Daily News Pakistan

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to end a longstanding sanctions programme on Syria, marking a significant step toward reintegrating the country into the global financial system and fulfilling Washington’s commitment to support Syria’s post-war reconstruction. Despite the broader easing, the United States will retain targeted sanctions against Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad, his inner circle, individuals involved in human rights abuses, drug trafficking, chemical weapons activities, and members of the Islamic State, ISIS affiliates, and Iran-backed proxies, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing. Assad was toppled in December in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels, and Syria has since taken steps to re-establish international ties. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said Trump's termination of the Syria sanctions programme would "open the door to long-awaited reconstruction and developmen...

The Pakistan government has decided to extend 4G services to remote areas to reduce the digital divide in underserved regions. According to details, the Universal Service Fund (USF) Board has approved seven key projects to enhance broadband and fiber optic infrastructure nationwide. The decision was taken under the leadership of IT Secretary and USF Board Chairman Zarar Khan, with a total investment of Rs7.49 billion. The approved projects include five broadband service initiatives and two fiber optic deployments, covering 940 kilometers of fiber to connect 347 villages and 113 towns/union councils in 12 districts. According to USF, these projects will benefit around 2.8 million residents through fiber connectivity and 965,000 individuals via broadband services. Zarar Khan noted that the accelerated rollout, guided by Federal IT Minister Shaza Fatima, is enabling thousands of skilled youth and women from remote areas to participate in the freelancing and digital startup ecosystem...

The world’s most advanced AI models are showing alarming new behaviors — including deception, manipulation, and even issuing threats to their creators in pursuit of their objectives. In one particularly jarring example, under threat of being unplugged, Anthropic's latest creation Claude 4 lashed back by blackmailing an engineer and threatened to reveal an extramarital affair. Meanwhile, ChatGPT-creator OpenAI's o1 tried to download itself onto external servers and denied it when caught red-handed. These episodes highlight a sobering reality: more than two years after ChatGPT shook the world, AI researchers still don't fully understand how their own creations work. Yet the race to deploy increasingly powerful models continues at breakneck speed. This deceptive behaviour appears linked to the emergence of "reasoning" models -AI systems that work through problems step-by-step rather than generating instant responses. According to Simon Goldstein, a professor ...

Meta Platforms is expanding its AI team by hiring four more researchers from OpenAI, according to a report by The Information. The new hires — Shengjia Zhao, Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren — have reportedly agreed to join Meta, as per a source familiar with the matter. Earlier this week, Meta also brought in Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, who were previously part of OpenAI’s Zurich office, The Wall Street Journal reported. Both Meta and OpenAI have yet to respond to requests for comment from Reuters. These hires come as part of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s broader push to accelerate progress in superintelligence by attracting top AI talent from rival firms.

WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that allows users to scan documents with the camera directly from the app and it is currently available to some beta testers. The new feature, which beta testers can explore in the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.25.19.21 update after downloading it from the Google Play Store, eliminates the need for any third-party scanning tools. When choosing the "Scan document" option from the document-sharing interface, the phone's camera is activated right away, displaying a live preview that helps users position the document correctly for capture. The scanning experience aims to cater to different user needs and usage situations. The popular Meta-owned instant-messaging app includes two distinct capture methods, giving users the freedom to choose what works best for them. Those who prefer greater control over the process can opt for manual capture, which lets them decide the exact moment the photo is taken. This can help when careful pos...

Iran on Saturday began state funeral services for around 60 individuals, including senior military commanders, killed in its conflict with Israel, as Tehran's top diplomat slammed Donald Trump's remarks about Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as "unacceptable." The proceedings in Tehran for the nuclear scientists and military commanders killed in Israeli strikes began at 8am local time. "The ceremony to honour the martyrs has officially started," state TV said, showing footage of people donning black clothes, waving Iranian flags and holding pictures of the slain military commanders. Images showed coffins draped in Iranian flags and bearing portraits of the deceased commanders in uniform near Enghelab Square in central Tehran.

