Daily News Pakistan

Ukrainian and US officials met behind closed doors for hours of talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to find a path towards ending the war with Russia, after Kyiv's forces launched their largest drone attack on Moscow of the war overnight. Ukrainians and anxious allies watched for any signs of an improvement — or further deterioration — in Kyiv's troubled transatlantic ties after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's disastrous talks with US President Donald Trump last month. Under Trump, Kyiv's one-time staunchest ally has upended its policy on the war and piled pressure on Ukraine, declining to provide security guarantees as part of any peace deal, while pausing military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters en route to the talks in Jeddah that the meeting would be important to gauge if Ukraine is willing to make concessions to reach peace. More than three hours into the meeting, Mike Waltz, the US national security advis...

On March 10, 2025, social media giant X, formerly known as Twitter, suffered multiple global outages, leaving thousands of users unable to access their accounts, load feeds, or post content. Elon Musk, the platform’s owner, claimed the disruptions were caused by a “massive cyberattack” and suggested that a large, coordinated group or even a nation-state may have been behind it. The first outage wave began early Monday morning, with over 40,000 user reports logged by Downdetector.com by 10 a.m. Eastern Time. A second spike in the afternoon saw an additional 25,000 complaints, primarily affecting users in the United States, Europe, and parts of Asia. Addressing concerns on his X account, Musk confirmed the attack. The outages disproportionately impacted users in the U.S., where 56% reported issues on the app and 33% on the web version. The situation echoes previous X platform failures, including widespread disruptions in March 2023. As X engineers scramble to restore full functional...

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating allegations that “crimes against humanity” were committed during his so-called “war on drugs”. Duterte was taken into custody on Tuesday at Manila airport upon his arrival from Hong Kong, according to the Philippine government, which received the ICC request via Interpol, the international police agency. “Upon his arrival, the prosecutor general served the ICC notification for an arrest warrant to the former president for the crimes against humanity,” the government said in a statement. “He’s now in the custody of authorities.” The charge is related to Duterte’s brutal anti-drugs drive, which he ran during his time in office from 2016 to 2022. Suspects were deprived of “due process under the law” and thousands of people, including children, died, according to the complaint. The former president questioned the legality of the arrest. ...

The UNRWA chief on Monday warned that the Israeli aid blockade into Gaza could bring back "the deepening hunger" to the besieged strip, calling resumption of aid critical. "I think the more we go ahead (with aid blockade), the more we will see the impact increasing on the population, and obviously the risk is that we go back to the situation we experienced months ago about deepening hunger in the Gaza Strip," Philippe Lazzarini told a press briefing in Geneva. It is "critical" that humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza again to maintain the progress made during the first phase of the ceasefire and meet people’s basic needs, Lazzarini said. Regarding the intent of Israel in blocking the aid, he said: "Whatever the intent is, it's clearly a weaponization of humanitarian aid into Gaza." "If you block all the entry points, you create a situation where you use basic humanitarian assistance and food as an instrument to achieve a politica...

A major rescue operation was under way after a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship in the North Sea on Monday, which sparked a huge blaze and left 32 people injured. The injured had been brought ashore for treatment “in three vessels”, the Grimsby port director Martin Boyers told AFP, adding that “ambulances were queueing on the quay”. The operation was being coordinated by the UK Coastguard after “reports of a collision between a tanker and cargo vessel off the coast of East Yorkshire”, a Coastguard spokesperson said. The spokesman added the Coastguard was assessing the likely counter-pollution response required. Images on UK television channels showed a huge plume of thick, black smoke and flames rising from the scene about 16 kilometres off the coast. There were reports of “fires on both ships” that UK lifeboat services were responding to, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) confirmed to AFP. There were also reports that “a number of people had abandone...

