Author: i2wtc

Procurement to cost Rs542b amid disputes over price, storage, and provincial share ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has once again allowed Pakistan to purchase wheat to replenish its depleting reserves, while leaving it to the government to determine the strategic stock level and proceed with plans to buy 6.2 million tonnes this year, an aide to the prime minister said on Monday. Ahmed Umair, the Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Agriculture, clarified that the officially announced price of Rs3,500 per 40 kilogrammes is not a fixed support price but an indicative rate linked to international market trends and subject to…

Sanae Takaichi created history on Oct. 21, winning Japan’s parliamentary vote to become the country’s first women prime minister.Philip Fong | Afp | Getty ImagesSanae Takaichi on Tuesday created history, winning Japan’s parliamentary vote to become the country’s first woman prime minister.Takaichi garnered 237 votes in the first round of voting, negating the need for a runoff vote in the 465-seat Lower House, according to public broadcaster NHK.Her victory comes after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party allied with the Japan Innovation Party and reportedly signed an agreement over the weekend to form a coalition government. Takaichi agreed to back JIP…

Artificial intelligence is expected to democratize access to technology, making it a boon for would-be founders in emerging markets — but some investors disagree. “AI will change everything for emerging markets,” said Anton Osika, CEO and co-founder of Swedish startup Lovable, which allows others to create apps and websites via prompting, removing the need for technical knowledge. “Most of the world’s best ideas are stuck in the heads of people who can’t code. That’s especially true in emerging markets where many people deeply understand local problems in areas such as healthcare, logistics and education, but don’t necessarily have the tools…

A General Motors Co. Chevrolet Silverado truck at a dealership in Upland, California, US, on Wednesday, Oct 15, 2025. Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesDETROIT — General Motors is set to report its third-quarter earnings before the bell Tuesday amid a litany of challenges facing the automotive industry.Here is what Wall Street is expecting, according to average estimates compiled by LSEG:Earnings per share: $2.31 adjustedRevenue: $45.27 billionThose results would mark a 7.2% decrease in revenue compared with a year earlier and a 22% drop in adjusted earnings per share. GM’s 2024 third-quarter results included $48.76 billion in revenue, net…

A major AWS outage caused widespread app disruptions, prompting social media users to react with creative memes A massive outage affecting Amazon Web Services (AWS) on October 20, 2025, brought much of the internet to a standstill — and, in true online fashion, sparked a wave of memes and jokes across social media. The disruption, which hit AWS’s US-EAST-1 region, caused widespread downtime for platforms including Snapchat, Fortnite, Roblox, Venmo, and Slack. Users flooded X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit to report the outage, with “AWS down” quickly trending worldwide. While businesses scrambled to manage the fallout, netizens did what they…

A failure in DynamoDB DNS lookup caused cascading outages for dozens of popular platforms On 20 October 2025, a major internet outage knocked dozens of popular websites and apps offline, leaving users worldwide unable to log in, pay, or use familiar services for several hours. Amazon Web Services (AWS) — the cloud company that hosts whole stacks for many businesses reported the incident and engineers raced to restore normal operations. In plain terms: many online services rely on central tools that store and fetch data. One of those tools, an Amazon database called DynamoDB, started returning errors and timing out in…

Consumers experience the iPhone 17 in an Apple store in Shanghai, China on October 13, 2025. Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images Critics’ displeasure at the iPhone 17 Pro’s fluorescent orange color aside, Apple’s “Cosmic Orange” smartphone has charmed fans — and investors.The newest iPhone 17 series, which includes the base iPhone 17 and its overachieving Pro and skinny Air siblings — that come in colors other than orange, to be clear — has been outselling the previous one in the U.S. and China, according to Counterpoint data. In fact, the iPhone Air sold out within minutes of going…

U.S. President Donald Trump, and Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, shake hands outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesShares of some of Australia’s largest critical metals and rare earths companies surged on Tuesday following the announcement of a massive minerals deal between Washington and Canberra worth up to $8.5 billion.The agreement — signed by U.S. President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday — includes funding for multiple projects aimed at boosting the supply of key materials used in defense manufacturing and…

Intelligent equipment lifts containers at Chancay Port, Peru, on Nov. 14, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Mengxin)SHANGHAI, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) — The “Chancay-Shanghai” shipping route handled 154,000 tonnes of import and export cargo valued at 3.97 billion yuan (about 559.37 million U.S. dollars) during the first three quarters of this year, fueling a 56.9 percent year-on-year surge in Shanghai’s trade with Peru to 13.42 billion yuan, according to Shanghai Customs on Monday.Compared with the first half of 2025, when the route transported 78,000 tonnes of goods worth 1.72 billion yuan, the latest figures point to accelerated growth, cementing the route as a “new…

Collaboration to unlock financing for critical sectors and create jobs nationwideThe State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has signed an agreement with the International Finance Corporation to strengthen local currency financing and support private sector growth in Pakistan. — Photo courtesy SBP/X The State Bank of Pakistan has partnered with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, to expand local currency financing and support private sector growth in Pakistan. The agreement, signed under the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) framework, will enable the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to manage currency risks more effectively…