SpaceX said Thursday that its debris recovery efforts following last week’s Starship explosion have faced obstacles, and it is seeking cooperation from Mexico, whose president has suggested possible legal action against the company. A massive Starship spacecraft by SpaceX exploded into a dramatic fireball during testing in Texas last week, which Elon Musk’s space firm attributed to a “major anomaly.” The Starship rocket appeared to have experienced at least two explosions in rapid succession, lighting up the night sky and sending debris flying, according to video capturing the moment it exploded. “Despite SpaceX’s attempts to recover the anomaly related debris, which is and remains the tangible property of SpaceX, these attempts have been hindered by unauthorized parties trespassing on private property,” the company said in a post on social media platform X. “We have requested local and federal assistance from the government of Mexico in the recovery,” it said, adding that it als...

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday called the U.S.-backed aid operation in Gaza “inherently unsafe,” stating bluntly: “It is killing people.” Israel and the United States want the U.N. to work through the controversial new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the U.N. has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement. “Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. It is killing people,” Guterres told reporters. Guterres said U.N.-led humanitarian efforts are being “strangled,” aid workers themselves are starving and Israel – as the occupying power – is required to agree to and facilitate aid deliveries into and throughout the Palestinian enclave. “People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence,” Guterres told reporters. “It is time to find the political courage ...

Chile’s Vera C. Rubin Observatory, home to the world’s largest digital camera, has released its first cosmic images, helping astronomers study solar system formation and assess asteroid threats to Earth. Located on Pachon Hill in the northern region of Coquimbo, the 8.4-meter (27-1/2-foot) telescope has a 3,200-megapixel camera feeding a powerful data processing system. "It's really going to change and challenge the way people work with their data," said William O'Mullane, a project manager focused on data at Vera Rubin. The observatory detected over 2,100 previously unseen asteroids in 10 hours of observations, focusing on a small area of the visible sky. Its ground-based and space-based peers discover in total some 20,000 asteroids a year. O'Mullane said the observatory would allow astronomers to collect huge amounts of data quickly and make unexpected finds. "Rather than the usual couple of observations and writing an (academic) paper. No, I'l...

At a White House event, US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could be achieved within days. Speaking from the Oval Office, he shared that he had recently spoken with individuals involved in the negotiations and believed a breakthrough was near. "I think it's close. I just spoke to some of the people involved," Trump said. "We think within the next week we're going to get a ceasefire." He did not say who he has been talking to, but he has told reporters he was in near-daily contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israel-Iran conflict. Trump's surprise prediction of a possible ceasefire deal in coming days came at a time when there have been few signs that the warring parties were ready to restart serious negotiations or budge from entrenched positions. A spokesperson for US special envoy Steve Witkoff's office said they had no information to share beyond Trump's comments. Witkoff help...

Germany’s data protection commissioner has asked Apple and Google to remove Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from their app stores in the country due to concerns about data protection. Commissioner Meike Kamp said in a statement on Friday that she made the request because DeepSeek illegally transfers users’ personal data to China. The two US tech giants must now review the request promptly and decide whether to block the app in Germany, she added. DeepSeek did not respond to a request for comment. Apple and Google were not immediately available for comment.  According to its own privacy policy, DeepSeek stores numerous personal data, such as requests to its AI programme or uploaded files, on computers in China. “DeepSeek has not been able to provide my agency with convincing evidence that German users’ data is protected in China to a level equivalent to that in the European Union,” Kamp said. “Chinese authorities have far-reaching access rights to personal data within the sphere...

Iran’s parliament (Majlis) has approved a bill to suspend Tehran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following its politically-motivated resolution against the Islamic Republic. The general and specific provisions of the bill to suspend cooperation with the IAEA have been approved by lawmakers, said Alireza Salimi, a member of the parliament’s presiding board, on Wednesday. According to the parliament’s resolution, IAEA inspectors will not be permitted to enter Iran unless the security of the country's nuclear facilities and that of peaceful nuclear activities is guaranteed, which is subject to the approval of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Before Wednesday’s voting, Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, denounced the IAEA for failing to condemn US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. “The IAEA, which did not even formally condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, has put its international credibility up for sal...

