Author: i2wtc

US President Donald Trump gestures towards the new flagpole on the South Lawn of the White House after arriving on Marine One in Washington, DC, US, on Saturday, June 21, 2025. Ron Sachs | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump is set Thursday afternoon to host a group of working-class Americans at the White House, as he cranks up pressure on Senate Republicans to quickly pass his massive tax-and-spending agenda.The event in support of Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” will feature a collection of what his administration describes as “everyday Americans” poised to benefit from the legislation’s tax cuts and…

Vithun Khamsong | Moment | Getty ImagesA version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.Investment firms of the ultra-rich are increasingly investing in alternative assets like real estate and venture capital, according to a new survey by BlackRock. Family offices averaged a 42% portfolio allocation to alternatives in recent months, up 3 percentage points from last year, and are making substantial changes to how they invest that capital.Nearly one-third (32%) of single-family offices planned to increase their…

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party has refused to vote in favour of new “draconian” powers for taxman to arrest people in tax fraud cases, resulting in a new round of negotiations between the two key partners of the alliance just hours before the approval of the budget from the National Assembly. On behalf of the government, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has reached out to the top PPP leadership who was hopeful to resolve the issue before the approval of the budget. The government was hopeful that after adding some more safeguards, the PPP may vote for the arrest powers…

Jeremy Allaire, CEO and co-founder of Circle Internet Group, the issuer of one of the world’s biggest stablecoins, and Circle Internet Group co-founder Sean Neville react as they ring the opening bell, on the day of the company’s IPO, in New York City, U.S., June 5, 2025.Brendan McDermid | ReutersStablecoin issuer Circle resumed its rally on Thursday after a brief pullback this week.Shares were last higher by 8%, after losing about 15% earlier over the past two days amid heightened post-IPO volatility and as investors weigh speculation around crypto regulation and the upcoming Fed rate decision.With Circle still hot off…

A still from Disney and Pixar’s animated film “Elio.”DisneyDisney’s Pixar animation studio had its worst opening ever over the weekend — and its problems aren’t unique.”Elio,” the story of a young boy who is mistakenly identified as Earth’s ambassador to the universe, tallied just $21 million in ticket sales during its first three days in theaters, a record low for the studio.The underwhelming performance fits a recent pattern among Pixar’s releases. While franchise films have lured in moviegoers, the studio’s original fare has had far less success in recent years.Just look at 2023’s “Elemental,” which brought in the previous lowest-opening…

ISLAMABAD: The defence ministers of Pakistan and India may meet for the first time since last month’s four-day military conflict, as both Khawaja Asif and his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh are attending a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in China. The two-day SCO defence ministers’ summit has begun in Qingdao City, located in China’s eastern Shandong Province. The meeting is being hosted by Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun. Both Singh and Asif are present for the event. It is the first time since Marka-e-Haq that the high-ranking officials from both the countries will be present at the same event. On…

Nikos Pekiaridis | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesRobert F. Kennedy Jr.’s revamped government panel of outside vaccine advisors on Thursday recommended the use of Merck’s shot to protect infants from respiratory syncytial virus, a temporary reprieve for public health officials and companies concerned about the Health and Human Services secretary’s immunization policy.The group, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, also voted unanimously to include Merck’s shot in the government’s list of recommended childhood immunizations that receive wide insurance coverage.The votes in favor of the injectable antibody, Enflonsia, are a sigh of relief for drugmakers and the medical community…

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry has announced the approval of Rs12 billion for transforming the Gadani Ship-Breaking Yard into a model green facility, aligning the maritime sector with international climate and environmental standards. According to an official statement released on Wednesday, while chairing a high-level meeting on the Gadani redevelopment, Chaudhry underscored the ship-breaking industry’s contribution to the economy and its potential role in the country’s climate resilience strategy. “Ship recycling must evolve to meet global sustainability standards. This transformation is essential to reduce pollution, manage hazardous waste responsibly, and contribute to a greener maritime…

Marc Benioff, Chairman & CEO of Salesforce, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22nd, 2025. Gerry Miller | CNBCSalesforce is accelerating its use of artificial intelligence in automating workloads, according to CEO Marc Benioff.”All of us have to get our head around this idea that AI could do things, that before, we were doing, and we can move on to do higher value work,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang, noting that the technology currently accounts for about 30% to 50% of the company’s work.Technology companies are hunting for…

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Justice Mansoor Ali Shah on Wednesday turned away Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who sought the court’s intervention for a meeting with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in Adiala Jail, telling him that he was knocking at the “wrong door”. Gandapur appeared in the court of Justice Shah along with senior PTI leader Advocate Latif Khosa and the K-P advocate general. Khosa requested the court to immediately hear the request for a meeting with the founder PTI because of the ongoing budget session of the provincial assembly. Gandapur said that the budget approval process…