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Monday, hours after condemning the South Korean and US militaries for launching drills that Pyongyang called a “dangerous provocative act” that risked accidentally sparking a confrontation. South Korea’s military said the missiles were fired from North Korea’s western region toward the Yellow Sea. The launch was the first reported ballistic missile test since US President Donald Trump took office in January. The missiles were believed to be close-range ballistic missiles, a South Korean defence ministry official said, referring to a type of weapon with a range of under 300 kilometres. The US military, in a statement, condemned the missile launches and called on North Korea “to refrain from further unlawful and destabilising acts”. The Indo-Pacific Command added that it would monitor the situation, which it said was not an immediate threat to the US or its allies. The allies’ annual Freedom Shield drills are scheduled to run until M...

Mark Carney, the former central banker who oversaw the response to financial crises in North America and the UK, will become the next prime minister of Canada after winning the race to lead the country’s federal Liberal party. Carney, 59, takes on the role as Canada is locked in a potentially catastrophic trade war with the US, long its closest ally and largest trading partner. Last week Donald Trump announced a 25% tax on all Canadian goods, with a carveout for the automotive and energy sectors. The tariffs have the power to push Canada’s fragile economy in a recession. “America is not Canada. And Canada never, ever, will be part of America in any way, shape or form,” Carney told supporters, laying bare the existential crisis that has outraged Canadians, riven the longstanding relationship with the US, and promises to be the overarching theme in his tenure as prime minister. “We didn’t ask for this fight. But Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves,” Carney ...

Israel has cut off the electricity supply to Gaza in a move that is likely to escalate tensions as truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas continue. The decision, announced by Israel’s energy minister, Eli Cohen, on Sunday, immediately halts the power supply to the Gaza Strip, exacerbating the ongoing humanitarian crisis and affecting essential services, including a desalination plant that provides drinking water to the population. This action comes just a week after Israel imposed a complete blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza, a move that mirrors the siege it initiated in the early stages of the war. The electricity cut is expected to have a significant impact on Gaza's already fragile infrastructure, as the region has faced severe shortages of power and essential supplies due to the prolonged conflict. The sole power line between Israel and Gaza supplies much of the territory's electricity, including to critical facilities like the desalination plant. The plant had...

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine was "fully committed" to having a constructive dialogue with the United States representatives in Saudi Arabia next week over ways to end the war with Russia. Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has paused US military aid to Ukraine as well as intelligence-sharing with Kyiv. He has accused Zelensky of not being serious about reaching a peace agreement with Russia, which invaded Ukraine three years ago and has seized about 20% of its territory. "Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war. Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively," Zelensky said in a post on X on Saturday. The Ukrainian president said he would visit Saudi Arabia next week and that after meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman on Monday, Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives would stay for a meeting on Tuesday with the US team. "On our...

NASA has released breathtaking panoramic images of Mars, offering an unprecedented view of the planet’s diverse terrain. Captured by rovers and orbiters, the high-resolution images reveal rugged mountains, sweeping valleys, vast dunes, and evidence of ancient water flows on the Red Planet’s surface. The newly released images provide a detailed and immersive perspective of Mars, giving scientists and space enthusiasts a chance to explore the planet like never before. The panoramas, stitched together from hundreds of individual images, highlight the dramatic variations in Mars’ landscape, from cratered plains to towering cliffs and dusty plains. According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the images were captured using state-of-the-art cameras aboard rovers like Perseverance and Curiosity, as well as orbiters such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. "These stunning panoramas give us a new appreciation of Mars’ geology and environmental history," said Dr. Lori Gla...

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday endorsed an Arab League counter-proposal to US President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to take over Gaza and displace its residents, two ministers told AFP. The decision by the 57-member grouping came at an emergency meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, three days after the Arab League ratified the plan at a summit in Cairo. The Egyptian-crafted alternative to Trump’s widely condemned takeover proposes to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority. “The emergency ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) adopted the Egyptian plan, which has now become an Arab-Islamic plan,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said, in comments echoed by his Sudanese counterpart. “It is certainly a very positive thing,” Abdelatty said. Trump triggered global outrage by suggesting the US “take over” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, while forcing its Pa...