US airstrikes did not destroy Iran’s nuclear capability and only set it back by a few months, according to a preliminary US intelligence assessment, as a shaky ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump took hold between Iran and Israel. Earlier on Tuesday, both Iran and Israel signaled that the air war between the two nations had ended, at least for now, after Trump publicly scolded them for violating a ceasefire he announced at 0500 GMT. As the two countries lifted civilian restrictions after 12 days of war – which the US joined with an attack on Iran’s uranium-enrichment facilities – each sought to claim victory. Trump said over the weekend that the US deployment of 30,000-pound bombs had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program. But that claim appeared to be contradicted by an initial assessment by one of his administration’s intelligence agencies, according to three people familiar with the matter. Trump says both Israel, Iran have breached truce U.S. President Donald Trump ...

Iran has firmly denied reports about any new missile launches from the Islamic Republic toward the occupied territories after the regime ceased its aggression early on Tuesday. In a statement on Tuesday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces denied any missile launches from Iran toward the occupied territories after the regime was forced to halt its aggression against the Islamic Republic after 12 days. The statement noted that some sources affiliated with the Zionist regime claimed that Iranian missiles had been fired at the regime's territory, but it wasn’t true. Hours after the regime was forced to halt its aggression against Iran as part of a deal with US President Donald Trump, Israeli war affairs minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the Israeli military to “respond forcefully” to what he claimed to be Iran’s violation of the "truce." A well-informed source told Press TV that the claim was just a pretext to initiate the breach of the so-called "truc...

Iranian armed forces fired almost a dozen missiles towards different targets in the occupied territories as part of retaliatory strikes just before the regime halted its aggression, after overnight Israeli aggression against Iran. Israeli media reported that at least 11 missiles were launched from Iran in five salvos on Tuesday morning. At least 8 people were killed and 30 others injured in Iran’s attacks on Beersheba. Air raid sirens also sounded in Haifa and areas in the northern part of the occupied lands. Meanwhile, explosions were also heard in Tel Aviv and central occupied territories. The ceasefire came into effect on Tuesday. Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there was currently no truce agreement with Tel Aviv, but Tehran would halt its retaliatory attacks “provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people.” He also thanked the country’s armed forces for “punishing” the regime. On June 13, Israel launched a bl...

Meta Platforms' WhatsApp messaging service has been banned from all United States House of Representatives devices, according to a memo sent to all House staff on Monday. The notice said the "Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use." The memo, from the chief administrative officer, recommended using other messaging apps, including Microsoft Corp's Teams platform, Amazon.com's Wickr, Signal, and Apple's iMessage and FaceTime. Meta disagreed with the move "in the strongest possible terms," a company spokesperson said, noting that the platform provides a higher level of security than the other approved apps. In January, a WhatsApp official said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society. The Ho...

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the ceasefire between Iran and Israel is “NOW IN EFFECT.” “THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. The US leader had earlier said the truce would be a phased 24-hour process beginning at around 0400 GMT Tuesday, with Iran unilaterally halting all operations first. He said Israel would follow suit 12 hours later. Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi expressed gratitude toward the Iranian armed forces who punished Israel for its aggression until the very last minute. “The military operations of our powerful Armed Forces to punish Israel for its aggression continued until the very last minute, at 4am,” Araghchi wrote on X social media platform. “Together with all Iranians, I thank our brave Armed Forces who remain ready to defend our dear country until their last drop of blood, and who responded to any attack by the enemy until the very last minute.” US President Donald...

The Global Peace Index 2025 identifies the Kashmir conflict as a major nuclear flashpoint, highlighting Indian brutalities since 1989 that killed 40,000 people. It notes that India has turned IIOJK into the world’s most militarized zone, while Pakistan’s AJK hosts only around 60,000 troops.Punchlines India’s unprovoked missile strike on Pakistan in May 2025 over Pahalgam exposed its reckless militarism, risking a nuclear conflict that could escalate far beyond Kashmir. The report’s use of the term “gunmen” for the 22 April Pahalgam attack reflects global refusal to label Kashmiri freedom fighters as terrorists, challenging India’s narrative. According to report, India deployed hundreds of thousands of troops, turning the Himalayas into one of the world’s most militarized zones. More than 40,000 people have died since 1989. In August 2019, India illegally revoked Kashmir’s special status under Articles 370 and 35A, splitting the region into two Union territories. India’s scrapping...

