BERLIN: Bayern Munich equalled the European record for successive wins to start a season as they beat 10-man Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-0 on Saturday.In the late game, Maximilian Beier scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time to send Borussia Dortmund up to third with a 1-0 home win over promoted Cologne. RB Leipzig stayed second with a 6-0 win at Augsburg. In Moenchengladbach, Joshua Kimmich, Raphael Guerreiro and teenager Lennart Karl all scored in the final half hour as Bayern made it 13 wins from 13 games in all competitions, a feat last achieved by AC Milan at the start of the 1992-93 season. The win meant Bayern stayed five points clear of second-placed RB Leipzig at the top of the table. The home team&#39;s Jens Castrop sunk his studs into Luis Diaz&#39;s shin with 19 minutes gone and was sent off when his yellow card was upgraded to red after a VAR review. Despite the one-man advantage, Bayern&mdash;who made six changes, including Jonas Urbig replacing captain Manuel Neuer in goal&mdash;lacked fluidity against their last-placed opponents. &quot;After the red card, the entire stadium celebrated every duel won and every save by their &#39;keeper,&quot; Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said. &quot;There were a lot of emotions&mdash;we stayed calm. When we got our chances, we took them.&quot; It was only the second time this season Harry Kane, who had a goal chalked off for offside in the second half, had failed to score. Kimmich put the visitors ahead after 64 minutes, blasting through a crowded penalty box, and Guerreiro added another five minutes later, sweeping in to finish off a lovely team move. Gladbach&#39;s hopes of getting something out of the match were dashed further when Kevin Stoeger hit a penalty at the post with 15 minutes left. With nine minutes remaining, 17-year-old Karl produced a stunning curling strike to wrap up the match for the defending champions. Dortmund win late&mdash;Dortmund, who lost their first match of the season last Saturday at Bayern, looked set to lose further ground on the league leaders as the clock wound down against visiting Cologne. Dortmund were camped around the visitors&#39; goal in the last 30 minutes but could not make the pressure count, with Cologne goalkeeper Marvin Schwaebe keeping the hosts at bay. Cologne&#39;s Timo Huebers was stretchered off in the final 10 minutes with a knee injury, forcing the visitors, who had already made all of their changes, to play a man down. With the match entering the seventh and final stoppage-time minute, Beier cut a low shot across the grass and into the goal to send the 82,000-strong Westfalenstadion into raptures. RB Leipzig romped to a 6-0 win at Augsburg with six different goalscorers, tightening their grip on second spot. Yan Diomande, Romulo, Antonio Nusa, Christoph Baumgartner, Assan Ouedraogo, and Castello Lukeba all netted as Leipzig inflicted Augsburg&#39;s worst home defeat in league history. Since losing 6-0 to Bayern in the season opener, Leipzig has claimed 19 of a possible 21 points in seven games, conceding just three goals. Eintracht Frankfurt bounced back from Wednesday&#39;s 5-1 Champions League thumping by Liverpool to beat St. Pauli 2-0 at home thanks to a double from Jonathan Burkardt. Germany striker Burkardt, who also scored a double last week against Freiburg, has six goals in seven league games this season. Elsewhere, Wolfsburg won their first match since August with a 1-0 victory at Hamburg, with Adam Daghim scoring the only goal. Hamburg winger Ransford-Yeboah Koenigsdoerffer missed a first-half penalty, the third time in a row he has failed to convert from the spot. Hoffenheim beat lowly Heidenheim 3-1.

Football

Bayern Munich beat 10-man Moenchengladbach 3-0 to equal a European record with 13 straight wins, staying five points clear of RB Leipzig, while Dortmund and Leipzig also secured impressive victories

Bayern beat 10-man Gladbach to match European record

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who created the world&rsquo;s largest cryptocurrency exchange and served prison time after failing to stop criminals from using the platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism. Zhao had asked Trump for a pardon previously. He has deep ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that the Republican president and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September. Trump&rsquo;s most recent financial disclosure report reveals he made more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, which has launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged at a 1-to-1 ratio to the U.S. dollar. World Liberty Financial also recently announced that an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance. Zhao also has publicly said that he had asked Trump for a pardon that could nullify his conviction. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Thursday that the Biden administration prosecuted Zhao out of a &ldquo;desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry.&rdquo; She said there were &ldquo;no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,&rdquo; though Zhao had pleaded guilty in November to one count of failing to maintain an anti-money-laundering program. &ldquo;I failed here,&rdquo; Zhao told the court last year. &ldquo;I deeply regret my failure, and I am sorry.&rdquo;

Americas

President Donald Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who served prison time for anti–money laundering failures. Zhao’s ties to Trump’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, and a $2 billion UAE investment in Binance raise major ethical questions

Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao

SAN FRANCISCO: Social media platform Reddit sued the artificial intelligence company Perplexity AI and three other entities on Wednesday, alleging their involvement in an &ldquo;industrial-scale, unlawful&rdquo; economy to &ldquo;scrape&rdquo; the comments of millions of Reddit users for commercial gain. Reddit&#39;s lawsuit in a New York federal court takes aim at San Francisco-based Perplexity, maker of an AI chatbot and &ldquo;answer engine&rdquo; that competes with Google, ChatGPT and others in online search. Also named in the lawsuit are Lithuanian data-scraping company Oxylabs UAB, a web domain called AWMProxy that Reddit describes as a &ldquo;former Russian botnet,&rdquo; and Texas-based startup SerpApi, which lists Perplexity as a customer on its website. It&#39;s the second such lawsuit from Reddit since it sued another major AI company, Anthropic, in June. But the lawsuit filed Wednesday is different in the way that it confronts not just an AI company but the lesser-known services the AI industry relies on to acquire online writings needed to train AI chatbots. &ldquo;Scrapers bypass technological protections to steal data, then sell it to clients hungry for training material. Reddit is a prime target because it&rsquo;s one of the largest and most dynamic collections of human conversation ever created,&rdquo; said Ben Lee, Reddit&rsquo;s chief legal officer, in a statement Wednesday. The lawsuit accuses the companies of unfair competition and unjust enrichment and alleges that some of them violated U.S. copyright laws. Perplexity said it has not yet received the lawsuit but &ldquo;will always fight vigorously for users&rsquo; rights to freely and fairly access public knowledge. Our approach remains principled and responsible as we provide factual answers with accurate AI, and we will not tolerate threats against openness and the public interest.&rdquo; SerpApi&#39;s customer success director, Ryan Schafer, said in an email: &ldquo;We strongly disagree with Reddit&rsquo;s allegations and intend to vigorously defend ourselves in court.&rdquo; Oxylabs said in a statement it was &ldquo;shocked and disappointed&rdquo; and &ldquo;will not hesitate to defend itself against these allegations.&rdquo; &ldquo;Oxylabs&rsquo; position is that no company should claim ownership of public data that does not belong to them,&rdquo; said a statement from Denas Grybauskas, the company&#39;s chief governance and strategy officer. &ldquo;It is possible that it is just an attempt to sell the same public data at an inflated price.&rdquo; AWMProxy could not immediately be reached for comment. Scraping for publicly available online data is a common practice used by businesses and researchers but Reddit compares the companies it is suing to &ldquo;would-be bank robbers&rdquo; who can&#39;t get into the bank vault, so they break into the armored truck instead. The lawsuit alleges they are evading Reddit&rsquo;s own anti-scraping measures while also &rdquo;circumventing Google&rsquo;s controls and scraping Reddit content directly from Google&rsquo;s search engine results.&quot; Lee said that because they&#39;re unable to scrape Reddit directly, &ldquo;they mask their identities, hide their locations, and disguise their web scrapers to steal Reddit content from Google Search. Perplexity is a willing customer of at least one of these scrapers, choosing to buy stolen data rather than enter into a lawful agreement with Reddit itself.&rdquo; Reddit made a similar argument in its lawsuit against Anthropic, alleging that the company ignored Reddit&#39;s appeals to cease using its content. That case was initially filed in California Superior Court but was later moved to federal court and has a hearing scheduled for January. Along with digitized books and news articles, websites such as Wikipedia and Reddit are deep troves of written materials that can help teach an AI assistant the patterns of human language. Reddit has previously entered licensing agreements with Google, OpenAI and other companies that are paying to be able to train their AI systems on the public commentary of Reddit&rsquo;s more than 100 million daily users. The licensing deals helped the 20-year-old online platform raise money ahead of its Wall Street debut as a publicly traded company last year.

Artificial Intelligence

Reddit sued Perplexity AI, Oxylabs, SerpApi, and AWMProxy, accusing them of illegally scraping millions of Reddit comments for AI training data. The lawsuit highlights growing tensions between content platforms and AI firms over data ownership and access

Reddit sues Perplexity for 'industrial-scale' scraping of user comments 

RAWALPINDI: The No. 11 batter Kagiso Rabada and Senuran Muthusamy hit career-best half-centuries as South Africa scripted one of its most memorable comebacks to dominate Pakistan on Day 3 of the second and final test.&nbsp;South Africa was all out Wednesday for 404 in its first innings &mdash; having resumed on 185-4 and being reduced to 235-8 and 306-9 &mdash; to take a 71-run lead. Pakistan&#39;s left-arm spinner Asif Afridi claimed six wickets and became the oldest bowler in test cricket to grab a five-wicket haul in his debut test at the age of 38.&nbsp;Pakistan collapsed to 94-4 in its second innings at stumps. Off-spinner Simon Harmer took 3-26 and Rabada had Abdullah Shafique caught in the slips cordon in his incisive opening spell with the new ball.&nbsp;Babar Azam, who hasn&rsquo;t scored an international century in more than two years, is 49 not out and wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan undefeated on 16 as the pair led Pakistan&#39;s resistance.&nbsp;South Africa earlier fought back in a match where Pakistan had won the important toss on a spinning wicket.&nbsp;Afridi (6-79) had put Pakistan in sight of a meaningful first-innings lead before the home team ran into Muthusamy and Rabada&rsquo;s electrifying 98-run last wicket stand.&nbsp;Muthusamy made an unbeaten 89 off 155 balls and Rabada smashed four sixes and four boundaries in his belligerent 71 off 61 as the Proteas bid to level the two-match series.&nbsp;Afridi&rsquo;s five-wicket haul saw World Test Championship winner South Africa slipping to 221-7 in 80 overs before Pakistan&rsquo;s ploy to finish off the innings with the second new ball misfired badly.&nbsp;Muthusamy cut Pakistan&#39;s lead to 27 when he shared a 71-run ninth-wicket stand with Keshav Maharaj, who gave at least three chances and went on to score 30. Rabada blunted the pace of Shaheen Shah Afridi and the spinners with his first test 50.&nbsp;It was only the second time in test matches that both the ninth and 10th wickets shared partnerships of 50-plus in a test innings.&nbsp;South Africa went to lunch 48 runs behind with two wickets in hand, but Muthusamy swept and reverse swept against the spinners with ease and Rabada didn&rsquo;t spare the bowlers before he holed out to long-on at the stroke of tea that ended a superb counterattack from South Africa.&nbsp;Record haulAfridi became only the sixth Pakistani spinner after Mohammad Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Bilal Asif, Noman Ali and Abrar Ahmed to grab a five-wicket haul in a debut test after South Africa resumed on 185-4.&nbsp;In doing so, he beat the test record set by England legspinner Charles Marriott, who returned 5-37 on debut against West Indies in 1933 at the age of 37.&nbsp;Afridi&rsquo;s sliders baffled the South Africa batters as he struck on the fourth ball of the day, finding the outside edge of Kyle Verreynne&rsquo;s (10) bat.&nbsp;Tristan Stubbs (76) added eight to his overnight 68 before he was undone by another straight delivery as he tried to flick the left-arm spinner off the back foot and was out leg before wicket.&nbsp;Afridi then celebrated his memorable five-wicket haul when Harmer (2) went for a sweep but was struck on the back leg directly in front of the stumps.&nbsp;Pakistan took the second new ball and Noman Ali finally got his first wicket when he had Marco Jansen lbw.&nbsp;Pakistan leads the two-match series after a win in Lahore last week.

South Africa's Kagiso Rabada, left, plays a shot as Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan watches during the third day of the second test cricket match between Pakistan and South Africa, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, October 22, 2025. (AP)

Cricket

Pakistan collapsed to 94-4 in its second innings at stumps. Off-spinner Simon Harmer took 3-26 and Rabada had Abdullah Shafique caught in the slips cordon in his incisive opening spell with the new ball.

