Daily News Pakistan

Bangladesh bade farewell on Wednesday to former prime minister Khaleda Zia in a state funeral drawing vast crowds, mourning a towering leader whose career defined politics for decades. Khaleda, the first woman to serve as prime minister in the South Asian nation of 170 million people, died on Tuesday aged 80. Flags were flown at half-mast, and thousands of security officers lined the streets as her body was carried through the streets of the capital Dhaka in a vehicle in the colours of the national flag. Large crowds had gathered outside parliament — many waving national flags or those of Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — where the funeral prayers were held at around 3pm local time, according to Dhaka-based Daily Star. Khaleda was laid to rest alongside her late husband, Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1981 during his time as president. The burial took place at around 4:30pm local time, Daily Star reported. Seventy-year-old retired government official Minhaz U...

Taiwan's world-leading microchip manufacturer TSMC says it has started mass producing next-generation "2-nanometre" chips. AFP looks at what that means, and why it's important: What can they do? The computing power of chips has increased dramatically over the decades as makers cram them with more microscopic electronic components. That has brought huge technological leaps to everything from smartphones to cars, as well as the advent of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT. Advanced 2-nanometre (2nm) chips perform better and are more energy-efficient than past types, and are structured differently to house even more of the key components known as transistors. The new chip technology will help speed up laptops, reduce data centres' carbon footprint and allow self-driving cars to spot objects quicker, according to US computing giant IBM. For artificial intelligence, "this benefits both consumer devices -- enabling faster, more capable on-device AI...

Facebook owner Meta has agreed to acquire Manus, an artificial intelligence (AI) agent created by a company founded in China but now based in Singapore, the two firms said. However, analysts warned the deal could fall foul of regulators at a time of fierce technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing. Exceeding the capabilities of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, AI agents can autonomously perform complex tasks for users, and are seen as having huge potential. Manus, created by startup Butterfly Effect, can for example sift through and summarise resumes or create a stock analysis website, according to its website. Meta said on Monday that the deal — the financial details of which were not disclosed — will “bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products”. “The era of AI that doesn’t just talk, but acts, creates, and delivers, is only beginning,” Manus chief executive Xiao Hong said. “And now (with Meta), we get to build i...

Russia and Ukraine on Monday remained far apart on territorial issues that are blocking a peace deal, despite progress on security guarantees for Kyiv at talks between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump said after his talks with the Ukrainian president on Sunday that they were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to an agreement to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, but that “thorny issues” were still there. Zelensky said two main issues outlined in a 20-point peace proposal remained to be resolved - control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is in Russian hands, and the fate of the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine. “Two questions remain: the station - how will the station operate? - and the territory,” Zelensky told reporters on Monday. Underlining how far apart Kyiv and Moscow are on territory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine must withdraw its troops from the small part of Donbas that it still controls, and that...

US President Donald Trump said that a deal was closer than ever to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine but reported no apparent breakthrough on the flashpoint issue of territory after new talks with the warring countries' leaders. Trump, who had promised a peace deal on day one of his nearly year-old presidency, said it would become clear within weeks whether it was possible to end the war that has killed tens of thousands of people since February 2022. In a pre-New Year's diplomatic sprint, Trump brought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Florida, where the two met with top aides over lunch, a day after Russia unleashed major new attacks on residential areas of the capital Kyiv. Much like when Zelensky last met Trump in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin also spoke shortly beforehand by telephone with the US leader, who immediately insisted that Moscow was "serious" about peace despite the assault. "I really believe we're, Mr President, ...

The year 2025 ended as a year of failures and defeats in Indian foreign policy as New Delhi faced a barrage of diplomatic setbacks at the global leve.Expectations in India related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi failed to materialize. Indian newspaper The Hindu described 2025 as a year of broken promises in the country's foreign policy due to failure to meet expectations. According to The Hindu, symbolic diplomacy, personal relationships and narrative-building could not prove to be a substitute for real economic, military and diplomatic power. According to The Hindu newspaper, India made promises not only to itself but also to its partners that it did not have the influence and power to implement. On relations with the US, The Hindu newspaper says that 2025 has proven to be the most difficult year for India this century. The 25 percent tariff, additional restrictions on Russian oil and H-1B visa bans have proven that India's partnership with Washington is conditional and...

