Author: i2wtc

A newly-wed couple is pictured during a group wedding on the south square of the Shenyang Palace Museum in Shenyang, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, May 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Gang)BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — China’s marriage registry offices were busier than usual this year, with nearly 3.54 million couples tying the knot in the first half of 2025, a notable increase of 109,000 compared with the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.China recorded 6.106 million marriage registrations throughout 2024, down 20.5 percent year-on-year. The unexpected rebound in marriages this year has sparked optimism that China’s recent…

A robot host is staged during the opening ceremony of the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Han)BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — The 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety.The details were shared by Qiao Hong, president of the World Robot Cooperation Organization (WRCO), in a report titled 10 Trends of Embodied Intelligent Robots 2025 during the opening ceremony of the conference.The report highlights embodied cognition as being driven by…

Listen to article ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sought an explanation for missing three International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions, as Punjab blames the Centre for weak revenue projections and withholding its share of taxes — a shortfall that led to the province breaching its cash surplus target. Sources said the federal government believes the target was missed due to Punjab’s overspending on development, despite both governments being led by the PML-N. The premier had asked for a response from the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Board of Revenue to The Express Tribune’s story regarding Pakistan missing three key IMF targets. The…

When venture capitalist Keith Rabois got into e-commerce, he couldn’t stop buying brands. Now, everything must go.OpenStore, co-founded by Rabois in 2021, is shutting down nearly all of the 40-plus Shopify stores it acquired, and it’s in the process of liquidating any remaining inventory by offering steep discounts to move merchandise.Earlier this week, the company announced it plans to focus solely on growing Jack Archer, the menswear brand it bought for $837,000 in 2022. The website address open.store now redirects to jackarcher.com.The dramatic downsizing to a single brand comes as OpenStore in recent weeks raised a $15 million funding round…

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks, as he makes an announcement on the economy, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 7, 2025. Jonathan Ernst | ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for Russia to cease its war in Ukraine expires on Friday, as markets watch whether the White House will proceed with steep penalties on Moscow’s oil clients.Increasingly frustrated with the Kremlin, Trump has pledged “secondary tariffs” of “about 100%” on Russia’s trade partners, if Moscow does not end its invasion in Ukraine, setting an initial 50-day timeline that was later shortened.Trump has made ending…

Inside a Crocs store at Queens Center in New York.Ryan Baker | CNBCCasual footwear company Crocs plans to reduce orders for the second half of the year amid what its CEO called a “concerning” environment for the consumer.”We see the U.S. consumer behaving cautiously around discretionary spending. They are faced with current and implied future price increases, which we think has the potential to be a further drag on an already choiceful consumer. Against this backdrop, our retail partners are acting more carefully and reducing their open-to-buy dollars in future seasons,” said CEO Andrew Rees on the company’s second-quarter earnings…

A major exchange-traded fund provider is getting ready to launch a fund designed to ease investors’ tax burdens from a record-setting stock market.Even though ETFs are considered more tax efficient than mutual funds, Astoria Portfolio Advisors plans to launch the Astoria U.S. Enhanced Core Equity ETF (LCOR) in October. The fund uses a tax-mitigation strategy that’s known as an exchange or conversion under Section 351 of the tax code.When a stock has a huge run-up, investors may end up overconcentrated in that name, putting them on the hook for large capital gains taxes if they try to sell down the…

Rescuers work to restore a blocked road after mountain torrents in Mapo Town, Yuzhong County of northwest China’s Gansu Province, Aug. 8, 2025. Mountain torrents since Thursday in northwest China’s Gansu Province have left 10 people dead and 33 missing. Rescue efforts are underway after continuous heavy rainfall triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County. (Photo by Jin Wangui/Xinhua)LANZHOU, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — Rescue efforts are underway after continuous heavy rainfall triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County, northwest China’s Gansu Province, leaving 10 dead and 33 missing as of 3:30 p.m. Friday, local authorities said.Torrential rain began pounding Yuzhong, which is…

ISLAMABAD: Despite an increase in the number of judges, pendency in the Supreme Court could not be reduced substantively, as the number of pending cases rose since February when six judges were elevated to the apex court, according to data available on the Supreme Court’s website on Thursday. The data showed that 57,089 cases were pending as of August 6, despite the fact that eight judges have been appointed in the last six months. Currently, the apex court is not functioning at full strength due to the summer vacation, and pendency is increasing day by day; 56,892 cases were pending…

SHANGHAI, CHINA – JULY 27: Robots of Unitree Robotics show their kick boxing skills during the 2025 World AI Conference (WAIC) and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center on July 27, 2025 in Shanghai, China. Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty ImagesWhile humanoid robots sparred in the ring at China’s World AI Conference in Shanghai, a more consequential contest played out just steps away. Chinese officials unveiled plans for a new global governance body — the World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO) — aimed at setting international standards and norms around artificial…