Author: i2wtc
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari. Photo: APP/AFP LAHORE: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday and held wide-ranging discussions on political, security and regional developments, agreeing to continue political consultations on matters of national importance amid growing tension between their allied parties – the PPP and PML-N. According to the President’s House, the meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar and Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Rana Sanaullah. The PPP delegation…
A Paypal logo is seen displayed on a smartphone next to cryptocurrency coins. Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesPaxos, the blockchain partner of PayPal, mistakenly minted $300 trillion worth of the online payment giant’s stablecoin on Wednesday in what the company called a “technical error.” Market watchers had spotted the enormous injection of the PayPal PYUSD stablecoin on Etherscan — a block explorer and analytics platform for the Ethereum blockchain.Paxos had mistakenly minted the stablecoins as part of an internal transfer, before it “immediately identified the error and burned the excess PYUSD,” the company said in a social media statement. “This…
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administers the oath to PTI’s Sohail Afridi as chief minister at the Governor House in Peshawar on Wednesday, Oct 15, 2025. Photo via X PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s new Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi finally took the reins on Wednesday, stepping into office amid a storm of celebration and emotion at the Governor House, where the party’s imprisoned founder Imran Khan’s presence still loomed large over the proceedings. Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administered the oath after days of political wrangling and judicial pressure. Afridi’s elevation to the province’s top slot came after the Peshawar High Court (PHC)…
Police personnel patrol a street following crackdown on TLP activists during an anti-Israel protest in Muridke on October 13. Photo : AFP LAHORE: In the wake of the violent protests by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Punjab Police have drawn up extensive lists of the party’s leaders and senior activists for province-wide arrests, officials confirmed on Wednesday. According to police sources, Inspector General (IG) Punjab Dr Usman Anwar has finalised lists identifying 4,500 prominent TLP leaders and workers across the province. The lists have been dispatched to the CCPO Lahore and all Regional Police Officers (RPOs) with instructions to initiate immediate arrests.…
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent adjusts his glasses during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and President of Argentina Javier Milei in the Cabinet Room at the White House on Oct. 14, 2025 in Washington, DC.Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images China has been using its dominance in the rare earth industry to slash prices, driving foreign competitors out, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Wednesday stateside in an exclusive interview. He characterized the country as having “a nonmarket economy.”In response, the Trump administration will “exercise industrial policy” to set price floors in a range of industries. Price…
File: Meta President Global Affairs Nick Clegg speaks during a press conference at the Meta showroom in Brussels on December 07, 2022.Kenzo Tribouillard | Afp | Getty ImagesThe chance of a market correction in the artificial intelligence sector is “pretty high,” former Meta executive and British politician Nick Clegg warned on Wednesday, as he pushed back on the concept of artificial superintelligence. Clegg, the former deputy prime minister of the U.K. who went on to guide policy decisions at U.S. tech giant Meta, said the AI boom has resulted in “unbelievable, crazy valuations.” “There’s just absolute spasm of almost daily, hourly,…
An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 13, 2025 shows reapers harvesting corns in a field of a farming company under Beidahuang Group in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. (Photo by Lu Wenxiang/Xinhua)BEIJING, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) — China has been in a rush to harvest autumn grains, the mainstay of the country’s annual grain production, as it seeks to achieve another bumper harvest this year despite unfavorable weather conditions affecting some regions.Latest data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed that so far, more than 60 percent of the nation’s autumn grain crops have been harvested. Autumn grains typically…
Punjab Home Department gives one-month deadline to surrender illegal arms, register legal weapons Punjab is considering banning the rightwing Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan after scores of policemen were injured trying to prevent the party from marching on to Islamabad from Lahore. This would be the second time the party risks being banned. The last time was briefly in 2021 after similar street fights. The TLP wanted to head to Islamabad to protest outside the US Embassy in a show of solidarity with Palestinians. As the police and protesters clashed, the demonstrators set fire to scores of vehicles and 48 policemen were injured.…
ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday announced a staff-level agreement for the release of $1.2 billion next loan tranches after Islamabad, for now, agreed to the old pre-floods budget targets and to publish the governance report before the board meeting. The deal will cement the positive market sentiments and ensure the continuity of fragile economic stability. Pakistan’s decision not to push further its demand for relaxation in the primary budget surplus target at this stage to offset the impact of floods on the budget and to officially release the Governance and Corruption Diagnosis assessment report before the mid of…
People walk past a PCCW sign in Hong Kong.Mike Clarke | AFP | Getty Images Regulators in the U.S. have moved to block one of Hong Kong’s largest telecommunications companies from accessing domestic networks, citing national security concerns.The U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced on Wednesday that it had initiated proceedings to potentially bar HKT Trust and HKT Ltd and its subsidiaries from interconnecting with American networks, escalating concerns over its ties to China. The government agency asked HKT, which is a subsidiary of information and communication technology giant PCCW, to justify why its authorizations should not be revoked. HKT’s current hold…