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ISLAMABAD: Chief of Air Staff of Pakistan Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu held high-level meetings with Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s top military leadership during his official visit to the Kingdom, reaffirming the commitment of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation further, the military said on Thursday.&nbsp;According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistani military, the air chief called on Lieutenant General Turki bin Bander bin Abdulaziz, Commander of the Royal Saudi Air Force, and General Fayiadh bin Hameed Al-Rowaily, Chief of the General Staff of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Upon arrival, the air chief was accorded a guard of honor by a contingent of the Royal Saudi Air Force.&nbsp;During the meetings, both sides discussed matters related to bilateral defense collaboration, the evolving regional security environment and future avenues of cooperation.&nbsp;The two sides expressed satisfaction over the existing level of engagement and agreed to further enhance cooperation through joint training, operational collaboration and the exchange of professional expertise. Pakistan-Saudi Arabia Defense Agreement&nbsp;The Pakistan-Saudi Arabia Defense Agreement was highlighted as a symbol of mutual trust and long-standing brotherly relations between the two countries.&nbsp;Air Chief Marshal Sidhu underscored the historic and fraternal ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and reiterated his commitment to expanding military-to-military cooperation through bilateral and multilateral exercises.&nbsp;He also highlighted the transformation of the Pakistan Air Force into a robust multi-domain force, integrating space, cyber, electronic warfare and artificial intelligence capabilities.&nbsp;The Saudi defense leadership praised the professionalism, operational excellence and combat readiness of the Pakistan Air Force, and showed strong interest in enhanced joint training and operational collaboration, particularly in the domain of multi-domain operations.&nbsp;They also appreciated Pakistan&rsquo;s constructive role in promoting regional peace and stability.&nbsp;ISPR said the visit reflects the depth of the enduring strategic partnership between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and underscores the shared resolve of both countries to further strengthen cooperation in the defense and aviation sectors.

Foreign Affairs

Both sides discuss matters related to bilateral defense collaboration, the evolving regional security environment and future avenues of cooperation.

Pakistan air chief meets Saudi military leadership, vows deeper defense cooperation

Muhammad Usman Amin

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (KPITB) has officially designated 2026 as the &ldquo;Year of AI,&rdquo; signaling a shift from basic digitization to a future where artificial intelligence becomes a standard public utility. One of the province&rsquo;s most ambitious initiatives under the Smarter Governance Program is the rollout of GovGPT, an AI-driven tool developed through the Durshal Government Fellowship Program. The system is designed to assist government employees across KP in navigating complex regulations and procedures efficiently. &ldquo;We are working on governance digitization that provides real facilitation to citizens as well as the people who serve them,&rdquo; said Ibrahim Saleem, who oversees key projects at the Durshal Fellowship Lab, speaking to Pakistan TV Digital. Complementing this initiative, the Dastak App now features AI chatbots to respond to citizen queries, while Citizen Facilitation Centers (CFCs) serve as physical hubs where AI-backed systems help process documents such as birth and death certificates or domiciles, allowing citizens to track progress through a single window. KPITB is also using AI as a tool for social change. Karishma Zakaullah, head of growth and partnerships at Code for Pakistan, highlighted a gender-inclusive initiative under the D4WEE (Digitization for Women Economic Empowerment) program, run in collaboration with UN Women. The program trains 6,000 girls from Mardan, Swabi, and Peshawar in advanced AI and digital skills. &ldquo;This is the first-of-its-kind Women Digital Internship,&rdquo; Zakaullah said. &ldquo;Girls from far-flung areas like Chitral and DI Khan receive a stipend of Rs30,000, plus mobile phones and internet access, to learn high-demand ICT skills remotely.&rdquo; For urban residents, AI is being deployed to improve daily life. The KP Open Data Portal now powers intelligent traffic management, automatically adjusting congestion points using camera data and traffic flow metrics. Geospatial mapping and air sensors are being used to identify pollution hotspots and improve environmental health. Looking ahead, Voice2Gov is being developed to allow rural residents to access government services via voice commands in local languages such as Pashto and Urdu. By training both graduating students and government personnel in AI, KPITB is ensuring that the &ldquo;Year of AI&rdquo; represents a long-term transformation rather than a temporary trend. &ldquo;Our goal is the proper utilization of the full potential of AI to make life simpler for every citizen of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,&rdquo; Saleem said. A female visitor at the Durshal offices added, &ldquo;The focus is to make Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a leader in Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence while making people&rsquo;s lives easier and smarter.&rdquo;