Nvidia has agreed to license technology from AI startup Groq for use in some of its artificial intelligence chips, marking the chipmaker’s largest deal and underscoring its push to strengthen competitiveness amid surging demand. Some of the multi-billion-dollar AI, cloud and chip deals signed recently. Amazon is considering an investment of around $10 billion in OpenAI, though talks remain “very fluid,” according to a source who requested anonymity due to the private nature of their talks. Walt Disney to invest $1 billion in OpenAI and will let the ChatGPT-parent use characters from Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel franchises in its Sora AI video generator - a move that could transform Hollywood content creation. As part of the three-year licensing agreement, Sora and ChatGPT Images will begin generating videos featuring licensed Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, and Mufasa early next year. The deal excludes any talent likeness or voices. OpenAI has partnered with B...

A helicopter crashed on Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, killing five people, the civil aviation authority said on Thursday, while local media reported that the aircraft was on a medical rescue mission. The helicopter crashed near the mountain's Barafu Camp on Wednesday, Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. Mwananchi newspaper and East Africa TV, citing Kilimanjaro region's head of police, Simon Maigwa, reported that the helicopter was on a medical rescue mission. Among the dead were a guide, a doctor, the pilot and two foreign tourists, Mwananchi cited Maigwa as saying, without giving the tourists' nationalities. Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, is nearly 6,000 meters (20,000 ft) above sea level. The crash happened between 4670 and 4700 metres, Mwananchi reported. Around 50,000 tourists climb Kilimanjaro annually.

US trade officials determined that China should be punished for employing unfair tactics to dominate the semiconductor industry, but will wait 18 months to impose tariffs, American authorities said Tuesday. A US Trade Representative investigation concluded China's targeting of semiconductors "for dominance is unreasonable and burdens or restricts US commerce and thus is actionable," the agency said in a public notice. The current tariff level of 0 will be increased "in 18 months on June 23, 2027 to rate to be announced not fewer than 30 days prior to that date," USTR said. USTR officials launched the probe in December 2024 in the final weeks of Joe Biden's presidency, extending the initiative when US President Donald Trump took office in January. Trump has been a prolific purveyor of tariffs, unveiling sector-specific levies on steel, autos and other items, as well as broader measures to achieve a variety of policy objectives. The White House has jous...

The Libyan army's chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, died in a plane crash after leaving Turkiye capital Ankara, the prime minister of Libya's internationally recognised government said, adding that four others were on the jet as well. "This followed a tragic and painful incident while they were returning from an official trip from the Turkish city of Ankara. This grave loss is a great loss for the nation, for the military institution, and for all the people," Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said in a statement. He said the commander of Libya's ground forces, the director of its military manufacturing authority, an adviser to the chief of staff, and a photographer from the chief of staff's office were also on the aircraft. Platform X that the plane had taken off from Ankara's Esenboga Airport at 1710 GMT en route to Tripoli, and that radio contact was lost at 1752 GMT. He said authorities found the plane's wreckage near the K...

Vince Zampella - the visionary co-creator of the Call of Duty franchise and founder of Respawn Entertainment - has died in a car crash at the age of 55. The tragic accident has left gamers and industry peers worldwide in mourning. According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), Zampella was driving his Ferrari along Angeles Crest Highway on Sunday when, for unknown reasons, the vehicle veered off the road and struck a concrete barrier. Both Zampella and a passenger succumbed to their injuries. NBC News reported that the CHP received the crash notification at 12:43 pm, though the names of the victims were not immediately disclosed. Media outlets have linked the driver to Zampella based on the confirmation by Electronic Arts. Career and legacy Zampella’s influence on the gaming industry was profound. He co-founded Infinity Ward in 2002, which launched the first Call of Duty game in 2003, revolutionizing first-person shooter games. The franchise went on to become one of the best-...

An investigative reporter best known for exposing fraud at Silicon Valley blood-testing startup Theranos sued Elon Musk's xAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Meta Platforms and Perplexity on Monday for using copyrighted books without permission to train their artificial intelligence systems. New York Times reporter and "Bad Blood" author John Carreyrou filed the lawsuit in California federal court with five other writers, accusing the AI companies of pirating their books and feeding them into the large language models (LLMs) that power the companies' chatbots. The lawsuit is one of several copyright cases brought by authors and other copyright owners against tech companies over the use of their work in AI training. The case is the first to name xAI as a defendant. Spokespeople for the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit. Unlike other pending cases, the writers are not seeking to band together in a larger class action - a typ...

