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

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday unveiled a proposal for a Regional Maritime Dialogue, a multicontinental framework aimed at bringing together countries from the Gulf Cooperation Council, Central Asia and Africa to address shared maritime challenges and strengthen cooperation, according to an official statement.&nbsp;The initiative was introduced by Maritime Affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry during a breakfast reception hosted by Pakistan at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) headquarters in London.&nbsp;Delegations from more than 173 countries, including over 100 maritime ministers, attended what officials described as one of the most widely participated events of the IMO Assembly week.&nbsp;Calling the IMO &ldquo;the pinnacle of maritime diplomacy,&rdquo; Junaid told delegates that Pakistan was &ldquo;ready to play a proactive role in shaping regulations that reflect the needs of our region.&rdquo;&nbsp;Junaid and IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez also jointly inaugurated a model of the PNSC ship Karachi, one of three new vessels the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation intends to acquire.&nbsp;The minister said the rapidly evolving maritime environment required new regional mechanisms capable of addressing &ldquo;operational, environmental, regulatory and technological needs.&rdquo;&nbsp;He added, &ldquo;Our maritime policies must reflect our vulnerabilities and our priorities.&rdquo;&nbsp;According to the proposal, the Regional Maritime Dialogue would prioritize emissions reduction, maritime safety, coordinated search-and-rescue operations and navigational safety.&nbsp;Junaid highlighted Pakistan&rsquo;s current role as coordinator of NAVAREA IX, one of 21 global navigational zones under the World-Wide Navigational Warning Service, responsible for ensuring ships receive timely and reliable safety alerts.&nbsp;To support long-term capacity building, the minister also proposed the establishment of a Regional Maritime University and a Regional Maritime Training Institute, arguing that new IMO regulations, autonomous shipping and digitalization demand updated skills.&nbsp;&ldquo;We want to prepare our workforce for the future of shipping, where technology, environmental compliance and digital skills will be essential,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;Reaffirming Pakistan&rsquo;s ambition to emerge as a regional maritime leader, Junaid said the country remained committed to working closely with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and partners across Central Asia and Africa to shape global maritime policy and advance shared development priorities.

Climate & Environment

Economy

At IMO headquarters in London, Islamabad proposes a multicontinental maritime dialogue linking Gulf, Central Asian and African states to strengthen cooperation on safety, emissions, regulation and future shipping technologies.

Pakistan seeks multicontinental alliance to shape future of global shipping

ISLAMABAD: Bahrain has conferred its highest state award on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as both countries move to deepen political, economic and defense cooperation, according to the Prime Minister&rsquo;s Office (PMO).&nbsp;In a meeting in Manama, King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa presented Pakistani PM with the Order of Bahrain (First Class), described by the PMO as &ldquo;the highest award Bahrain confers on heads of state and government.&rdquo;&nbsp;The PMO said PM Sharif thanked the King for the warm reception and for what he called Bahrain&rsquo;s &ldquo;longstanding goodwill and friendship toward Pakistan.&rdquo; He also commended &ldquo;His Majesty&rsquo;s leadership in promoting peace, tolerance and coexistence.&rdquo;&nbsp;According to the PMO, King Hamad told Sharif that Bahrain had &ldquo;the privilege of being represented at a legal forum by none other than Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah,&rdquo; adding that Pakistan&rsquo;s founding father &ldquo;remained Bahrain&rsquo;s lawyer for a long time.&rdquo;&nbsp;Both sides reviewed the &ldquo;encouraging momentum&rdquo; in bilateral ties and agreed to strengthen cooperation in political, economic, defense and cultural fields.&nbsp;The PMO quoted PM Sharif as reaffirming Pakistan&rsquo;s commitment to deepening relations &ldquo;based on shared faith and mutual respect.&rdquo;&nbsp;The prime minister thanked the King for Bahrain&rsquo;s continued support, including the establishment of the King Hamad University for Nursing and Allied Medical Sciences in Islamabad, inaugurated in September 2025.&nbsp;He also expressed gratitude for Bahrain&rsquo;s solidarity following recent terrorist incidents in Pakistan.&nbsp;On economic ties, the PMO said the prime minister highlighted Pakistan&rsquo;s desire to expand trade and investment, noting that bilateral commerce is expected to grow with the upcoming Pakistan&ndash;GCC Free Trade Agreement, now in its final stages.&nbsp;He invited Bahraini investors to explore opportunities through the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), particularly in food security, IT, construction, mining, tourism and healthcare.&nbsp;The PMO added that PM Sharif expressed appreciation for Bahrain&rsquo;s support to the more than 150,000 Pakistanis living in the Kingdom and thanked King Hamad for pardoning Pakistani prisoners.&nbsp;Both leaders reaffirmed the importance of the defense partnership and agreed to continue cooperation in training, logistics, manpower and defense production.&nbsp;They also discussed developments in Gaza, agreeing that peace and stability are &ldquo;long overdue for the people of Gaza,&rdquo; the PMO said.&nbsp;At the end of the meeting, the PMO noted that both sides expressed confidence that the visit would &ldquo;further consolidate the enduring friendship and cooperation between Pakistan and Bahrain.