Iran’s top military general has vowed to continue retaliatory operations against the Israeli regime “with full force” until Benjamin Netanyahu is brought to “utter helplessness.” In a video statement on Monday, shortly after the 21st phase of Operation True Promise III was launched by the Iranian armed forces, Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, said the operations will continue uninterrupted. Major General Mousavi said the crimes committed by the Israeli regime and the United States “will not go unanswered” regardless of the extent of damage inflicted by the enemy. “The very nature of this criminal act will not remain without a response, irrespective of the level of destruction,” the top general said, referring to the American aggression against Iranian nuclear facilities early on Sunday in brazen violation of international law. He characterized US President Donald Trump’s involvement in the war against the Islamic Republic as a desperate eff...

Iran carried out the new phase of Operation True Promise III with a barrage of new-generation missiles, which made direct impacts across occupied territories. The 21st phase kicked off at around 12:00 pm local time on Monday, with informed sources saying many new-generation missiles were used in today's retaliatory operation. In a statement, the public relations department of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said the 21st wave of Operation True Promise III was launched in response to the continued aggression of the criminal Zionist regime. The latest phase of the operation began with the firing of both solid- and liquid-fueled missiles and a combined assault using smart drones. In this phase, the statement noted, for the first time, the multi-warhead Kheibar (Qadr-H) ballistic missile was used, employing new and surprising tactics to achieve greater precision, destructiveness, and effectiveness. The missiles successfully struck strategic targets across the occupied...

Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, speaking at an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Monday, strongly condemned the US military aggression on Iranian soil, saying Tehran reserves the complete and lawful right to defend itself under international law. In a fiery speech, Amir Saeid Iravani said today marks yet another “shameful chapter in the political history of the United States,” referring to the early Sunday attacks on three peaceful Iranian nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow. He said US President Donald Trump “personally carried out the most disgraceful part of this wicked scenario,” referring to Trump ordering the aggression and brazenly announcing it on his social media platforms, taking all and sundry by surprise. Describing the Islamic Republic of Iran as an “independent and peace-seeking nation,” the envoy said the country had repeatedly warned the “warmongering US regime” against any aggressive actions prior to Sunday’s acts ...

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has slammed the United States for sabotaging ongoing diplomatic efforts by launching airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Speaking at a press conference during the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul, Araghchi urged the international community to take a clear stance, saying "global norms and diplomacy are under direct threat." "We were in the middle of negotiations," FM Araghchi said. "It was not Iran that walked away. The US abandoned diplomacy with missiles, not words," he added. "They crossed a very big red line by attacking [Iran’s] nuclear facilities," Araghchi said. The United States on Sunday bombed multiple nuclear facilities in Iran, with President Donald Trump calling the action "a spectacular military success." Three Iranian nuclear sites — Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan — were struck using the US Air Force's B-2 Spirit stealth bombers. Araghchi wa...

They say, “不积跬步，无以至千里” a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. That morning, as our bus made its way through the quiet roads of Tianjin, rain began to fall softly not heavy, but enough to cast a dreamlike haze over everything. We were about to take a step not just into a port, but into the future. I’m here in China as part of the CIPCC program, alongside fellow journalists from across the world. We've been traveling, learning, and reporting for over two months now and we still have twenty more days to go. Each day reveals a new dimension of China’s transformation, but few experiences have matched the impact of our visit to Tianjin Port, arranged under the “China Up Close: Tianjin Tour”, co-hosted by CGTN and the Tianjin Municipal People’s Government. As we stepped out into the rain, the view that met us was nothing short of cinematic. Raindrops tapped gently on solar panels. Wind turbines loomed like watchful giants through the mist. Massive cranes moved with q...

