loss in the final fixture on Wednesday. Salman and co. managed to win only one of the five matches, taking the third T20I by nine wickets, as the side chased down 205 with four overs to spare, thanks…
Listen to article ISLAMABAD: As many as 18 US intelligence agencies have declared the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as a “potential future threat” to Washington. A 30-page report prepared by the agencies and published on Tuesday said in South Asia, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) operations in recent years have focused exclusively on targeting the government of Pakistan, probably to avoid drawing more counterterrorism pressure. “However, TTP’s capabilities, historical ties to al-Qaeda, and previous support to operations targeting the United States keep us concerned about the potential future threat,” the report notes. Pakistan has long warned the international community, including the United States, about…
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,127Here is the roundup of key events as of Thursday, March 27. Fighting Russian forces launched a mass drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, injuring nine people and causing considerable damage, according to emergency services and Ukrainian officials. A Russian drone attack also triggered fires in the central city of Dnipro, according to regional governor Serhiy Lysak. No casualties were immediately reported. The mayor of Ukraine’s southern port of Mykolaiv said there were emergency power outages early on Wednesday in the city, following an attack by Russian drones. The Ukrainian military said…