Economy

System is designed to assist government employees across KP in navigating complex regulations and procedures efficiently; Dastak App now features AI chatbots to respond to citizen queries, while CFCs serve as physical hubs where AI-backed systems help process documents such as birth and death certificates or domiciles, allowing citizens to track progress through a single window.

Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa declares 2026 'Year of AI,' drives inclusive governance

ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump on Friday said he wanted to secure a deal with Greenland &ldquo;the easy way,&rdquo; but warned he would pursue it &ldquo;the hard way&rdquo; if necessary, while again issuing strong threats against Iran.&nbsp;Speaking to top oil executives in Washington, Trump said he would &ldquo;like to make a deal&rdquo; with Denmark over Greenland but suggested pressure could be applied if negotiations failed.&nbsp;&ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to do it the easy way, but if we don&rsquo;t do it the easy way, we&rsquo;re going to do it the hard way,&rdquo; he said, adding that Denmark had been &ldquo;very nice&rdquo; to him.&nbsp;Commenting on Iran, Trump said Washington was monitoring the situation &ldquo;very carefully&rdquo; amid protests in the country. &ldquo;Iran is in big trouble,&rdquo; he said, warning that the US would respond if protesters were killed.&nbsp;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts, and that doesn&rsquo;t mean boots on the ground,&rdquo; Trump said.&nbsp;Settled Pak-India conflict in &lsquo;rapid order&rsquo;Trump also claimed credit for resolving multiple international conflicts and said he had defused tensions between Pakistan and India in May last year before they escalated further.&nbsp;&ldquo;I got it done in rapid order without nuclear weapons,&rdquo; he said, referring to the Pakistan-India situation, adding, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel Prize more than me.&rdquo;&nbsp;Trump said that he stopped the conflict as it was &ldquo;getting ready to start,&rdquo; where &ldquo;already eight jets were shot out of the air.&rdquo;

Americas

US president says he solved the Pak-India conflict in rapid order without nuclear weapons; adds can't think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel prize more than him.

Trump warns Greenland deal will happen ‘easy or hard,’ threatens Iran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&rsquo;s Privatization Commission (PC) Board on Friday approved key steps to advance the privatization agenda, recommending a concession model for New Islamabad International Airport (IIA) and restarting the process to appoint a financial adviser for the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Privatization, the Board recommended the inclusion of the Islamabad airport in the Privatization Program, proposing a concession-based transaction through an open and competitive process. The decision followed an earlier ruling by the Cabinet Committee on Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions, which had ruled out a government-to-government model on January 1. &ldquo;The Commission has been authorized by the Board to engage in direct negotiations with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for its appointment as the Financial Adviser for this transaction,&rdquo; the statement said. Separately, the PC Board annulled the ongoing process for hiring a financial adviser for the privatization of the Roosevelt Hotel and directed that fresh Expressions of Interest be invited. The decision was taken to widen competition after the number of interested parties declined during the evaluation process. &ldquo;The decision was taken to ensure a more robust and competitive process, as the pool of interested parties narrowed from seven to two following legal and technical compliance screening under the prescribed criteria,&rdquo; the statement said. Commenting on the broader privatization drive, Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said the government had achieved key milestones, describing the privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) as &ldquo;an important milestone,&rdquo; and adding that overseas Pakistanis view investing in Pakistan as &ldquo;a matter of pride.&rdquo; The Privatization Commission reiterated its commitment to conducting all transactions through &ldquo;structured, competitive, and transparent processes&rdquo; to secure optimal returns for the national exchequer.

Privatization Commission advances airport concession plans, restarts Roosevelt Hotel advisory process, and highlights progress in privatization as overseas Pakistanis show confidence in investing.