Recent revelations have once again exposed India’s deep involvement in foreign espionage activities. This time within Iran’s own borders. A high-level raid by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards near Chabahar Port led to the arrest of 141 Mossad-linked agents, including 121 Indian nationals. This is not the first incident of its kind. Just weeks ago, 72 Indian nationals were apprehended during the current conflict, exposing a growing pattern of India’s covert role in destabilizing the region, not only against Pakistan but now against Iran as well. The discovery of encrypted documents, secret communication equipment, and links to militant networks like the BLA and BYC should compel Tehran to reassess its assumptions about India’s “friendship.” What has now come to light is a betrayal masked under the guise of diplomacy and trade. India’s so-called “strategic autonomy” is a smokescreen. It acts as Mossad’s regional proxy, penetrating allies like Iran with covert ops. 121 Indians arrested o...

President Donald Trump on Sunday said US air strikes had "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities, and warned of more attacks to come if Tehran does not seek peace. In a televised address to the nation from the White House after the United States joined Israel's air campaign against Tehran, Trump called the US attacks a "spectacular military success." Trump had earlier stunned the world by announcing on social media that US aircraft had struck Iran's Fordo nuclear enrichment plant, plus the Natanz and Isfahan facilities. But the fresh US military entanglement comes despite Trump's promises to avoid another "forever war" in the Middle East — Iran has vowed to retaliate against US forces in the region if Washington got involved. "Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran [...] must now make peace," said Trump. "If they do not, fut...

Israel claimed on Saturday it has already set back Iran's presumed nuclear programme by at least two years, a day after US President Donald Trump warned that Tehran has a "maximum" of two weeks to avoid possible American air strikes. Trump has been mulling whether to involve the United States in Israel's bombing campaign, indicating in his latest comments that he could take a decision before the two week deadline he set this week. Israel said Saturday it's air force had launched fresh airstrikes against missile storage and launch sites in central Iran, as it kept up a wave of attacks it says are aimed at preventing their rival from developing nuclear weapons — an ambition Tehran has denied. "According to the assessment we hear, we already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb," Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar said in an interview published Saturday. Saar said Israel's week-long onslaug...

Massive rallies were held in cities across Iran on Friday, following congregational prayers, to protest against Israeli-American aggression against the country and express solidarity with the Iranian armed forces. In the capital, Tehran, tens of thousands of people marched from the University of Tehran in Enghelab Square to the iconic Azadi Tower in western Tehran. Similar demonstrations took place in cities including Mashhad, Isfahan, Tabriz, Qom, Shiraz, Qazvin, Yazd, and Gilan, with participants reaffirming their unwavering support for the country’s armed forces Demonstrators defied threats, carrying photos of martyrs and chanting vociferous against the Zionist regime and its Western backers, particularly the United States. Slogans including “Death to the Zionist regime,” “Death to American arrogance,” and “Long live the martyrs” reverberated in the air as a mark of unity against the arrogant enemy. People from all walks of life, representing all age groups, demonstrated a re...

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday put forward a four-point proposal to help end the Iran-Israel conflict in the Middle East, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning. Chinese President Xi Jinping held phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which the two leaders exchanged views regarding the situation in the Middle East. In a statement shared on social media, Mao Ning said that Xi’s proposal emphasizes four key points: an urgent ceasefire must be a priority; ensuring civilian safety must be a top concern; dialogue and negotiation are the fundamental solutions; and the international community’s peacemaking efforts are indispensable. Chinese President said that the use of force is not the right way to resolve international disputes. He urged the conflicting parties, especially Israel, to cease fire as soon as possible, Xinhua reported. The Chinese president said that protecting civilians’ safety is the top priority amid the Iran-Israel tens...

Israel and Iran’s air war entered a second week on Friday and European officials sought to draw Tehran back to the negotiating table after President Donald Trump said any decision on potential U.S. involvement would be made within two weeks. Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying it aimed to prevent its longtime enemy from developing nuclear weapons. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. It says its nuclear programme is peaceful. Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, said the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Those killed include the military’s top echelon and nuclear scientists. Israel has said at least two dozen Israeli civilians have died in Iranian missile attacks. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll from either side. Trump to decide on US action in Israel-Iran conflict within 2 weeks, White House says The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will make a decision on whether the U.S. will ge...