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Listen to article ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) held a high-level meeting today at the Finance Division to discuss the draft regulatory framework for digital and virtual assets in Pakistan. The meeting, chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, focused on aligning the country’s regulatory framework with international standards and adapting to evolving technological trends in the digital finance and crypto sector. A key discussion point was the establishment of an autonomous regulatory authority to oversee and regulate the crypto and digital finance ecosystem in Pakistan. The goal is to create a secure, transparent, and innovation-friendly regulatory environment that promotes responsible blockchain…
PodcastPodcast, The TakeAuthor of The Palestine Laboratory joins The Take to discuss Israel’s military-tech industry. Israel’s war on Gaza has turbocharged its already booming military-tech industry, with weapons and surveillance systems tested on Palestinians continuing to be sold around the world. Israel’s role as a global arms innovator has only deepened since October 7, 2023, and some governments and corporations are profiting. In this episode: Episode credits: This episode was produced by Khaled Soltan, Sonia Bhagat and Ashish Malhotra, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Kingwell Ma, Kisaa Zehra, Mariana Navarette, Manny Panaretos and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was…
Listen to article A former senior US official has said Israel has “without a doubt” committed war crimes in Gaza, revealing internal disagreements within the Biden administration over Washington’s handling of the conflict. In an interview with the Trump 100 podcast, Matthew Miller, who served as the State Department spokesperson under President Joe Biden, offered an unusually candid assessment of the administration’s foreign policy challenges, particularly surrounding Israel’s military operations in Gaza. “It is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes,” Miller said, adding that Israeli soldiers were not being held accountable and that there were ongoing policy disagreements…
Japan has introduced new rules restricting how names are spelled and pronounced. The new regulations, announced last week, aim to quell a growing practice of Japanese parents giving their babies unconventional names, known as “kira kira”, or glittery, in kanji, one of Japan’s major writing systems. But why are such names a problem for Japanese authorities? And do the new rules spell disaster for parents who want to break the mould and name their children Nike, the shoe brand, or Pikachu, the little lagomorphic animated character with lightning powers, which is part of the Japanese media franchise Pokemon? What are…
An aerial drone photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows trucks loaded with equipment for export to Vietnam in Guangxi Pingxiang Integrated Free Trade Zone in Pingxiang, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming)TIANJIN, June 3 (Xinhua) — Just 20 km from central Hanoi, in Vietnam’s famed furniture-making region, Nguyen Lan grew up surrounded by business. Today, the 24-year-old has come to China, aiming to leverage social media and her Chinese language skills to bridge the markets of the two countries via e-commerce.The sophomore at Tianjin University in north China’s Tianjin Municipality developed a strong interest in cross-border commerce…
ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday approved a Rs1 trillion federal development budget and set the economic growth target at 4.2% for the next fiscal year, as Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that the development budget cuts could compromise economic growth and delay strategic projects. The Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) approved a record Rs4.1 trillion national development outlay, primarily backed by a Rs2.8 trillion financing envelope from the four provinces. Despite limited resources, the Sindh government secured Rs86 billion from the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), leveraging its alliance with the ruling coalition. “The Pakistan Peoples Party took advantage…
Listen to article Police in Karachi have arrested an individual accused of involvement assaulting a motorcyclist in DHA Phase 6’s Khayaban-e-Ittehad area on Monday, Express News reported. His security guard and driver were taken into custody earlier, and the vehicle involved in the incident was also impounded. اتنے بھرے مجمع میں کوئی انسان نہیں تھا جو اس خاتون کی مدد کو آتا، ہم لوگ اخلاقی طور پر گراوٹ کا شکار ہیں..!ڈیفینس فیز 6 میں موٹر سائیکل کی ٹکر لگنے پر مارکیٹنگ کمپنی اور میڈیا ہاؤس BIONIC کے مالک سلمان فاروقی نے موٹر سائیکل والے کو اپنی گاڑی میں بٹھا کر تشدد کرتا…
Listen to article Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Monday that institutional reforms are progressing rapidly across all sectors, as part of a broader effort to eliminate corruption and address persistent gaps in transparency. “All government institutions are working tirelessly to eliminate corruption and other deficiencies, such as lack of transparency,” Shehbaz said while chairing a high-level meeting on Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) reforms in Islamabad. READ MORE: PM purges FBR of corrupt officials The prime minister directed officials to engage internationally recognised audit firms for third-party validation of reforms underway within the FBR to ensure credibility and external accountability. Shehbaz also…
Listen to article Pakistan on Monday strongly criticised recent comments by Indian leaders, describing them as reflective of a hostile and dangerous mindset that undermines regional peace. The statement from Pakistan’s Foreign Office followed remarks made by India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson on May 29, when he claimed that talks on Kashmir would only proceed if Pakistan “hands over Azad Jammu and Kashmir” to India. Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said any attempt to blame Pakistan for instability in the region was disconnected from facts. “The international community is well aware of India’s aggressive conduct, including documented evidence of support…
Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO of Snowflake, speaks at the Semafor World Economy Summit in Washington on April 25, 2025.Tasos Katopodis | Semafor | Getty ImagesData analytics software maker Snowflake said Monday it has agreed to buy Crunchy Data, a startup that offers cloud-based database software. Snowflake will pay about $250 million, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly about the deal.Crunchy Data sells access to a cloud-hosted version of the PostgreSQL open-source database, which replaced MySQL as the most popular database in Stack Overflow’s annual developer survey in 2023. Crunchy Data’s service includes…