European leaders on Thursday backed plans to spend more on defence and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by Donald Trump's reversal of US policies. The European Union's defence summit in Brussels took place amid fears that Russia, emboldened by its war in Ukraine, may attack an EU country next and that Europe can no longer rely on the US to come to its aid. "Today we have shown that the European Union is rising to the challenge, building the Europe of defence and standing with Ukraine shoulder to shoulder," the chairman of the meeting Antonio Costa told reporters. EU leaders hailed the European Commission's proposals this week to give them fiscal flexibility on defence spending, and to jointly borrow up to 150 billion euros ($160 billion) to lend to EU governments to spend on their militaries. In a joint statement agreed by all 27 member states, the leaders called on their ministers to examine these proposals in detail urgently. "Europe m...

US President Donald Trump's administration is planning to revoke temporary legal status for some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia, a senior Trump official and three sources familiar with the matter said, potentially putting them on a fast-track to deportation. The move, expected as soon as April, would be a stunning reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under president Joe Biden's administration. The planned rollback of protections for Ukrainians was underway before Trump publicly feuded with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week. It is part of a broader Trump administration effort to strip legal status from more than 1.8 million migrants allowed to enter the US under temporary humanitarian parole programs launched under the Biden administration, the sources said. US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the department had no announcements at this time. The White House and Ukrainian embassy did not respon...

The United Nations has warned that it will be forced to halve rations for about one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from next month due to a lack of funds. The World Food Programme (WFP) said in a letter on Wednesday that “severe funding shortfalls” are forcing a cut in monthly food vouchers from $12.50 to $6 per person. “Unfortunately, we have still not received sufficient funding, and cost-saving measures alone are not enough,” the letter said. Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh’s top official overseeing Rohingya refugee camps, confirmed the slashing of the aid. “I received the letter confirming a $6.50 cut, which will take effect from April 1,” the Bangladesh refugee relief and repatriation commissioner said. “What they are receiving now is already not enough, so it’s hard to imagine the consequences of this new cut,” he told the Reuters news agency by phone. The WFP announcement comes days before a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is slated to me...

Apple on Wednesday unveiled new MacBook Air models with latest M4 chip and artificial-intelligence features at a price $100 lower than the previous generation, as the company looks to spur sales and persuade customers to upgrade their devices. The base version of the new series of laptops with the 13-inch screen will be priced at $999, while the 15-inch MacBook Air will start at $1,199. Pre-orders will begin on Wednesday and the devices will be available in-store from March 12. The introduction of AI-enabled personal computers is expected to drive a recovery in the PC market this year after a post-pandemic slump. Apple Intelligence is a set of features with access to ChatGPT that allows users to write emails, messages and edit photos among other capabilities. The suite of AI features debuted on Apple's iPhone devices late last year, and the company has been rolling out the tools in various languages and regions to capture more users. Apple's Mac sales were $8.99 billion ...

Unicef says Israel’s blockade is threatening lifesaving healthcare services for children, including newborns, in the Gaza Strip. Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson for Unicef, said the block on humanitarian aid, including vaccines and ventilators for pre-term babies, “will have devastating real-life consequences” for children and their parents. “If we’re unable to bring that in, routine vaccination will come to a standstill,” she said. “Neonatal units won’t be able to care for preterm babies, so this is a real-life consequence that we’ll be dealing with very, very soon if we’re unable to resume the aid supplies coming in.” Bollen, who is in Gaza, said existing supplies have already been largely distributed throughout the enclave. “The needs are so high that we haven’t been able to stockpile goods … That’s why these latest restrictions are so devastating. “The first phase of the ceasefire wasn’t just a pause in hostilities…it really was a lifeline for families here,” she added. “The ...