Rabada hits first test 50 to lead South Africa's comeback vs Pakistan

RAMALLAH: Illegal Israeli settlers descended on Palestinian olive harvesters and activists this week in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, beating them with clubs in an attack Palestinian health officials said sent at least one woman to the hospital with serious injuries. The attack Sunday in the town of Turmus Ayya, which was captured in videos obtained by The Associated Press, came as Palestinians say settler violence in the region is worsening. The United Nations and rights groups have raised the alarm as harvest season begins and Palestinian farmers are at growing risk while gathering olives.&nbsp;Settler violence skyrockets&nbsp;&ldquo;Settler violence has skyrocketed in scale and frequency,&quot; Ajith Sunghay, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territory, said in a statement released Tuesday. &ldquo;Two weeks into the start of the 2025 harvest, we have already seen severe attacks by armed settlers against Palestinian men, women, children, and foreign solidarity activists.&quot; In one of the videos obtained by the AP, a masked man was seen running through an olive grove and beating at least two people with a club, including a woman as she lay motionless on the ground. The masked man appeared to be wearing tzitzit, a ritual fringed garment for Jews.&nbsp;The woman was hospitalized with serious injuries, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry said. Torched carsIn a separate video, more than a dozen masked men were seen running down a village road alongside an olive grove, pursuing a car. One settler clubbed the car and opened the door. A passenger managed to escape and run away with the group of men running after him. A third video showed flames and smoke rising from several torched cars. Israel&rsquo;s Channel 12 reported that the head of the West Bank police force said in an internal police WhatsApp group that the footage of the masked settler beating the woman &ldquo;kept him up at night&rdquo; and instructed officers to bring the settler to justice. Israel&#39;s military and police did not respond to an AP request for comment on the attack.&nbsp;Palestinian American population&nbsp;Turmus Ayya, whose population is predominantly Palestinian American, has long been a target of settler attacks, but villagers say the violence worsened during the Israel-Hamas war. It is nestled in a valley surrounded by hilltops crowned with Israeli settlements and outposts. Since the killing of a 14-year-old Palestinian-American, Amer Rabee, by Israeli forces in the town in April, protests against settler violence and the military&#39;s perceived failure to curb it have provoked regular clashes with settlers. More broadly, settler violence is surging across the West Bank.&nbsp;Over 750 settler attacks&nbsp;The UN says the first half of 2025 has seen 757 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage &mdash; a 13% increase compared with the same period last year. The first week of olive harvest season has seen more than 150 settler attacks and over 700 olive trees uprooted, broken, or poisoned, according to Muayyad Shaaban, who heads an office in the Palestinian Authority that is tracking the violence. Israel captured the West Bank, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast War. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state. Settler advocates hold key Israeli Cabinet positions that grant them and the settlers an essential say over the West Bank.

Middle East

UN says first half of 2025 has seen 757 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage; settler advocates hold key Israeli Cabinet positions that grant them and the settlers an important say over the West Bank. 

Illegal Israeli settlers beat Palestinian farmers on video as attacks mount 

KIRYAT GAT: US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday called progress in Gaza&rsquo;s fragile ceasefire better than anticipated but acknowledged during an Israel visit the challenges that remain, from disarming Hamas to rebuilding a land devastated by two years of war. Vance noted flareups of violence in recent days but said the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that began on Oct. 10 is going &ldquo;better than I expected.&rdquo; The Trump administration&#39;s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, added that &ldquo;we are exceeding where we thought we would be at this time.&rdquo; They visited a new center in Israel for civilian and military cooperation as questions remain over the long-term plan for peace, including when and how an international security force will deploy to Gaza and who will govern the territory after the war. Vance tried to downplay any idea that his visit &mdash; his first as vice president &mdash; was urgently arranged to keep the ceasefire in place. He said he feels &ldquo;confident that we&rsquo;re going to be in a place where this peace lasts,&rdquo; but warned that if Hamas doesn&rsquo;t cooperate, it will be &ldquo;obliterated.&rdquo; Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump&rsquo;s son-in-law and one of the architects of the ceasefire agreement, noted its complexity: &ldquo;Both sides are transitioning from two years of very intense warfare to now a peacetime posture.&quot; Vance is expected to stay in the region until Thursday and meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials. On Tuesday, Netanyahu fired his national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, but gave no reason for the decision. Israeli media said Hanegbi had opposed the renewal of Israel&rsquo;s Gaza offensive in March, and Israel&rsquo;s failed attempt to assassinate Hamas&rsquo; leadership in an airstrike in Qatar in September. In a statement, Hanegbi noted &ldquo;times of disagreement&rdquo; with Netanyahu. Hamas hands over remains of 2 more hostagesLate Tuesday, Israel&rsquo;s military said the remains of two more Gaza hostages had been returned to Israel, where they would be identified. Since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, the remains of 15 hostages have been returned to Israel. Another 13 still need to be recovered in Gaza and handed over. On his visit to Israel on Tuesday, Vance urged a &ldquo;little bit of patience&rdquo; amid Israeli frustration with Hamas&rsquo; pace of returning the hostages. &ldquo;Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are,&rdquo; Vance said. Israel is releasing 15 Palestinian bodies for the remains of each dead hostage, according to Gaza&rsquo;s Health Ministry. It said on Tuesday that Israel had so far transferred 165 bodies since earlier this month. As he faced journalists&#39; questions over the ceasefire&#39;s next steps, he said &ldquo;a lot of this work is very hard&quot; and urged flexibility. &ldquo;Once we&rsquo;ve got to a point where both the Gazans and our Israeli friends can have some measure of security, then we&rsquo;ll worry about what the long-term governance of Gaza is,&quot; he said. &quot;Let&rsquo;s focus on security, rebuilding, giving people some food and medicine.&rdquo; Although some 200 US troops were recently sent to Israel, Vance emphasized that they would not be on the ground in Gaza. But he said officials are beginning to &quot;conceptualize what that international security force would look like&quot; for the territory. He mentioned Turkey and Indonesia as countries expected to participate. The flags of Jordan, Germany, Britain and Denmark were on the stage where he spoke. Britain said late Tuesday it would send a small contingent of military officers to Israel to assist in monitoring the ceasefire. While the ceasefire has been tested by fighting and mutual accusations of violations, both Israel and Hamas have said they are committed to the deal. Aid into Gaza increases, while prices riseInternational organizations said they were scaling up humanitarian aid entering Gaza, while Hamas-led security forces cracked down against what it called price gouging by private merchants. The World Food Program said it had sent more than 530 trucks into Gaza in the past 10 days, enough to feed nearly half a million people for two weeks. That&#39;s well under the 500 to 600 that entered daily before the war. The WFP also said it had reinstated 26 distribution points across Gaza and hopes to scale up to its previous 145 points as soon as possible. Residents said prices for essential goods soared on Sunday after militants killed two Israeli soldiers and Israel responded with strikes that killed dozens of Palestinians. Israel also threatened to halt humanitarian aid. At a market in the central city of Deir al-Balah, a 25-kilogram (55-pound) package of flour was selling for more than $70 on Sunday, up from about $12 shortly after the ceasefire. By Tuesday, the price was around $30. Mohamed al-Faqawi, a Khan Younis resident, accused merchants of taking advantage of the perilous security situation. &ldquo;They are exploiting us,&rdquo; he said. On Monday, Hamas said its security forces raided shops across Gaza, closing some and forcing merchants to lower prices. Hamas also has allowed aid trucks to move safely and halted looting of deliveries. Nahed Sheheiber, head of Gaza&rsquo;s private truckers&rsquo; union, said there was no stealing aid since the ceasefire started. But other significant challenges remain as Gaza&#39;s financial system is in tatters. With nearly every bank branch and ATM inoperable, people pay exorbitant commissions to a network of cash brokers to get money for daily expenses. On Tuesday, dozens of people in Deir al-Balah spent hours in line at the Bank of Palestine hoping to access their money but were turned away. &ldquo;Without having the bank open and without money, it does not matter that the prices (in the market) have dropped,&rdquo; said Kamilia Al-Ajez. Gaza doctors say bodies returned with signs of tortureA senior health official in Gaza said some bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel bore &ldquo;evidence of torture&rdquo; and called for a United Nations investigation. Dr. Muneer al-Boursh, the health ministry&#39;s general director, said on social media late Monday that some had evidence of being bound with ropes and metal shackles, and had deep wounds and crushed limbs. It was not immediately clear if any of the bodies had been prisoners; they are returned without identification or details on how they died. The bodies could include Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli custody or bodies taken out of Gaza by Israeli troops during the war. The Israel Prisons Service denied that prisoners had been mistreated, saying it had followed legal procedures and provided medical care and &ldquo;adequate living conditions.&rdquo; Israeli hostages released from Gaza have also reported metal shackles and harsh conditions, including frequent beatings and starvation. In the 2023 attack on Israel that started the war, Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people as hostages. The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza&rsquo;s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

