Author: i2wtc

If it feels like there are a lot of new drinks on restaurant menus, it’s because there are.Driven by younger consumers who crave customized, cold beverages, chains from Dunkin’ to Dutch Bros, Starbucks and McDonald’s are answering the call.The number of beverages offered by the top 500 chains has increased by more than 9% in the last year, according to Technomic’s 2025 Away-From-Home Beverage Navigator Report. Companies have leaned even more into cold drinks. Offerings like specialty coffees and energy drinks have seen the most growth on menus over the past two years, as hot coffee and tea beverages on…

Malaika Noor, a young 20-year-old Pakistani judoka, showcased an outstanding performance in the 52kg category. Despite her best efforts, she narrowly missed the gold, settling for a silver medal after losing in the final. In the semifinal, she impressively defeated Raneem Aljazazi of the host country, Jordan. With this remarkable achievement, Malaika becomes the first-ever Pakistani female to win a silver medal in any Asian-level judo competition. Last year, Malaika also represented Pakistan at the World Junior Judo Championship 2024 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Her consistent progress marks her as one of the country’s most promising athletes. The President of Pakistan…

Idrees Abbas | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesCrypto stocks suffered Tuesday as investors fled tech stocks and riskier corners of the market.Among crypto exchanges, Coinbase and eToro fell more than 5% and 6%, respectively, while Robinhood and Bullish both dropped more than 6%. Crypto financial services firm Galaxy Digital tumbled 10%. In the burgeoning sector of crypto treasury firms, Strategy lost 7%, SharpLink Gaming slid 8%, Bitmine Immersion slumped 9% and DeFi Development tumbled 13%. Stablecoin issuer Circle lost 4.5%.Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin pulled back nearly 3% to just over $113,000. Ether was down more than 5%…

At least three more people have died in heavy rains in northern China, state media said on Tuesday, taking to 13 the death toll in recent storms across the region, with five still missing and no let-up in rain forecast. Downpours heavier than usual have battered parts of China in extreme weather since July, with the East Asian monsoon rains stalling over its north and south. Three bodies were retrieved from flood waters in the Inner Mongolia city of Ordos, the official news agency Xinhua said, while three people were reported missing about 70 km (44 miles) away near the…

Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks speaks on CNBC.CNBCDatabricks has just entered an exclusive club. The data analytics software vendor said Tuesday that it’s raising a funding round that values the company at over $100 billion. That would make Databricks just the fourth private company to eclipse the $100 billion mark, following SpaceX, ByteDance and OpenAI, according to data from CB Insights.Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan that the total round will exceed $1 billion. The company was last valued by private investors at $62 billion in a $10 billion financing round late last year. In June, Databricks executives…

Photos of a gun and parts of military electronics that were found on Shenghua Wen’s phone, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.Courtesy: U.S. Department of JusticeA Chinese national living in the U.S. was sentenced to eight years in prison for conspiring to illegally smuggle guns, ammunition and sensitive U.S. technology to North Korea, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.Shenghua Wen, 42, pleaded guilty in June to one count each of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.Wen had admitted to concealing the contraband inside shipping containers that…

Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer attend “Stranger Things” and Award Presentation To The Duffer Brothers (Variety Showrunner Award) during Day 1 of the 13th SCAD TVfest on February 05, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.Paras Griffin | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty ImagesThe masterminds behind the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things” have inked a new deal.The Duffer Brothers, the creative team of Matt and Ross Duffer, signed an exclusive four-year agreement with Paramount, newly merged with Skydance, for feature films, television and streaming projects.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.The Duffer Brothers’ contract with Netflix ends in April 2026. Upon that…

CEO of Palantir Technologies Alex Karp attends the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 15, 2025. Andrew Caballero-reynolds | Afp | Getty ImagesPalantir’s stock slumped more than 9% on Tuesday, falling for a fifth straight day to continue its pullback from all-time highs.The artificial intelligence software provider’s stock has slid more than 15% over the last five trading sessions, after a stellar earnings report earlier this month propelled shares to all-time highs. The report was Palantir’s first-ever $1 billion revenue quarter.Tuesday’s dip coincided with a broader market pullback.Palantir is…

ISLAMABAD: Earthquake tremors were felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) early Tuesday morning, after a 5.2 earthquake struck the region, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said in a statement. Tremors were also experienced in Peshawar, Swat, and Abbottabad, PMD confirmed.   According to PMD’s alert, the earthquake occurred at 10.20 am PST at a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was located in the Hindu Kush mountain ranges of Afghanistan at a depth of 190 kilometers. The Provincial Disaster Managemnet of Punjab confirmed there were no casualties or damage reported from anywhere in the…

U.S. President Donald Trump walks with North American Flat-Rolled Segment Senior Vice President and Chief Manufacturing Officer Scott Buckiso, Plant manager of Irvin and Fairless Plant Donald German and Mon Valley Works United Steel Corporation Vice President Kurt Barshick, as he visits U.S. Steel Corporation–Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 30, 2025.Leah Millis | ReutersThe Trump administration has quietly expanded its 50% steel and aluminum tariffs to include more than 400 additional product categories, vastly increasing the reach and impact of this arm of its trade agenda.The new tariffs, which took effect Monday, expand the scope of the…