Pakistan advances Islamabad airport concession, restarts Roosevelt Hotel advisory process

ISLAMABAD: A 15-member delegation from Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Command and Staff College arrived in Pakistan on Friday for a Foreign Study Tour, Pakistan&rsquo;s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. According to the statement, the delegation visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, where Pakistan&rsquo;s Additional Secretary (Middle East) Syed Ahmed Maroof briefed the visitors on Pakistan&rsquo;s foreign policy priorities and the state of bilateral relations between the two countries.&nbsp; The briefing was followed by an interactive session, it added. &ldquo;The visit of the delegation to Pakistan is a manifestation of excellent defense and security relations between the two countries,&rdquo; the Foreign Office said. The head of the Saudi delegation thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for making arrangements for the visit, the statement added. The visit came amid expanding defense cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. In September last year, the two countries signed a defense pact, further strengthening decades-long military collaboration. Separately, the Foreign Office said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar would leave Pakistan for Saudi Arabia to attend the Extraordinary Meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Jeddah. During the visit, Dar will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from OIC member states, the statement said.

Foreign office says delegation’s visit to Pakistan is a manifestation of excellent defense and security relations between the two countries; head of delegation thanks ministry for making arrangements for the event.

Saudi defense delegation visits Pakistan, highlighting strong bilateral military ties

ISLAMABAD: A planned India&ndash;US trade deal stalled because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not call President Donald Trump, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed on Friday.&nbsp;Lutnick made the remarks in an interview on the All-In podcast, a US business and technology show hosted by four venture capitalists. He said, &ldquo;It&#39;s all set up, and you have got to have Modi call the president,&rdquo; and they were uncomfortable doing it. So Modi didn&#39;t call.&rdquo;&nbsp;Responding to Lutnick&rsquo;s comments, the Indian foreign office said the &ldquo;characterization of these discussions in the reported remarks is not accurate.&rdquo;&nbsp;Bilateral trade talks between Washington and New Delhi had previously collapsed, a situation that worsened when Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods in August last year to 50%, the highest rate in the world. This included a 25% levy in retaliation for Indian purchases of Russian oil.&nbsp;The deadlock contrasted sharply with early optimism, when leaders from both countries had pledged to &ldquo;double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030,&rdquo; according to Indian media reports.&nbsp;Additional friction arose over India&rsquo;s continued imports of Russian oil, prompting the US to impose what it described as &ldquo;punitive&rdquo; tariffs.

India

New Delhi–Washington trade talks falter as tariffs rise to 50%, risking bilateral trade growth and straining agreements aimed at doubling commerce to $500 billion by 2030

US commerce secretary blames Modi call for India trade deal stalemate

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan remained the world&rsquo;s largest supplier of heroin and other opiates, with the Balkan route experiencing the highest intensity of trafficking, according to the Turkish Drug Report 2025 released this week.&nbsp;The report stated, &ldquo;Afghanistan continues to be the largest supplier country globally for the trafficking and production of heroin and other opiates.&rdquo;&nbsp;It noted that trafficking routes through the Balkans and southern and northern corridors remained the most frequently used. Among these, the Balkan route, which passed through T&uuml;rkiye, had &ldquo;the highest intensity of use.&rdquo;&nbsp;Historically, the Balkan route had been the principal channel for moving Afghan opiates to Western and Central Europe. From Afghanistan, drugs passed through Iran and T&uuml;rkiye before splitting into three main branches.&nbsp;Political changes in Afghanistan, which in April 2021 supplied about 80% of the global illegal opioid market, had led to &ldquo;significant decreases in the supply of opioids in drug markets, especially heroin,&rdquo; the report said.&nbsp;In response, there had been an increase in synthetic opioid derivatives in Europe and pharmacies, including &ldquo;fentanyl analogs and nitazenes,&rdquo; which had increasingly been linked to serious health risks and fatalities.&nbsp;T&uuml;rkiye, located on the Balkan route, continued to play a key role in heroin seizures. While total seizures in 2024 were lower than in previous years, the report highlighted a &ldquo;31% increase compared to the previous year, reaching 4.3 tons.&rdquo; <img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/37627031-cb6d-4aff-84c0-1232f90b641b.png" style="width: 558px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 2;">Source: Turkish Drug Report 2025</div>&nbsp;The report attributed this rise primarily to a &ldquo;19% increase in opium cultivation areas in Afghanistan&rdquo; in 2024.&nbsp;&ldquo;Despite the political developments in recent years, Afghanistan continued to be the country that supplied the most illegal opiates to illegal drug markets worldwide,&rdquo; the report emphasized. Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan expanded from 10,800 hectares in 2023 to 12,800 hectares in 2024.&nbsp;Following the Taliban&rsquo;s bans on opium, the report anticipated that &ldquo;continent-based drug trafficking groups may turn to the trafficking of different drug types&rdquo; to offset profit losses from declining heroin supplies.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan remained the world’s largest supplier of heroin and other opiates, with the Balkan route experiencing the highest intensity of trafficking, according to the Turkish Drug Report 2025 released this week.