The Chinese Embassy in the United States said on Wednesday that it was “ready to fight till the end” with the US in its trade war. Major Asian markets traded up on Wednesday, reversing their losses a day after US President Donald Trump imposed more blanket tariffs on Chinese imports following a similar move last month. US tariffs are expected to hit hundreds of billions of dollars in total trade between the world’s two largest economies. Chinese exports have also reached record levels last year. “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,” the Chinese Embassy in the United States said in a post on X. The embassy quoted a post by the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson which said that, “The fentanyl issue is a flimsy excuse to raise US tariffs on Chinese imports. Our countermeasures to defend our rights and interests are fully legitimate and necessary.” Earlier in the month, the US decided to impose ...

Heavy firing has been reported once again on the Torkham-Jalalabad border between Pakistan and Afghanistan border forces, heavy weapons are being used. Heavy firing continue on the Torkham-Jalalabad border between Pakistan and Afghanistan border forces, heavy weapons are being used. Cross border fire continues due to IAG provocation by carrying out construction in disputed area despite peace talks by and warnings by Pakistan. Afghan Taliban’s repeated border provocations expose their desperation as Pakistan tightens the noose on terrorism and their support for TTP militants. The Taliban regime harbors TTP terrorists, using Afghan soil to launch attacks against Pakistan while pretending to seek regional stability. Their actions prove otherwise. Instead of addressing Afghanistan’s internal crises, the Taliban focus on escalating border tensions, creating instability to distract from their own failures. The Taliban’s support for terrorism extends beyond rhetoric. TTP and other m...

WhatsApp is working on an exciting new update that explores the implementation of a dedicated Meta AI screen to improve the way users interact with the chatbot. The popular Meta-owned instant-messaging app's new Meta AI screen is scheduled for release in a future update, WABetaInfo reported citing WhatsApp beta for Android 2.25.5.22 update. Users of the app will be able to launch this new screen by long-pressing the Meta AI floating action button from the chat list and use their voice to give a command to the chatbot. This step eliminates the need to open the traditional chat to access AI-powered assistance. It is important to note that Meta AI will only be able to listen to a user's voice when this dedicated screen is open and not otherwise. This ensures that users have full control over when the chatbot can actively process voice input, preventing any unintended or background listening. To enhance transparency, the Android OS will display a privacy indicator in the st...

United States (US) President Donald Trump on Wednesday thanked the Pakistani government for apprehending the "top terrorist" involved in the 2021 Kabul airport bombing. "Three and a half years ago, a [Daesh] terrorists killed 13 American service members and countless others in the Abbey Gate bombing,” Trump said during his speech to a joint session of Congress. The attack marked a tragic end to America’s longest war in Afghanistan, claiming the lives of 13 US service members and around 170 Afghans who were desperately trying to escape Kabul after the Taliban takeover. Trump, in his speech which was the longest by any president, an hour and 49 minutes, revealed: "Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity. And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice." After a brief pause and a round of applause, he thanked the Government of Pakistan for helping apprehen...

Apple AAPL.O on Tuesday launched new versions of its iPad Air, enhancing the mid-tier tablet with its M3 chip and artificial intelligence capabilities in a bid to spur upgrades among customers. The revamped lineup starts at $599 for the 11-inch model, and the 13-inch variant at $799. Pre-orders open on Tuesday, with deliveries set to start on March 12. Apple has been equipping its devices with more powerful chips designed to handle AI tasks, such as summoning ChatGPT to answer user queries, as it seeks to attract customers and keep pace with rivals including Samsung 005930.KS and China's Huawei that are racing to embed AI into their products. Last month, the company launched a budget-minded phone, iPhone 16e, lowering the entry barrier for its phones with Apple Intelligence to around $600 to win back customers looking to buy mid-range phones in key markets such as India. Apple Intelligence is a set of features with access to ChatGPT that lets users write emails, messages and ...

