Author: i2wtc
Nuclear cynicism in the age of impunity PUBLISHED June 22, 2025 KARACHI: Once again, the world is watching a conflict unfold beneath the shadow of an eerily familiar warning. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq on the unproven claim that Saddam Hussein possessed a stockpile of weapons — including some allegedly capable of mass destruction. The inspection process was cut short. Intelligence — later debunked — was presented to mislead the United Nations. What followed was a war that shattered Iraq, leaving its cities gutted and its people abandoned in the wreckage of a conflict built on deception. Two…
Former England fast bowler David “Syd” Lawrence has died at the age of 61 after a year-long battle with motor neurone disease (MND), his family said on Sunday. Lawrence, the first British-born Black cricketer to represent England, was diagnosed last year with MND, a degenerative condition that causes muscle wastage and affects the brain and nerves. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dave Lawrence MBE (King’s Birthday Honours) following his brave battle with Motor Neurone Disease,” Lawrence’s family said. “Syd was an inspirational figure on and off the cricket field… A proud Gloucestershire man, Syd…
US Vice President JD Vance speaks during a discussion at the Munich Leaders meeting hosted by the Munich Security Conference at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, May 7, 2025. Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty ImagesVice President JD Vance said Sunday that the United States is not at war with Iran, but with “Iran’s nuclear program,” hours after the United States’ late-night strikes on three of the country’s nuclear sites.Vance’s remarks come soon after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran’s “nuclear ambitions have been obliterated,” following the Trump administration’s strikes on facilities at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.Vance, speaking on NBC…
Staff members talk with each other at the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Tianjin) in Tianjin Municipality, north China, June 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Ran)TIANJIN, June 22 (Xinhua) — The 2025 Summer Davos forum will be held from June 24 to 26 in north China’s Tianjin Municipality, with all preparations for the meeting having been finalized, the organizers said on June 17.Also known as the 16th Annual Meeting of New Champions of the World Economic Forum, this year’s Summer Davos forum is themed “Entrepreneurship in the New Era” and is expected to bring together around 1,800 participants from over 90 countries…
PUBLISHED June 22, 2025 KARACHI: Marjan Kamali is an award-winning, Iranian-American novelist and author, whose books have received both national and international acclaim and have been translated and published in more than 25 languages. Born in Turkey to Iranian parents, she spent her childhood in Turkey, Iran, Germany, and Kenya, before settling in the US. Her debut novel, Together Tea, was published in 2013 and the third and till now the last, The Lion Women of Tehran, was published in 2024. The Stationery Shop under review here is her second book, published in 2019. Her second book, The Stationery Shop…
PUBLISHED June 22, 2025 KARACHI: In the ongoing information warfare between India and Pakistan, narratives clash with great fervor. India has, over the past few weeks, come forward accusing Pakistan of using civilian airliners as ‘shields’ for their military aircraft during high tension timelines. However, a deep dive into the OSINT data encompassing flight logs, social media timestamps, and official military briefings reveals a most sinister exploitation of commercial flights. It suggests that rather than simply getting caught in the crossfire, these airplanes were intentionally steered by Indian air traffic controllers towards the crosshairs of the IAF strike packages, which…
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Sunday that “Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated,” hours after the United States attacked three major nuclear nuclear enrichment facilities.Hegseth praised President Donald Trump’s order as “focused, it was powerful, and it was clear,” during an early morning press conference.Hegseth said that the late-night mission was “not and has not been about regime change” in Iran. “The president authorized a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interest posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self-defense of our troops and our ally Israel,” he said. Hegseth echoed remarks made by…
President of Xinhua News Agency Fu Hua meets with Raushan Kazhibayeva, director of the Kazakh president’s TV and radio complex, in Astana, Kazakhstan, June 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)ASTANA, June 22 (Xinhua) — President of Xinhua News Agency Fu Hua met with Raushan Kazhibayeva, director of the Kazakh president’s TV and radio complex, here on Sunday.During the meeting, the two sides signed a cooperation agreement.Fu noted that the global information landscape is undergoing profound changes. He affirmed Xinhua’s readiness to work with the Kazakh president’s TV and radio complex to build consensus, strengthen mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation, enhance technology…
PUBLISHED June 22, 2025 KARACHI: In June 2023, the world momentarily paused to follow the fate of five men trapped inside a small carbon fibre tube descending into the depths of the Atlantic. Aboard the OceanGate submersible named Titan, their mission was to witness the graveyard of another failed engineering marvel — the Titanic. However, it was barely 90 minutes into their descent that the Titan lost contact with the surface ship. A multinational search effort was launched and for days, headlines speculated the possibility of survival and the fate that met the adventurers on board the submersible. TV new…
An aerial drone photo taken in 2024 shows a view of Xidian Town in Ninghai County of Ningbo, east China’s Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua)HANGZHOU, June 22 (Xinhua) — In the product showroom of a flashlight manufacturer in east China’s Zhejiang Province, rows of innovative lighting devices defy conventional expectations.Among them is a neck-worn model with 360-degree adjustable lighting, which can also serve as a magnetic work lamp when fixed on iron articles. A camping light with a built-in Bluetooth speaker caters to outdoor enthusiasts, while another model features a window-breaker for emergency situations.Far from obsolete, modern flashlights play critical roles in…