US President Donald Trump described Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir as a "highly respected general" while reiterating claims that he helped prevent a war between Pakistan and India. "We stopped a potential nuclear war between Pakistan and India," reiterated Trump while responding to a question during an event in Florida alongside Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan on Monday. He went on to say that "highly respected general […] he is a field marshal" and also the prime minister of Pakistan credited him with saving 10 million lives by stopping the war. "You know, eight planes were shot down [during the Pakistan-India war]. That war was going to rage," Trump said. The US president claimed that he has stopped eight wars so far. He made these remarks while addressing a press conference in Florida to unveil his plans for a new "Tru...

The Washington Times has described 2025 as a turning point in Pakistan–US relations, citing what it called a dramatic shift in Washington’s approach. The newspaper said President Donald Trump abandoned the long-standing “India First” policy and elevated Pakistan’s strategic importance, a change it linked largely to the May conflict between Pakistan and India. In May 2025, following India’s unprovoked attacks, Pakistan launched a calibrated military response, Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, targeting Indian troop concentrations, air assets, and key command infrastructure. Retaliatory strikes neutralized over 26 high-value installations across five Indian states, including missile silos, air defence systems, logistics hubs, and communications networks. Pakistani drones and cyber operations further disrupted India’s energy grids, rail networks, and surveillance systems, while multiple Rafale jets were reportedly shot down. The operation demonstrated Pakistan’s military discipline, precis...

Samsung Galaxy A56 has maintained its first position in the list of the most popular smartphones from last week. According to the latest released rankings, the Samsung Galaxy A56 remains at number one, while the OnePlus 15R 5G, making a new entry, has secured second place. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra stands at third position. Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro Max ranks fourth, followed by the OnePlus 15 5G in fifth place. Samsung Galaxy A17 holds the sixth position, while the Xiaomi Poco F8 Ultra is ranked seventh. At eighth place is the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max Pro. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro+ 5G, which is expected to be released in the coming days, has secured ninth position, while the Xiaomi Poco X7 Pro rounds out the list at number ten.

Even as the United States is embarked on a bitter rivalry with China over the deployment of artificial intelligence, Chinese technology is quietly making inroads into the US market. Despite considerable geopolitical tensions, Chinese open-source AI models are winning over a growing number of programmers and companies in the United States. These are different from the closed generative AI models that have become household names -- ChatGPT-maker OpenAI or Google's Gemini - whose inner workings are fiercely protected. In contrast, "open" models offered by many Chinese rivals, from Alibaba to DeepSeek, allow programmers to customize parts of the software to suit their needs. Globally, use of Chinese-developed open models has surged from just 1.2 percent in late 2024 to nearly 30 percent in August, according to a report published this month by the developers' platform OpenRouter and US venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. China's open-source models "ar...

The United States has intercepted an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Saturday, a move that comes just days after US President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. It’s the second time in recent weeks that the United States has gone after a tanker near Venezuela amid a large U.S. military build-up in the region. Noem confirmed the Coast Guard intercepted a tanker that was last docked in Venezuela. “The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” she said in a statement posted to social media. “We will find you, and we will stop you.” Three US officials earlier Saturday had told Reuters that the vessel had been intercepted. The Coast Guard and Pentagon referred questions to the White House. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the tanker contained s...

A business jet crash in North Carolina killed all seven people aboard Thursday, including a retired race car driver and his family, authorities and Nascar race officials said. “There was a total of seven on board, all killed,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell told AFP. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol said the plane had just taken off when it turned back to land before crashing. The jet left from Statesville airport, north of the city of Charlotte. Among those killed was retired NASCAR racing driver Greg Biffle, Nascar confirmed. “The Nascar family is devastated at the loss of Greg Biffle, who was one of our 75 greatest drivers and became known for his relentless post-career humanitarian work. We extend our deepest condolences,” the race company said on X. Among the fatalities were Biffle’s wife, Cristina Grossu Biffle, and their two children, according to Republican lawmaker Richard Hudson, a family friend who represents North Carolina in Congress. “I am devastat...

The UN Experts have raised strong objections on India's unilateral actions of May 7 inside Pakistan, asserting that the use of force by India violated the principles of the United Nations Charter. In a report on India-Pakistan war, the UN experts said Indian attacks targeted civilian areas, mosques were affected and several civilians were killed and wounded. The UN experts said that Pakistan informed the Security Council that it reserved the right to self-defence under Article 51. They said India failed to provide credible evidence that Pakistan was involved at the state level in the Pahalgam attack. The UN experts emphasized that there is no recognized right for unilateral military force under the pretext of counterterrorism. They warned that India's actions posed the risk of escalating into a major conflict. They termed the Indian actions a grave violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and the principles of non-interference. The UN Special Rapporteurs have also endor...