US Vice President JD Vance said Gaza’s ceasefire is progressing better than expected but warned of “very hard” work ahead, including disarming Hamas, rebuilding Gaza, and forming an international security force to maintain peace.

US vice president optimistic about Gaza ceasefire, notes 'very hard' work to come

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" id="isPasted">SEOUL:&nbsp;North Korea performed its first ballistic missile tests in five months Wednesday, days before US President Donald Trump and other leaders are expected to meet in South Korea. South Korea&rsquo;s military said it detected multiple short-range ballistic missiles that were launched from an area south of Pyongyang and flew about 350 kilometers (220 miles) toward the northeast. The South&rsquo;s Joint Chiefs of Staff didn&rsquo;t release more specific flight details but said the missiles didn&rsquo;t land in the sea. The Joint Chiefs added that the South&#39;s military remains ready to repel any provocations by North Korea based on its solid military alliance with the United States. Japan&rsquo;s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters that Tokyo was closely communicating with Washington and Seoul, including by sharing real-time missile warning data. North Korea didn&rsquo;t immediately comment on the launches. Trump is to leave for Asia at the end of the week in the first trip to the region of his second term. He plans to go to Malaysia first for a regional summit, and then head to Japan before travelling on to South Korea for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, an annual summit meant to promote economic integration and trade. Trump was expected to visit the South Korean city of Gyeongju ahead of the summit for bilateral meetings with leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, but South Korean officials say Trump won&#39;t likely attend APEC&#39;s main conference set for Oct. 30-Nov. 1. Experts earlier said North Korea could conduct provocative missile tests before or during the APEC summit to underscore its commitment to gain recognition as a nuclear weapons state. Experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would need that status to call for the UN to lift the economic sanctions punishing it for its weapons program. Wednesday&#39;s ballistic missile launches by North Korea were the first of their kind since the country on May 8 tested short-range systems that simulated nuclear counterstrikes against US and South Korean forces. They were also North Korea&#39;s first ballistic missile testing activities since Lee took office in June with a promise to push to restore peace on the Korean Peninsula. Kim has been sharply accelerating the pace of weapons tests since his high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with Trump fell apart in 2019 due to wrangling over the U.S.-led economic sanctions. But last month, Kim suggested he could return to talks if the US drops its demand for North Korea&#39;s denuclearization, after Trump repeatedly expressed his hopes for new diplomacy. Earlier this month, Kim displayed a new intercontinental ballistic missile at a military parade attended by Chinese, Russian and other top officials. The parade highlighted Kim&rsquo;s growing diplomatic footing and his relentless drive to build a reliable arsenal of nuclear missiles targeting the US and its allies. North Korea&#39;s state media said the Oct. 10 parade featured the Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile, which it described as the country&rsquo;s &ldquo;most powerful nuclear strategic weapon system.&rdquo; Observers said the new ICBM is designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads to defeat US missile defenses and that North Korea could test-launch it in coming months.<figure class="fr-media"> </figure>

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Asia

North Korea performed its first ballistic missile tests in five months Wednesday, days before US President Donald Trump and other leaders are expected to meet in South Korea.