Afghanistan remains top global heroin supplier: Turkish police report

SAN FRANCISCO: Tech giant Meta announced Thursday major agreements with three US nuclear energy companies that it says will add up to 6.6 gigawatts of clean power by 2035.&nbsp;The deals make Meta one of America&#39;s largest corporate buyers of nuclear energy as it seeks to fuel its artificial intelligence operations.&nbsp;The Facebook parent company signed agreements with Vistra, TerraPower and Oklo to extend existing nuclear plant operations and develop advanced reactor technology, following a similar agreement with Constellation Energy last year.&nbsp;&quot;State-of-the-art data centers and AI infrastructure are essential to securing America&#39;s position as a global leader in AI,&quot; said Joel Kaplan, Meta&#39;s Chief Global Affairs Officer. &quot;Nuclear energy will help power our AI future.&quot;&nbsp;The agreements will provide financial support to extend operations at three existing nuclear plants while backing development of more experimental nuclear technologies.&nbsp;The deals with Oklo, backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and TerraPower, backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, involve experimental Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) that aim to provide clean and easier-to-develop nuclear energy.&nbsp;SMR designs promise enhanced safety features and more efficient operations than traditional plants, but have yet to be deployed at scale.&nbsp;Meta said the projects would support its Prometheus supercluster data center in New Albany, Ohio.&nbsp;Crucially, Meta said it pays the &quot;full costs&quot; for energy used by its data centers so consumers don&#39;t bear the expenses, addressing concerns about tech companies&#39; growing electricity demands and whether investment costs get passed on to residential users.&nbsp;The nuclear push reflects the massive energy requirements of AI development, with tech giants racing to secure reliable sources for their expanding data center operations -- a trend that has seen big tech companies scale back their climate commitments.&nbsp;Nuclear energy provides consistent baseload power unlike intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar, making it attractive for facilities that require 24/7 electricity.&nbsp;The announcements come as the nuclear industry seeks revival after decades of stagnation caused by nuclear accidents and high costs.&nbsp;Amazon is also championing a nuclear revival through SMRs, and Google plans to restart a reactor in Iowa in 2029.&nbsp;Microsoft has signed a 20-year deal with Constellation Energy to take essentially all the output of the restarted Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania.&nbsp;The Trump administration announced in &nbsp;October an $80 billion investment to begin construction on ten conventional reactors by 2030 in partnership with Westinghouse Electric Company.&nbsp;The US government is trying to spark a nuclear investment boom to catch up with China that had more than 30 conventional reactors under construction in 2025, according the World Nuclear Association.&nbsp;The United States had none.&nbsp;

Artificial Intelligence

Meta will use nuclear power to run its AI data centers, signing deals with three US companies to supply clean, reliable energy by 2035 and support both existing plants and new small reactors.

Meta partners with US nuclear companies to power AI data centers

BEIRUT: Iran&#39;s foreign minister accused the United States and Israel on Friday of fueling a growing protest movement in the country, while dismissing the possibility of direct foreign military intervention after US warnings over crackdowns on demonstrators.&nbsp;&quot;This is what the Americans and Israelis have stated, that they are directly intervening in the protests in Iran,&quot; said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a visit to Lebanon.&nbsp;&quot;They are trying to transform the peaceful protests into divisive and violent ones,&quot; he said, adding that &quot;regarding the possibility of seeing military intervention against Iran, we believe there is a low possibility of this because their previous attempts were total failures&quot;.

