Author: i2wtc
The high-stakes summit on Friday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin did not result in a breakthrough, even as Trump described it as “productive,” while Putin proposed another meeting in Moscow.The White House had played down the talks — initially seen as an attempt at securing a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine — with spokesperson Karoline Leavitt calling the summit, “a listening exercise for the president.” Following the Friday meeting Trump said, “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”Ukraine was not part of the discussions, stoking concerns that a potential deal could have compromised the country’s sovereignty.…
BEIJING: A Chinese diplomat, who Reuters reported had been taken for questioning by Chinese authorities, appeared at a diplomatic event in Beijing on Friday evening. Sun Haiyan, a senior Chinese diplomat and former ambassador to Singapore, appeared as a guest at an event organised by India’s embassy in Beijing. In response to a question from Reuters at the event, Sun did not comment directly on whether authorities had detained or questioned her, saying, “Well, I’m here.” She called the Reuters report “irresponsible”. Reuters had reported on Friday that Sun had been taken for questioning by authorities earlier this month, citing…
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he holds a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Puting following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025. Jeenah Moon | ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil but might have to “in two or three weeks.”Trump has threatened sanctions on Moscow and secondary sanctions on countries that buy its oil if no moves are made to end the war in…
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the country on Friday to move towards more self-reliance, manufacture everything from fertilisers to jet engines and EV batteries, and vowed to protect farmers in the face of a trade conflict with Washington. With the punishing tariffs imposed on Indian exports by US President Donald Trump expected to hurt growth in the world’s fastest growing major economy, Modi announced lower goods and services taxes (GST) from October — a move that could help boost consumption. He also announced India would set up a new defence system called ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ in the aftermath of…
PESHAWAR: A deluge of biblical proportions struck upcountry areas as monsoon rains, cloudbursts and landslides wreaked havoc, claiming more than 200 lives in just 24 hours, officials reported on Friday — a catastrophe survivors likened to the ‘doomsday’. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) bore the brunt of the disaster of apocalyptic scale, with Buner district at the eye of the storm. Entire communities were swept off their feet, homes demolished and entire families lost in the blink of an eye. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued a grim update late on Friday evening, confirming 194 fatalities nationwide. Of these, 180 were recorded in…
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to scale up relief and rescue operations across flood-hit regions of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), as the death toll from the latest spell of torrential rains and landslides climbed to 189 in the past 24 hours. A special emergency cell has also been established at the Prime Minister’s Office to ensure 24/7 coordination of relief efforts and monitor the evolving situation. Chairing an emergency meeting to review the damage caused by monsoon rains and cloudbursts in northern Pakistan, the prime minister ordered the…
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir has directed all Pakistan Army units deployed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) to intensify relief and rehabilitation efforts for communities ravaged by unprecedented monsoon floods, issuing special operational orders to reinforce local response. According to security sources, the army chief has dispatched additional troops to the hardest-hit zones while senior military commanders coordinate closely with civil authorities. “Every soldier’s one‑day salary has been dedicated to flood‑affected populations,” the sources said, adding that over 600 tonnes of army rations have also been donated to bolster relief supplies. Complementing ground efforts, the Corps of Engineers…
U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a joint press conference after concluding their talks in Anchorage, Alaska, the United States, on Aug. 15, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)ANCHORAGE, United States, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) — U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared at a joint press conference on Friday after concluding their talks in Anchorage, the U.S. state of Alaska.The talks, held at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in the city of Anchorage, lasted about three hours.It was the first face-to-face meeting between the presidents of the two countries since 2021. ■U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and…
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference at the Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., on July 8, 2025. David A. Grogan | CNBCOpenAI is preparing to sell around $6 billion in stock as part of a secondary sale that would value the company at roughly $500 billion, CNBC confirmed Friday.The shares would be sold by current and former employees to investors including SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group and Thrive Capital, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be named due to the confidential…
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he had made “great progress” during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.”There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway,” he told reporters during a joint press conference after the meeting.Trump and Putin met face-to-face for almost three hours over Moscow’s war in Ukraine on Friday, the Kremlin said, as the two world leaders sought an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe in 80 years.Trump and Putin, along with top foreign-policy aides,…