North Korea test-fires ballistic missiles ahead of Trump's Asia trip

<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;' id="isPasted"><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" id="isPasted">WASHINGTON:&nbsp;A man was taken into custody late Tuesday after driving his car into a security barrier outside the White House, authorities said.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>The US Secret Service said the man crashed into the security gate at a White House entrance at 10:37 p.m. on Tuesday. The man was immediately arrested by officers from the Secret Service&rsquo;s uniformed division, the agency said.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Investigators searched his car and deemed it to be safe, Secret Service officials said in a statement.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Authorities did not immediately provide any additional information about the crash, the driver&rsquo;s identity or any potential motivation.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's husband George Akerlof at the East Wing of the White House in Washington, Jan. 26, 2021, across from the Treasury building. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

A man was taken into custody after driving his car into a security barrier outside the White House.

Man taken into custody after crashing car into security gate outside White House

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump&rsquo;s plan for a swift meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin is on hold, a US official said on Tuesday, the latest twist in his stop-and-go effort to resolve the war in Ukraine.&nbsp;The meeting was announced last week and was supposed to take place in Budapest, Hungary, in the near future. However, the idea was paused after a call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to the official, who wasn&rsquo;t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.&nbsp;The decision to hold off on a meeting between Trump and Putin will likely relieve European leaders, who have accused Putin of stalling for time with diplomacy while trying to gain ground on the battlefield.&nbsp;The leaders &mdash; including the British prime minister, French president and German chancellor &mdash; said they opposed any push to make Ukraine surrender land captured by Russian forces in return for peace, as Trump has occasionally suggested.&nbsp;They also plan to push forward with plans to use billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine&rsquo;s war efforts, despite some misgivings about the legality and consequences of such a step.&nbsp;Trump has not yet commented publicly about the change in plans for his meeting with Putin. They previously met in Alaska in August, but the encounter did not advance Trump&rsquo;s stalled attempts to end a war that began almost four years ago.&nbsp;The Kremlin didn&rsquo;t seem to be in a rush to get Trump and Putin together again either. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that &ldquo;preparation is needed, serious preparation&rdquo; before a meeting.&nbsp;Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been trying to strengthen Ukraine&#39;s position by seeking long-range Tomahawk missiles from the US, although Trump has waffled on whether he would provide them.&nbsp;&ldquo;We need to end this war, and only pressure will lead to peace,&rdquo; Zelenskyy said on Tuesday in a Telegram post.&nbsp;He noted that Putin returned to diplomacy and called Trump last week when it looked like Tomahawk missiles were a possibility. But &quot;as soon as the pressure eased a little, the Russians began to try to drop diplomacy, postpone the dialogue,&rdquo; Zelenskyy said.&nbsp;On Wednesday, Trump will hold talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official did not provide any detail about Trump&rsquo;s agenda for the talks.&nbsp;The military alliance has been coordinating deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, many of them purchased from the US by Canada and European countries. A meeting of the Coalition of the Willing &mdash; a group of 35 countries who support Ukraine &mdash; is due to take place in London on Friday.&nbsp;Trump&#39;s stance on the war has shifted throughout the year. He initially focused on pressuring Ukraine to make concessions, but then grew frustrated with Putin&#39;s intransigence. Trump often complains that he thought his good relationship with his Russian counterpart would have made it easier to end the war.&nbsp;Last month, Trump reversed his long-held position that Ukraine would have to give up land and suggested it could win back all the territory it has lost to Russia. But after a phone call with Putin last week and a subsequent meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday, Trump shifted his position again and called on Kyiv and Moscow to &ldquo;stop where they are&rdquo; in the more than three-year war.&nbsp;On Sunday, Trump said the industrial Donbas region of eastern Ukraine should be &ldquo;cut up,&rdquo; leaving most of it in Russian hands.&nbsp;Trump said on Monday that while he thinks it is possible that Ukraine can ultimately defeat Russia, he&rsquo;s now doubtful it will happen.&nbsp;Ukrainian and European leaders are trying hard to keep Trump on their side.&nbsp;&ldquo;We strongly support President Trump&rsquo;s position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations,&rdquo; the leaders&#39; statement said. &ldquo;We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction.&quot;&nbsp;Russia occupies about one fifth of Ukraine, but carving up their country in return for peace is unacceptable to Kyiv officials.&nbsp;Also, a conflict frozen on the current front line could fester, with occupied areas of Ukraine offering Moscow a springboard for new attacks in the future, Ukrainian and European officials fear.&nbsp;The statement by the leaders of Ukraine, the UK, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Denmark and EU officials came early in what Zelenskyy said Monday would be a week that is &ldquo;very active in diplomacy.&rdquo;&nbsp;More international economic sanctions on Russia are likely to be discussed at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.&nbsp;&ldquo;We must ramp up the pressure on Russia&rsquo;s economy and its defense industry, until Putin is ready to make peace,&rdquo; Tuesday&rsquo;s statement said.&nbsp;

Europe

Idea paused after call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, official says.

Trump-Putin summit planned for Budapest on hold 

OpenAI said Tuesday it is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artificial intelligence to answer their questions.&nbsp;Making itself a gateway to online searches could allow OpenAI, the world&#39;s most valuable startup, to pull in more internet traffic and the revenue made from digital advertising.&nbsp;OpenAI has said ChatGPT already has more than 800 million users, but many of them get it for free. The San Francisco-based company is losing more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit.&nbsp;OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops and will later come to Microsoft&rsquo;s Windows, Apple&rsquo;s iOS phone operating system and Google&rsquo;s Android phone system.&nbsp;OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it a &ldquo;rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one.&rdquo;&nbsp;OpenAI&rsquo;s browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google&rsquo;s industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google&rsquo;s ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly.&nbsp;But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape.&nbsp;OpenAI&rsquo;s browser will face a daunting challenge against Chrome, which has amassed about 3 billion worldwide users and has been adding some AI features from Google&rsquo;s Gemini technology.&nbsp;Chrome&rsquo;s immense success could provide a blueprint for OpenAI as it enters the browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft&rsquo;s Internet Explorer was so dominant that few observers believed a new browser could mount a formidable threat.&nbsp;But Chrome quickly won over legions of admirers by loading webpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser, which operates similarly to Chrome.&nbsp;Perplexity, another smaller AI startup, rolled out its own Comet browser earlier this year. It also expressed interest in buying Chrome and eventually submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer for the browser that hit a dead end when Mehta decided against a Google breakup.&nbsp;A premium feature of the ChatGPT Atlas browser is an &ldquo;agent mode&rdquo; that accesses the laptop and effectively clicks around the internet on the person&rsquo;s behalf, armed with what it has learned from users&rsquo; browser history and what they are seeking to learn, and explaining its process as it searches.&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s using the internet for you,&rdquo; Altman said.