Asia

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States and Israel of directly intervening in Iran’s protests, claiming they are turning peaceful demonstrations violent, while dismissing the likelihood of any foreign military intervention.

Iran FM says US, Israel 'directly intervening' in protests

BREST: The world&#39;s oceans absorbed a record amount of heat in 2025, an international team of scientists said Friday, further priming conditions for sea level rise, violent storms, and coral death. The heat that has accumulated in the oceans last year increased by approximately 23 zettajoules &mdash;&nbsp;an amount equivalent to nearly four decades of global primary energy consumption. This finding &mdash; published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences &mdash; was the highest reading of any year since modern record keeping began in the early 1950s, researchers said. To derive these calculations, more than 50 scientists from 31 research institutions used multiple sources including a thousands-strong fleet of floating robots that track ocean changes to depths of 2,000 metres. Peering into the depths, rather than fluctuations at the surface, provides a better indicator of how oceans are responding to &quot;sustained pressure&quot; from humanity&#39;s emissions, said study co-author Karina von Schuckmann. &quot;The picture is clear: results for 2025 confirm that the ocean continues to warm,&quot; von Schuckmann, an oceanographer from French research institute Mercator Ocean International, told AFP. Oceans are a key regulator of Earth&#39;s climate because they soak up 90 percent of the excess heat in the atmosphere caused by humanity&#39;s release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. All that additional energy has a powerful knock-on effect. Warmer oceans increase moisture in the atmosphere, providing fuel for tropical cyclones and destructive rainfall. Hotter seas also directly contribute to sea level rise &mdash; water expands when it warms up &mdash; and make conditions unbearable for tropical reefs, whose corals perish during prolonged marine heatwaves. &quot;As long as the Earth continues to accumulate heat, ocean heat content will keep rising, sea level will rise and new records will be set,&quot; said von Schuckmann. Humanity&#39;s choice Ocean warming is not uniform, with some areas warming faster than others. The tropical oceans, the South Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the northern Indian Ocean, and the Southern Ocean were among waters that absorbed record amounts of heat in 2025. This occurred even as average sea surface temperatures decreased slightly in 2025 &mdash; yet still remained the third-highest value ever measured. This decrease is explained by the shift from a powerful, warming El Nino event in 2023&ndash;2024 to La Nina-type conditions generally associated with a temporary cooling of the ocean surface. In the long term, the rate of ocean warming is accelerating due to a sustained increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere caused mainly by burning fossil fuels. As long as global warming is not addressed and the amount of heat trapped in the atmosphere keeps rising, oceans will keep breaking records, the researchers said. &quot;The greatest uncertainty in the climate system is no longer the physics, but the choices humanity makes,&quot; said von Schuckmann. &quot;Rapid emission reductions can still limit future impacts and help safeguard a climate in which societies and ecosystems can thrive.

Gadgets

The heat that has accumulated in the oceans last year increased by approximately 23 zettajoules — an amount equivalent to nearly four decades of global primary energy consumption.

Experts say oceans soaked up record heat levels in 2025

LONDON: A decision by Elon Musk&#39;s AI chatbot Grok to limit its image creation tool to paid subscribers, amid an outcry over its use for sexualised deepfakes, was &quot;insulting&quot; to victims, the British prime minister&#39;s office said Friday.&nbsp;&quot;That simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service ... It&#39;s not a solution. In fact, it&#39;s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence,&quot; Prime Minister Keir Starmer&#39;s spokesperson said.

The UK Prime Minister’s office condemned Grok’s move to restrict image generation to paid users, saying it fails to stop unlawful sexualised deepfakes and insults victims of misogyny and sexual violence.

Pakistan air chief meets Saudi military leadership, vows deeper defense cooperation

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Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa declares 2026 'Year of AI,' drives inclusive governance

Trump warns Greenland deal will happen ‘easy or hard,’ threatens Iran

Pakistan advances Islamabad airport concession, restarts Roosevelt Hotel advisory process

Saudi defense delegation visits Pakistan, highlighting strong bilateral military ties

US commerce secretary blames Modi call for India trade deal stalemate