Author: i2wtc

Seasonal hiring in the retail industry is poised to fall to its lowest level since the 2009 recession, an early warning sign that the holiday shopping season could be softer than expected, job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in a Wednesday report. Challenger is projecting retailers may add under 500,000 positions in the final three months of 2025, marking the smallest seasonal gain in 16 years and an 8% decline from the year-ago period. “Seasonal employers are facing a confluence of factors this year: tariffs loom, inflationary pressures linger, and many companies continue to rely on automation and permanent staff…

If you’re an engineer completing your four-year bachelor’s programme and enter the industry, companies are frustrated you have no experience. But now, Huawei and the Pakistan government are trying to fill this gap by training 300,000 young people.“If even one million youth earn an average of $10,000 annually, the economic impact would be massive,” an official from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication told APP wire agency.The announcement of the partnership comes as the federal cabinet approved the National AI Policy to turn Pakistan in a digital-based economy.The IT ministry launched a training portal at the inauguration at the…

The Pakistan women’s team on Wednesday started training for the Women’s Cricket World Cup, in Sri Lanka’s Colombo, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. The Women in Green arrived in the Sri Lankan capital late on Tuesday as the tournament is set to start on September 30 in India’s Guwahati. The eight-nation showpiece will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka from Sept 30 to Nov 2. However, Pakistan — under an International Cricket Council (ICC) hybrid model decided by the ICC due to political strains between New Delhi and Islamabad — will play all their matches of the event…

Ford-150 pickup trucks are displayed for sale at a dealership on March 24, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty ImagesDETROIT — Ford Motor is trying to boost sales of its crucial F-150 pickup truck before the end of the third quarter by offering special financing to consumers with less-than-perfect credit ratings.The move includes offering consumers with subprime credit — those with a FICO score below 620 — lower interest rates that are typically offered to those with quality scores, the automaker’s Ford Credit financial arm confirmed Wednesday.Such promotions aren’t unprecedented and are an effort to make vehicles more affordable…

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged the International Monetary Fund to weigh the impact of recent floods in Pakistan while considering the bailout programme. “We are making steady progress towards meeting programme targets, but the devastation caused by the floods may please be considered in the IMF’s review,” Sharif mentioned during his meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva in New York. The press statement, released from the PM office, appreciated the IMF’s “longstanding constructive partnership” with Pakistan, saying it had “further strengthened under Ms Georgieva’s leadership.” The statement highlighted the IMF’s timely support through a $3…

Instagram has installed a new privacy setting which will default all new and existing underage accounts to an automatic private mode.Brandon Bell | Getty ImagesInstagram now has 3 billion monthly active users, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday.”What an incredible community we’ve built here,” Zuckerberg posted on his Instagram channel.The figure is a major milestone for the photo-sharing app, which the social media company acquired in 2012 for $1 billion.Meta last disclosed Instagram’s user figures in October 2022 when Zuckerberg said during an earnings call that the app had crossed 2 billion monthly users.Meta said in April 2024 that it…

Pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi has declared that the Green Shirts will reach the Asia Cup final and can beat India if the arch-rivals clash again. Pakistan kept their campaign alive with a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a Super Four clash in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Pakistan and India have met twice in this edition of the regional competition, but the two teams have never played against each other in an Asia Cup final. The regional tournament, played this time in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under the Twenty20 format, started in 1984, and this is its 17th edition.…

(L-R) U.S. President Donald Trump and Rolex CEO Jean-Frederic Dufour arrive in the Rolex suite prior to the Men’s Singles Final match between Jannik Sinner of Italy and Carlos Alcaraz of Spain on Day Fifteen of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 07, 2025 in New York City. Matthew Stockman | Getty ImagesSen. Elizabeth Warren served Rolex with a critical letter on Wednesday for hosting President Donald Trump at the U.S. Open, alleging that the Swiss company could be trying to sidestep tariffs slapped on its home country.The Massachusetts Democrat said that…

Sales of newly built homes rose a much larger-than-expected 20.5% in August compared with July to the highest level since January 2022, according to the U.S. Census. It is also the largest one-month gain since August 2022. Sales were 15.4% higher than August 2024.This count is based on people out shopping in August and signing deals, when the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage was higher than it is today. That rate started August at 6.63%, according to Mortgage News Daily, and didn’t really move much during the month.The sharp decline in rates began in September, when it fell…

Microsoft is the lead investor in OpenAI and has long been the artificial intelligence startup’s key cloud partner. But in the latest sign that AI relationships are getting complicated, Microsoft is beginning to use more technology from OpenAI rival Anthropic.The software giant said Wednesday that it’s starting to draw on an AI model from Anthropic to answer some queries in the Microsoft 365 Copilot assistant for commercial clients.The effort represents another step toward diversification in generative AI for Microsoft, which has mainly relied on OpenAI models for artificial intelligence features in Bing, Windows and other products. As part of a…