Author: i2wtc

Pakistan is spying on millions of its citizens using a Chinese-built internet firewall that censors social media and a phone-tapping system, in one of the most comprehensive examples of state surveillance outside China, Amnesty International said. In a report released on Tuesday, the rights watchdog said that Pakistan’s growing monitoring network was built using both Chinese and Western technology and powered a large crackdown on dissent and free speech. Pakistan has further tightened political and media freedoms in recent years, particularly after the military broke with then-Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2022, who was later jailed and thousands of his…

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) showed no signs of slowing down its bullish run on Tuesday, as investors continued to accumulate equities, taking cues from stellar corporate earnings and an upbeat market outlook. The benchmark KSE-100 index surged to a fresh all-time high of 156,563.53, rising by 476.22 points, or 0.31%, compared to the previous day’s close. After plunging to an intra-day low of 155,044.26 earlier in the session, the index rebounded swiftly, reaching a day’s high of 157,088.81. Thereafter, the market remained in positive territory for the rest of the day, closing with modest gains of just under 500 points.…

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – JUNE 15: Flags are places at EU Council Building prior to the meeting of U.S President Joe Biden, European Council President Charles Michel and President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen for US-EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium on June 15, 2021. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)Dursun Aydemir | Anadolu Agency | Getty ImagesLONDON — The European Union is working with the U.S. as it prepares to announce its latest round of sanctions on Russia, sources told CNBC.Despite diplomatic efforts over the summer, Russia’s more than three-year-long war in Ukraine is not showing…

A woman rides an electric scooter by the Beiyuan Grand Hotel in Beijing, China August 11, 2025. Maxim Shemetov | ReutersWhile U.S. companies battle inflation, those in China are up against something very different: deflation.The high-end Beijing hotel Beiyuan Grand has been setting up stalls in the evenings to serve dishes to passers-by — as Chinese consumers and companies cut back on travel, banquets, and events. Chef Wang cooks up his specialty fried pigeon there, not in the hotel’s restaurant but out on the sidewalk.”When we sold fried pigeons inside the hotel restaurant, we used to sell only 60 to…

DOHA: Israel’s military said it conducted air strikes targeting senior Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital on Tuesday, as Doha condemned the attack — the first of its kind on Qatari territory. A Hamas official told Qatar’s Al Jazeera that its top negotiator’s son was among several people killed in Israeli strikes on Doha on Tuesday but that senior leaders survived. “The Hamas leadership survived the cowardly assassination attempt,” Hamas political official Suhail al-Hindi told the broadcaster, adding that negotiator Khalil al-Hayya’s son and aide were among the dead. Qatar, which has been a key mediator in efforts to broker…

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at Axel Springer Neubau in Berlin on Oct. 17, 2023Ben Kriemann | Getty ImagesMicrosoft said on Tuesday that employees will be expected to work in an office three days a week starting next year.Employees that work near Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, or the Puget Sound area, will be required to be in the office three days a week, starting in February. After that, the policy will extend to other U.S. locations and then to international offices.The company is sending emails to employees who live within 50 miles of a Microsoft office around Puget Sound…

The US Department of Labor headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe White House used revised jobs data released Tuesday as fodder to criticize three frequent targets of President Donald Trump: the Bureau of Labor Statistics, former President Joe Biden and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.”Today, the BLS released the largest downward revision on record proving that President Trump was right: Biden’s economy was a disaster and the BLS is broken,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.”This is exactly why we need new leadership to restore trust…

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told CNBC on Tuesday that the plane maker remains on pace to deliver about 820 commercial aircraft in 2025, even as engine production delays continue to limit its capabilities.In an interview with CNBC’s Phil LeBeau, Faury said the European company is “on track” with aircraft production and has been making “gliders,” or finished planes without engines, as it awaits engine deliveries from manufacturers CFM International and Pratt & Whitney.”All our attention will be on engine deliveries from both CFM and Pratt & Whitney, but they’re telling us that they will be able to deliver what we…

LAHORE: Residents scrambled to rooftops or treetops for safety, while authorities declared emergencies after bloated rivers breached banks in several districts of south Punjab, inundating hundreds of villages over large swaths, particularly in the Chenab basin, officials said on Monday. The Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said that the Sutlej, Ravi, and Chenab rivers remained in “very high flood” at multiple locations. It added that water would enter the Indus River on the night between Monday and Tuesday. According to officials, raging rivers breached embankments in Jalalpur Pirwala, inundating dozens of villages and forcing authorities to declare emergencies in…

Pakistan captain Salman Agha and his Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav will not tell their teammates to temper aggression when the arch-rivals clash in a geopolitically-charged men’s Asia Cup contest in Dubai on Sunday. It will be the first cricket match between the sides since four days of military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May this year. While players from both sides have shared cordial relations over the years despite geopolitical realities, both captains were asked if they would instruct their players to dial down their aggression, considering the larger context. “You don’t need to say anything to any player…