TRON blockchain network founder and Crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who visited Islamabad at the invitation of the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC), drew attention after a video surfaced showing him sitting in and inspecting a local rickshaw. Sun himself posted a clip depicting his experience with the iconic Pakistani three-wheeled vehicle. "In Pakistan, a rickshaw is not just a ride; for many drivers it supports the whole family," he wrote. The Crypto billionaire thanked Momin Saqib for pulling him onto a rickshaw. "Time was short, so I only mastered one thing: the brakes!," he added. "Rickshaws are like the city’s capillaries, connecting people to daily life and keeping everything moving. Respect to everyone out there working hard every day." Sun has also described his trip to Pakistan as "a complete success." Sun shared a vlog documenting his visit, covering his journey from arrival at Islamabad International Airport to his departure. The...

Police in Australia said on Wednesday they had charged a man who allegedly opened fire on a Jewish event on Sydney's Bondi Beach with 59 offences, including a terror charge. The charges include 40 counts of causing grievous bodily harm to a person with intent to murder, 15 counts of murder, as well as public display of the symbol of a prohibited terrorist organisation. Naveed Akram, 25, is one of the two men suspected of carrying out Australia's deadliest mass shooting in three decades. He was shot by the police during the Bondi Beach massacre and remains in a Sydney hospital under heavy police guard. "Police will allege in court the man engaged in conduct that caused death, serious injury and endangered life to advance a religious cause and cause fear in the community," New South Wales state police said. "Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by [Daesh], a listed terrorist organisation in Australia," they said in a statement, using an...

One of the two men suspected of carrying out Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in three decades is expected to face charges later on Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, as funerals began for the Jewish victims of Sunday’s attack. The alleged father-and-son duo opened fire at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, in an attack that shook the nation and raised concerns about rising antisemitism and violent extremism. Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene, while his 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram, emerged from a coma on Wednesday after also being shot by police. “He will be charged formally, if he hasn’t been so already. I expect that will take place in the coming hours,” Albanese said in a podcast interview Wednesday morning. New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said investigators plan to question Naveed once his medication wears off and legal counsel is present. He remains hospitalized under heavy police guard. Authorities r...

As per the Indian officials, Sajid, a resident of Tolichowki in Indian Hyderabad, moved to Australia in 1998 on a student visa and had returned to India only “two-three occasions" since relocating. He last visited India in 2022. “His father died in 2017; he did not even come to attend his last rites,” said a top government official. According to another official, Sajid's immediate family continues to live in Hyderabad, and his elder brother is a medical doctor. Sajid's son, Naveed, 24, the second attacker, was born in Australia in 2001 and holds Australian citizenship. He was also shot by the police during the Bondi Beach massacre and is currently receiving treatment in hospital. “After completing bachelors in commerce from Hyderabad, Sajid moved to Australia and married a European woman. He retained his Indian passport,” said the official. Responding to questions about possible domestic connections, the official said: “Preliminary investigation does not establish ...

The recent remarks by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding Hong Kong reflect a familiar but deeply flawed narrative one that measures governance, voting, and human rights solely through a Western political lens while ignoring ground realities, local context, and lived experience. Such an approach risks turning human rights discourse into an ideological exercise rather than a factual assessment of people’s well being and institutional performance. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit Hong Kong personally. During my visit, I toured government institutions, observed public service mechanisms firsthand, and engaged in conversations with ordinary citizens from different walks of life. What I witnessed stood in sharp contrast to the bleak picture often painted in international statements. The city functioned with remarkable order, efficiency, and professionalism. Public offices were accessible, responsive, and technologically advanced. Service deli...

Australian authorities have confirmed that the two suspected gunmen responsible for the deadly shooting at a Jewish celebration in Sydney’s Bondi Beach were a father and son. The attack, one of Australia’s deadliest in nearly three decades, has left the nation in mourning. The 50-year-old father was killed at the scene, bringing the death toll to 16, while his 24-year-old son remains in critical condition in hospital, police said during a Monday press briefing. Officials have described the Sunday shooting as a deliberate antisemitic attack. At least 40 people are still hospitalized, including two police officers in serious but stable condition. The victims ranged in age from 10 to 87. Witnesses reported that the attack, which unfolded over roughly 10 minutes on a busy evening at the popular beach, caused panic as hundreds of people fled across the sand and into surrounding streets and parks. Police noted that around 1,000 attendees had gathered for the Hanukkah event, which was h...