OpenAI is introducing its own web browser, Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google 

OpenAI launches web browser to compete with Google Chrome

Aleena Zara Malik

Global media often frames conspiracy theories in Pakistan as cultural or even biological, while treating the same beliefs in Western societies as political or social phenomena. In this episode of Debunkistan, we challenge that double standard. Using data from the US, UK, and Europe, this episode breaks down why conspiracy thinking is a human response to uncertainty, mistrust, and broken information systems, not a national DNA marker.

Debunkistan

Conspiracy Is Not a National Trait | Debunkistan

BRISBANE: Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to reach her third Brisbane International final in a row on Saturday, a week before the Australian Open.&nbsp;Sabalenka looked in great touch against the tricky Czech, who had won their last three meetings and went into the match as one of the few players with a winning record over the world number one.&nbsp;But Sabalenka showed her class and power as she broke Muchova once in each set to take the semi-final 6-3, 6-4 in 89 minutes and will face Ukraine&#39;s Marta Kostyuk in Sunday&#39;s women&#39;s final.&nbsp;Former world number one Daniil Medvedev will take on unseeded American Brandon Nakashima in the men&#39;s final.&nbsp;&quot;I struggled against her a couple of times (in the past),&quot; Sabalenka, the defending champion, said of Muchova.&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;m happy that today I was focused from the beginning and I was able to show such great tennis and put her under so much pressure and get the win in straight sets.&quot;&nbsp;The 27-year-old Belarusian said she could feel her level getting better with every match in Brisbane, where she is yet to drop a set.&nbsp;She said that with seven of the world&#39;s top 10 having entered, it was ideal preparation for the Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne on January 18.&nbsp;Sabalenka is aiming to win a third Australian Open in four years.&nbsp;&quot;I definitely feel that compared to the first match here, I&#39;m playing better and better,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&quot;That&#39;s really important heading to Melbourne, to build that level, and to play some great matches against great opponents.&nbsp;&quot;So I&#39;m super happy with the performance so far and cannot wait to play my final match here.&quot;&nbsp;Kostyuk, who entered the week ranked 26th in the world, swept past world number six Jessica Pegula 6-0, 6-3 in just 55 minutes in a stunning display of power and aggression.&nbsp;Kostyuk&#39;s demolition of the American made it three wins over top 10 players in succession.&nbsp;She beat world number three Amanda Anisimova in the third round and ninth-ranked Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-finals.&nbsp;&quot;I think it was one of those days today when everything you touch turns into gold,&quot; Kostyuk said.&nbsp;&quot;Personally, I didn&#39;t have many matches like this in my career, especially against top-10 players, so it&#39;s a great bonus to have such a match because it&#39;s not easy conditions in Brisbane. It&#39;s very hot, very humid.&quot;&nbsp;Kostyuk has never beaten Sabalenka in four previous meetings but said the pressure was all on her opponent.&nbsp;&quot;The pressure is not on me -- I want to go out there and put on a good show for the crowd,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&quot;I really have nothing to lose.&quot;&nbsp;In the men&#39;s draw, top seed Medvedev beat Alex Michelsen of the United States 6-4, 6-2 while Nakashima defeated another American in Aleksandar Kovacevic, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.

Tennis

Aryna Sabalenka reached her third straight Brisbane final after beating Karolina Muchova and will face Marta Kostyuk. Daniil Medvedev also advanced to the men’s final, as players prepare for the Australian Open.

Sabalenka into third straight Brisbane final ahead of Australian Open

JAKARTA: Indonesia suspended Elon Musk&#39;s AI chatbot Grok on Saturday over concerns about AI-generated pornographic content, the country&#39;s communication and digital affairs minister said.&nbsp;Grok has faced a global backlash after it emerged that its image creation feature allowed users to sexualize pictures of women and children using simple text prompts.&nbsp;Indonesia is the first country to deny all access to the tool, which has been restricted to paying subscribers elsewhere following the backlash.&nbsp;&quot;In order to protect women, children, and the public from the risks of fake pornographic content generated using the artificial intelligence technology, the government has temporarily blocked access to the Grok application,&quot; Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said in a statement.&nbsp;&quot;The government views non-consensual deep fake practices as a serious violation of human rights, dignity, and the security of citizens in the digital space.&quot;&nbsp;The ministry has also summoned representatives from social media platform X to seek clarification on the issue.&nbsp;According to AFP journalists in Jakarta, the Grok X account was still active and replying to queries, including in Bahasa Indonesia, on Saturday evening.&nbsp;Musk-owned startup xAI, which developed Grok, was not immediately available for comment in person.&nbsp;European officials and tech campaigners slammed the move to limit Grok&#39;s features to paying subscribers, saying it failed to address concerns about sexually explicit deep fake content.&nbsp;Musk said last week in response to a post about the explicit images that anyone using Grok to &quot;make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content&quot;.

Indonesia has blocked Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok over concerns it enables pornographic deepfake content involving women and children. The government called it a human rights violation and summoned platform X for clarification.

Indonesia suspends Musk's Grok AI over pornographic content: minister

ISTANBUL: One person died and seven others were missing Saturday after a migrant boat sank in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkiye, the Turkish coast guard said.&nbsp;Thirty-seven passengers on a rubber dinghy which took on water before dawn off the western city of Dikili, north of Izmir, were rescued alive, the coast guard stated.&nbsp;Dikili, a small seaside resort, faces the Greek island of Lesbos, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.&nbsp;&quot;Search operations ... are continuing to find the seven missing irregular migrants,&quot; the coast guard said.&nbsp;Shipwrecks are common for perilous crossings to the Greek islands, which are a gateway to the European Union.&nbsp;Nearly 1,900 migrants either disappeared or were found drowned in the Mediterranean in 2025, according to the International Organization for Migration.

