Author: i2wtc

Indian visitors talk on their mobile phones outside the Google stall at the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi on Sept. 27, 2017.Prakash Singh | AFP | Getty ImagesArtificial intelligence companies racing to expand in India are not just chasing customers — they are enlisting millions of users to help train AI models for the world.Google and Perplexity AI are offering their services free for 12 to 18 months through partnerships with local telecom providers Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, while OpenAI has made its ChatGPT Go plan free nationwide for one year.”India stands at the intersection of youth, digital…

Non-food, non-energy inflation accelerates; border closure sends tomato prices up 127% and sugar 35%, while gas jumps ISLAMABAD: Inflation rose for the second consecutive month to 6.2% last month due to movement in prices across various groups, with a notable increase in non-food and non-energy goods’ rates, indicating a buildup of underlying inflationary pressure. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Monday that the key inflation benchmark increased by 6.2% on a year-on-year basis in October. The surge was in line with the government and market expectations. The government has attributed the increase to supply shocks caused by floods…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Hamad I Mohammed | ReutersNorway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund said it will vote against Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar pay package at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting this week, rebelling against management guidance and threats from Musk to step down if the deal is rejected.Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the fund — the largest of its kind in the world, and a major shareholder in Tesla — said on Tuesday that it had already cast its vote against Musk’s remuneration package as CEO of…

K-P Assembly Committee on Law and Order expresses dissatisfaction at briefings by IGP, chief secretary PESHAWAR: A special committee of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly has expressed dissatisfaction with briefings from the chief secretary, the inspector general of police (IGP) and the home department on law-and-order situation in the province. The committee has decided to summon Peshawar’s Corps Commander to the next meeting. The committee, recently formed to oversee law-and-order and operations against terrorists in the K-P, held a partly in-camera session on Monday under the chairmanship of K-P Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati. This was the committee’s second session. According…

This image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Nov. 1, 2025 shows a group picture of the crew of Shenzhou-20 and Shenzhou-21 spaceships. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)JIUQUAN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) — Aboard China’s space station, the hot air oven delivered by the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft has begun baking, as a viral video showed astronauts savoring freshly cooked chicken wings and steaks for the first time.In the video beamed down from the space station, Shenzhou-21 crew member and space engineer Wu Fei is seen taking marinated chicken wings from a package, placing them on a skewer rack, and sliding them into the oven,…

MUZAFFARABAD: The PPP claimed last week that it was in a position to bring its prime minister in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), where the coalition government of Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq has been in trouble for the last couple of months. However, the PPP high command has yet to nominate an alternative leader of the house in the AJK Assembly, causing repeated delays in submitting a no-confidence motion against Haq. Despite claiming a numerical majority, the PPP has struggled to assert its position for over a week and a half. Sources indicate that the decision to move the…

TOPSHOT – A Super Mario character is pictured at a Nintendo display ahead of the launch of the company’s Switch 2 console, an electronics store in the city of Nagoya, Aichi prefecture on June 2, 2025.Richard A. Brooks | Afp | Getty ImagesNintendo raised its forecast for sales of the Switch 2 console in its current fiscal year as momentum for its new flagship console grows.The Japanese gaming giant said it now expects to sell 19 million units of the Switch in the fiscal year ending March 2026 versus a previous forecast of 15 million units.Here’s how Nintendo did in…

CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images The “everything store” might have secured its biggest customer yet.On Monday, Amazon announced that it had signed a $38 billion deal with OpenAI, offering the ChatGPT maker access to Amazon Web Services’ infrastructure.On the one hand, the move isn’t too surprising — a continuation of OpenAI’s spending spree as it looks to secure resources to run its power-hungry artificial intelligence models.On the other, OpenAI’s turn to Amazon shows that the firm is diversifying from its reliance on Microsoft, which had been its exclusive cloud services provider until this year. That could suggest OpenAI is getting…

Pakistan’s competition watchdog has called for national steel policy, dedicated ministry to rescue ailing sector ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has recommended the overhaul of the steel industry by announcing a national policy and setting up a dedicated ministry to revive the sector, which is struggling to survive in the face of several challenges. The CCP on Monday released a report titled “Competition Assessment Study of the Steel Sector in Pakistan.” It quoted the example of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), which has collapsed, leaving liabilities of Rs400 billion. The commission also highlighted key competition-related challenges being faced by…

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 4, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Xiang)BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Tuesday in Beijing, calling for enhanced cooperation on multiple fronts and better synergy of development strategies.Xi said that since the beginning of this year, China and Russia have steadfastly navigated a turbulent external environment with great composure, aiming for higher-level and higher-quality development goals. He added that maintaining, consolidating and advancing bilateral relations is a strategic…