Apple has confirmed that a new "Air" product is set to launch this week. CEO Tim Cook shared a video on X (formerly Twitter) hinting at the arrival of an Air-series device. The upcoming product is expected to be either the MacBook Air powered by the M4 chip or the next-generation iPad Air. The video was captioned "This Week," indicating an imminent announcement. According to a Bloomberg report last month, Apple is preparing to launch an M4-powered MacBook Air in March, with both the 13-inch and 15-inch models expected to receive the chip upgrade simultaneously The most significant upgrade in the upcoming MacBook Air is expected to be in performance. The new model will likely be powered by the M4 chip, first introduced with the iPad Pro last year before being incorporated into Macs. The MacBook Air is expected to feature the standard M4 chip with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. However, M4 Pro and M4 Max variants are unlikely for this mo...

Donald Trump said Monday that Washington would "not put up with" Volodymyr Zelenskiy's rhetoric much longer, as the US president prepared to meet his top team after a disastrous Oval Office row with the Ukrainian. "This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskiy, and America will not put up with it for much longer," Trump said on social media, citing a story quoting Ukraine's president saying the end of the war with Moscow was far off. "This guy doesn't want there to be peace as long as he has America's backing." Trump also took aim at European leaders who met Zelenskiy for crisis talks in London at the weekend, saying that they had "stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the US". "Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking," Trump said on his Truth Social network. Trump's broadside came after a meeting be...

Donald Trump on Sunday named five cryptocurrencies under consideration for a new US "strategic reserve," sending their values skyrocketing and partly reversing a recent slump. In a post to his Truth Social network, the US president said a working group he set up shortly after taking office is moving forward with the reserve, which will include three smaller cryptocurrencies: XRP, Solana, and Cardano. The value of all three digital currencies shot up on the news, with XRP trading up around 34 percent at 1:00 pm local time in Washington (1800 GMT). Solana gained around 22 percent and Cardano rose more than 63 percent. A few minutes later, Trump posted again, noting that other valuable cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ether would be at "the heart of the Reserve," causing the price of the two major digital currencies to rise more than 10 percent and 12 percent respectively. Trump's posts helped spur a broad rally among cryptocurrencies, which had plummet...

Britain's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office, on Monday launched an investigation into how TikTok, Reddit, opens new tab and online image sharing website Imgur safeguard children's privacy. Social media companies use complex algorithms to prioritise content and keep users engaged. However, the fact that they amplify similar content can lead to children being influenced by increasing amounts of harmful material. The watchdog said it is probing how Chinese company ByteDance's short-form video-sharing platform TikTok uses 13–17-year-olds' personal information to suggest content in their feed. Social media and discussion platform Reddit, and Imgur are being investigated over how they assess the age of child users, it said. "If we find there is sufficient evidence that any of these companies have broken the law, we will put this to them and obtain their representations before reaching a final conclusion," the Information Commissioner...

Several Arab states and the UN have condemned Israel for blocking the entry of all humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described it as alarming. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar released statements criticizing the move. Israel’s decision to halt the entry of aid shipments came hours after the first phase of the ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel expired and Israel’s obstruction of negotiations for the second phase. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that “as of this morning, the entry of all goods and supplies to the Gaza Strip will be halted.” Netanyahu's stance drew sharp criticism from the families of hostages, politicians and regional governments. Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats Party, accused Netanyahu's government of evading negotiations on the second phase of the agreement. The Saudi Foreign Ministry said “the Kingdom condemns and...

Wearing a traditional Indonesian black hat and shirt, President Prabowo Subianto speaks to the camera in an Instagram video, asking his people how he can help them after his election last year. "Who hasn't received aid from me? What are your needs right now?" Prabowo appears to ask viewers in the clip posted in November. But while the Indonesian leader's mouth moves and his eyes blink, the words he utters are part of a fraudulent deepfake scam uncovered by police last month that has swindled Indonesians across 20 provinces. Those ensnared by the message were asked to contact a WhatsApp number and hand over between 250,000 and one million rupiah ($15-$60) as an "administrative fee" to get aid that never materialised. Since last year's Indonesian election, experts have warned of a tidal wave of deepfakes — audio, images and video appearing to come from a known person but which are in fact the work of scammers using artificial intelligence tools. And...