One migrant died and seven were missing after a rubber dinghy sank off Dikili, Turkiye. Thirty-seven were rescued near Lesbos, and searches continue. The International Organization for Migration says 1,900 migrants died or disappeared in 2025.

One dead, seven missing after migrant boat sinks off Turkiye

HAVANA: The capture by US forces of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the killing in the operation of 32 Cubans assigned to protect him represent a major blow for the island&#39;s revered intelligence services, experts say.&nbsp;Fearful of betrayal by dissenters within Venezuela&#39;s ranks, the leftist Maduro, like his late mentor Hugo Chavez sourced his security detail in communist-ruled Cuba.&nbsp;But the Cubans proved little match for the US special forces sent by helicopter to snatch Maduro from a military compound after US jets had pummeled Venezuela&#39;s air defenses.&nbsp;Of the 32 Cubans killed, along with 23 Venezuelan troops, 21 were from the Cuban interior ministry, which oversees the intelligence services, officials said.&nbsp;The remaining 11 were from Cuba&#39;s military.&nbsp;Experts consulted by AFP agreed that the key to the seamless execution of the US operation meticulously prepared for months, in complete secrecy was the element of surprise.&nbsp;But former Venezuelan military officer Jose Gustavo Arocha of the Center for a Secure Free Society, a US think tank specializing in defense issues, also suggested that Cuba had misjudged the threat.&nbsp;Cuban intelligence &quot;convinced the Maduro regime and its security agencies that the United States would never attack on Venezuelan territory,&quot; Arocha said.&nbsp;Former US intelligence officer Fulton Armstrong, who is now a Latin America researcher at American University in Washington, also pointed to intelligence failures.&nbsp;Chief among them, he said, was the failure to anticipate the attack and then to detect helicopters entering Venezuela&#39;s airspace.&nbsp;&quot;Even a five- or 10-minute warning would have made a massive difference for the guards and for Maduro,&quot; the former CIA agent said.&nbsp;US forces however, had a major advantage in the form of stealth drones, used to monitor the Venezuelan leader&#39;s movements in real time, as well as more advanced weapons and combat gear.&nbsp;Paul Hare, a former British ambassador to Cuba and Venezuela, argued that Cuban intelligence underestimated US access to &quot;insider cooperation in Venezuela,&quot;&nbsp; an informant within Maduro&#39;s camp.&nbsp;Citing sources close to the operation, The New York Times reported that a CIA source within the Venezuelan government revealed Maduro&#39;s location.&nbsp;The United States had issued a reward of $50 million for information leading to his capture.&nbsp;Aura of invincibility&nbsp;For decades, the Cuban secret service, trained during the Soviet era by the KGB, enjoyed a reputation for invincibility.&nbsp;Besides having foiled some 600 assassination attempts against late leader Fidel Castro, Cuba was reputed for its ability to infiltrate foreign intelligence services and recruit high-ranking informants, particularly Americans.&nbsp;The most recent case to come to light was that of Victor Manuel Rocha, a former US diplomat sentenced in 2024 to 15 years in prison after working for over four decades for the Cuban state.&nbsp;But Cuba &quot;didn&#39;t adequately read the Trump administration,&quot; said Arocha, noting that the administration&#39;s National Security Strategy unveiled in December clearly articulated Trump&#39;s goal of asserting US dominance over Latin America.&nbsp;Washington had regularly denounced Cuba&#39;s role, since the 2000s, in the Venezuelan security apparatus.&nbsp;The routine response from Caracas and Havana was that Cuba, in return for Venezuelan oil supplies, provided its ally with doctors and humanitarian workers.&nbsp;Arocha argued that &quot;so many years... doing the same thing successfully&quot; blinded the Cubans to Trump&#39;s willingness to defy diplomacy and international law, so they did not see him coming.&nbsp;The Republican leader stunned the world by ordering the capture of the Venezuelan president in what his administration said was a law enforcement operation that did not require authorization from Congress.&nbsp;&quot;All the capabilities of Cuban intelligence were blocked for the first time in the region... because their traditional methods became irrelevant against this new decision-making style,&quot; Arocha said.

US forces captured Nicolas Maduro in a surprise operation that killed Cuban and Venezuelan guards. Experts say Cuban intelligence failed to anticipate the attack, underestimated US intentions, and was outmatched by secrecy, technology, and insider information.

How Cuba was blindsided by the operation to capture Maduro

Web Desk

The Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, US (AFP/File)

Viral

Fact Check

Social media users revived the 'Pentagon pizza theory' after late-night restaurant activity near the Pentagon, fueling speculation about secret US military activity.

Pentagon pizza theory: late-night orders spark online war speculation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Navy demonstrated its operational readiness and combat preparedness through a comprehensive exercise in the North Arabian Sea, showcasing both conventional and unmanned capabilities, as per the dictates of evolving naval warfare. A press release issued by Pakistan military&rsquo;s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Saturday, stated: The exercise included the successful live firing of LY-80(N) Surface to Air Missile (SAM) from Vertical Launching System at extended range, validating the long-range capabilities of Pakistan Navy&#39;s modern air defense systems. Loitering munition&nbsp;The statement said that &ldquo;LY-80(N) SAM successfully engaged and neutralized an aerial target, demonstrating Pakistan Navy&#39;s robust air defense capabilities.&rdquo; &ldquo;The exercise also featured the successful engagement of surface targets using Loitering Munition (LM), demonstrating Pakistan Navy&#39;s precision strike capabilities.&rdquo;<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 624px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2009930694253052185&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fsections%2F&sessionId=0dfc7bbdac468c5b6e22137503d5558da1ddc4b8&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" data-tweet-id="2009930694253052185"></iframe></div></div>Loitering Munition (LM) successfully engaged and destroyed surface targets, showcasing its effectiveness in modern naval warfare, it said. Autonomous naval technologyThe press release said successful open-sea trials of Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) were also conducted, marking a significant leap in autonomous naval technology. &ldquo;The trials validated the platform&rsquo;s ability to combine high-speed performance with mission-critical durability,&rdquo; the ISPR&rsquo;s statement said.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-2" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 1056px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2009930696912187840&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fsections%2F&sessionId=0dfc7bbdac468c5b6e22137503d5558da1ddc4b8&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" data-tweet-id="2009930696912187840"></iframe></div></div>Key capabilities demonstrated include extreme maneuverability, precision navigation, and weather resilience, it added. The statement further said, &ldquo;USV offers a low-risk, high-impact solution with the stealth of a tactical interceptor.&rdquo; Safeguarding maritime interests &nbsp;Commander Pakistan Fleet witnessed the exercise, which showcased Pakistan Navy&#39;s ability to employ advanced systems. Admiral Naveed Ashraf, Chief of the Naval Staff, commended officers and men of the Pakistan Navy for their professionalism and operational competence. He reaffirmed Pakistan Navy&#39;s resolve to ensure seaward defense of Pakistan and safeguard national maritime interests under all circumstances.

