Author: i2wtc
Russ Vought, Director of the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB), speaks at the National Conservative Convention in Washington D.C., Sept. 3, 2025. Dominic Gwinn | Afp | Getty ImagesThe Trump administration has put on hold $2.1 billion in Chicago infrastructure projects, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said in a social media post on Friday.Vought’s announcement on the third day of the U.S. government shutdown comes on the heels of two other moves by the Trump administration targeting funding in cities and states led by Democrats, whose party is being blamed by the administration for the…
Taylor Swift performs onstage during The Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium on June 21, 2024, in London.Kevin Mazur | Getty ImagesOn Friday, 24-year-old Tayra McDaniels will scamper down the stairs of her East Village apartment building and pick up four preordered vinyl editions of Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Life of a Showgirl” — each a different color and with a different collectible cover. Then she’ll head over to Target to snag three more exclusive CDs and another vinyl, she said.The haul will cost her more than $200. “I know it’s a lot of money,” she said. “But I don’t…
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos speaks with John Elkann, CEO of Exor and chairman of Ferrari at Italian Tech Week on October 3, 2025.Arjun Kharpal | CNBCTURIN, Italy — Artificial intelligence is currently in an “industrial bubble” but the technology is “real” and will bring big benefits to society, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos said on Friday.The term bubble usually refers to a period of inflated stock prices or valuations of companies that have disconnected from the fundamentals of a business. One of the most famous bubbles that burst was the 2000 dotcom crash where the value of internet companies plummeted.Exor CEO…
* The China Wuqiao International Circus Festival is one of the world’s three major acrobatic competitions, alongside the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in Monaco and the World Circus Festival of Tomorrow in Paris.* While preserving its traditional art, Wuqiao is also leveraging its unique cultural legacy to spur economic growth and improve residents’ quality of life.* Wuqiao has been building cultural bridges through international acrobatic exchange. Since 2002, the Hebei Wuqiao Acrobatic Art School has trained more than 1,000 international students from over 30 countries and regions.SHIJIAZHUANG, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) — Beneath the bright theater lights, four Tanzanian acrobats…
ISLAMABAD: Senior counsel Dr Farogh Naseem has argued that super tax is not an additional taxa contention with which Supreme Court judge Jamal Khan Mandokhail has disagreed. The five-member constitutional bench (CB) of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, on Thursday resumed hearing of petitions filed against imposition of the super tax. During the hearing, Justice Mandokhail asked whether other high courts had given rulings on the amendment to Section 99D of the Income Tax Ordinance. Dr Naseem replied that the Sindh High Court had dismissed the petitions, while cases were still pending before the Islamabad High Court…
Founded in 2022, ElevenLabs is an AI voice generation startup based in London. It competes with the likes of Speechmatics and Hume AI.Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesArtificial intelligence companies are the hottest ticket items in today’s startup ecosystem but the pace of change is dominated by developments at OpenAI and Anthropic. For startups building on top of their models, it’s sink or swim. With the U.S. currently surging ahead in the large language model (LLM) race, which demands huge checks, Europe’s opportunity lies in building tools that make AI useful, which is known as the application layer.”That’s also where…
Walmart-backed OnePay offers credit and debit cards, high-yield savings accounts, buy now, pay later loans and a digital wallet with peer-to-peer payments.Photo obtained from OnePay websiteOnePay, the fintech firm majority-owned by Walmart, will soon offer cryptocurrency trading and custody on its mobile app, CNBC has learned.OnePay will offer customers access to bitcoin and ether later this year with help from the startup Zerohash, according to people with knowledge of the matter who declined to be identified before an official announcement.The move shows that OnePay, founded by Walmart and venture firm Ribbit Capital in 2021, sees crypto as a core offering as…
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz declared on Thursday that she would continue to raise her voice for the people of Punjab, emphasising that she will “never apologise” for doing so, as she highlighted the achievements of her government in the past one-and-a-half years. Speaking at a ceremony honouring top students in Lahore, the chief minister spoke about flood relief efforts, reforms in the province’s education sector, measures against harassment, and several other initiatives. “If Maryam Nawaz does not speak about the dignity of Punjab, then who will?” she asked while addressing the ceremony. “I am the guardian of Punjab,…
Chefs make traditional dishes at a restaurant in Enhe Village of Hulun Buir, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Sept. 26, 2025.Enhe, a Russian ethnic township in the northeastern corner of Inner Mongolia, has for years drawn travelers seeking its inspiring blend of Chinese-Russian culture, hearty cuisine and sweeping natural vistas.In recent years, Enhe has developed its tourism industry by promoting unique activities such as local family visiting, Russian bread making and Matryoshka doll painting.In 2013, the village was listed in the second batch of traditional Chinese villages catalog, sharing its diverse cultures with warmth and inclusiveness. (Xinhua/Ma Jinrui)People have…
ISLAMABAD: The devastating floods that struck the country this year have so far caused an estimated Rs3,856 billion in damages, while the economy faces an additional Rs740 billion in potential losses, officials from the Ministry of Planning disclosed on Thursday. The revelation came during a briefing at the meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by MNA Mirza Ikhtiar Baig at the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Planning Division officials informed the committee that based on data collected from provinces, preliminary estimates of flood damages amounted to Rs 3,856 billion nationwide. The economic potential losses were calculated…