Security

Demonstrates its combat readiness in the North Arabian Sea through a comprehensive exercise featuring live missile firing, precision strikes, and advanced unmanned systems, underscoring its evolving operational capabilities.

Pakistan Navy showcases modern warfare capabilities in North Arabian Sea

ISLAMABAD: Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, Chief of Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force (PAF), called on Lieutenant General Staff Pilot Mohanad Ghalib Mohammed Radi Al-Asadi, Commander of the Iraqi Air Force, during his official visit to Iraq, the military said on Saturday.&nbsp;The Air Chief was received with a Guard of Honor at the Iraqi Air Force Headquarters, reflecting strong mutual respect between the two forces, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the Pakistani military.&nbsp;Discussions focused on enhancing bilateral military cooperation, including joint training, capacity building, and operational coordination.&nbsp;Air Chief Sidhu highlighted the deep-rooted religious, cultural, and historical ties between Pakistan and Iraq, reaffirming PAF&rsquo;s commitment to supporting the Iraqi Air Force in training and capacity development. Both commanders agreed to pursue joint exercises and training initiatives to strengthen interoperability.&nbsp;The Iraqi Air Chief praised PAF&rsquo;s professionalism and technological advancements, expressing keen interest in Pakistan&rsquo;s world-class training programs, JF-17 Thunder fighter jets, and Super Mushshak trainer aircraft. He also acknowledged Pakistan&rsquo;s role in promoting regional stability.&nbsp;The visit highlighted the shared resolve of both air forces to further deepen defense ties and professional collaboration.

Discussions focus on enhancing bilateral military cooperation, including joint training, capacity building, and operational coordination.


Pakistan air chief pledges support for Iraqi Air Force training

NUUK: &quot;We don&#39;t want to be Americans,&quot; Greenland&#39;s political parties said after US President Donald Trump again suggested using force to seize the mineral-rich Danish autonomous territory. The statement late Friday came after Trump repeated that Washington was &ldquo;going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not&rdquo;. &ldquo;We don&#39;t want to be Americans, we don&#39;t want to be Danish, we want to be Greenlanders,&rdquo; the leaders of five parties in Greenland&#39;s parliament said. &quot;The future of Greenland must be decided by Greenlanders.&quot; Denmark and other European allies have voiced shock at Trump&#39;s threats to take control of Greenland, where the United States already has a military base. Trump says controlling the strategic island is crucial for US national security, given the rising military activity of Russia and China in the Arctic. &lsquo;Nice way or the more difficult way&rsquo;&quot;We&#39;re not going to have Russia or China occupy Greenland. That&#39;s what they&#39;re going to do if we don&#39;t. So we&#39;re going to be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way,&quot; the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-warns-greenland-deal-will-happen-easy-or-hard-threatens-iran" style="color:#0073e6;">US president said Friday.</a> Both Russia and China have increased military activity in the region in recent years, but neither has laid any claim to the vast icy island. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an invasion of Greenland would end &ldquo;everything&rdquo;, meaning the transatlantic NATO defense pact and the post-World War II security structure. Trump has made light of the concerns of Denmark, a steadfast US ally that joined the United States in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. &lsquo;Boat land there 500 years ago&rsquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;I&#39;m a fan of Denmark, too, I have to tell you. And you know, they&#39;ve been very nice to me,&rdquo; Trump said. &ldquo;But you know, the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn&rsquo;t mean that they own the land.&rdquo; Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet next week with Denmark&#39;s foreign minister and representatives from Greenland.

US President Trump says controlling the strategic island is crucial for US national security, given the rising military activity of Russia and China in the Arctic.

'We don't want to be Americans': Greenland's political parties

ISLAMABAD: Turkiye is reportedly seeking to join the mutual defense agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, potentially creating a new trilateral security alignment, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.&nbsp;&nbsp;The US-based news agency cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter, saying the talks are at an advanced stage and &ldquo;a deal is very likely.&rdquo;&nbsp;According to Bloomberg, Turkiye views joining the pact as a way to strengthen security and deterrence amid questions over the reliability of the United States and changing regional dynamics. The report noted that Turkiye&rsquo;s interests increasingly overlap with those of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.&nbsp;The story also referenced comments from Nihat Ali Ozcan, a strategist at Ankara-based think tank TEPAV, who highlighted the combined strengths of the three countries.&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Riyadh brings financial clout, Islamabad its nuclear capability and manpower, while Turkiye contributes military experience and a developed defense industry,&rdquo; Ozcan told Bloomberg.&nbsp;&nbsp;The report added that the expanded alliance could shift regional and global security calculations, particularly as countries seek new mechanisms to identify friends and foes in a changing geopolitical environment.&nbsp;Bloomberg further noted that Turkiye has already been deepening defense ties with both countries, including constructing corvette warships for the Pakistan Navy, upgrading the Pakistan Air Force&rsquo;s F-16s, and sharing drone technology.&nbsp;&nbsp;The outlet added that Turkiye now aims to involve Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in its Kaan fifth-generation fighter jet program.&nbsp;Pakistan-Saudi Arabia defense pactThe&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/pakistansaudi-defense-pact-oozes-with-unknowns" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pakistan-Saudi Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement</a>&nbsp;was signed in Riyadh in September 2025 by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.&nbsp;Under the pact, any attack on either nation would be treated as an act of aggression against both. The agreement is part of a broader effort to strengthen military and strategic cooperation between Islamabad and Riyadh, which also includes economic assistance and energy support.

Foreign Affairs

Bloomberg says Turkiye views joining the pact as a way to strengthen security and deterrence amid questions over the reliability of the United States and changing regional dynamics.

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