Foreign Affairs

In Manama, PM Shehbaz Sharif receives Bahrain’s highest honor, strengthens Pakistan-Bahrain ties, discusses trade, defence, regional issues, and affirms commitment to deepening bilateral cooperation, says PMO.

 Bahrain awards top honor as leaders deepen strategic Pakistan ties

GAZA CITY: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal.&nbsp;&quot;The Ministry of Health announces the receipt of 15 bodies of martyrs released today by the Israeli occupation via the International Committee of the Red Cross, bringing the total number of bodies received to 345,&quot; the ministry said in a statement.&nbsp;A medical source at Gaza&#39;s Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis confirmed it had received 15 bodies via the Red Cross.&nbsp;Under the ceasefire deal, which came into effect on October 10, Israel was required to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned.&nbsp;The 15 bodies returned on Wednesday were in exchange for the remains of Dror Or, one of the last three deceased hostages held in the Palestinian territory, whose body was handed over to Israel on Tuesday by militants, via the ICRC.&nbsp;Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement that the handover &quot;reflects Hamas&#39;s steadfast commitment to fully complete the exchange process and its ongoing efforts to finalize it despite significant difficulties.&quot;&nbsp;The last two hostages&#39; bodies still in Gaza are those of Israeli Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.&nbsp;At the start of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, militants were holding 20 living hostages and 28 bodies of deceased captives.&nbsp;Hamas has since released all the living hostages and returned the remains of 26 dead hostages.&nbsp;In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians

Israel returned 15 Palestinian bodies to Gaza under a US-brokered ceasefire deal, exchanging them for the remains of Israeli hostage Dror Or, Hamas says it remains committed to completing the process, with two hostage bodies still in Gaza.

Israel returns 15 Palestinian bodies to Gaza under US-brokered ceasefire deal

ISLAMABAD: In a significant endorsement of its role in global arms control, Pakistan has been re-elected to the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for the term 2026-28. The vote was held during the 30th Session of the Conference of States Parties in The Hague, Netherlands, from Nov. 24 to 28. The 41-member Executive Council serves as the organization&#39;s principal policy-making body, overseeing implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and ensuring member-state compliance. It also advances scientific and economic cooperation for peaceful chemical use. With 193 states as parties, the convention is widely regarded as one of the most successful international disarmament treaties, having verified the destruction of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. Pakistan, which ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention&nbsp;in 1997, has remained an active contributor to the OPCW mandate and has been part of the executive council multiple times.&nbsp; The Pakistan Foreign Office said the country continues to host routine OPCW inspections at relevant national facilities and participates in capacity-building and technical cooperation initiatives.<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-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1993554767017353469&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2Fnew%2F&sessionId=3ba96c4b85199724f9f942c96144bb1d2a408154&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 922px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div>The foreign office described the re-election as an endorsement of Pakistan&rsquo;s &ldquo;constructive contributions&rdquo; and a reflection of member states&rsquo; confidence in Islamabad&rsquo;s commitment to strengthening global chemical security. &ldquo;Pakistan will continue to provide effective leadership and support to the work of the OPCW,&rdquo; the statement added. According to its website, the OPCW oversees the global endeavor to permanently and verifiably eliminate the use of chemical weapons.

File: Entrance of the OPCW headquarters in The Hague - Wikimedia Commons 

Security

Pakistan was re-elected to the 41-member Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for 2026-28. Islamabad’s active participation and hosting of routine inspections highlight its ongoing role in promoting chemical weapons disarmament and compliance.

Pakistan retains seat at chemical weapons elimination body

Pakistan TV Satellite

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has said a truly futuristic approach is essential to move forward. Speaking at PTV Home&rsquo;s programme &lsquo;Rising Pakistan&rsquo; on the occasion of the channel&rsquo;s 61st anniversary, Attaullah Tarar said new platforms are being created to connect Gen Z with PTV. The minister said during Pakistan-India war, it was realized that there was a need to start channels as a stratcom tool. &ldquo;We are encouraging private sector channels as well,&rdquo; he said. Attaullah Tarar said Pakistan TV Satellite has a fresh and new look and &ldquo;our stories are being quoted by international media outlets like BBC and Reuters&rdquo;. He said our strategic and geopolitical situation is such that exclusive stories from here have international significance.&ldquo;We brought new vigour in English media, whether it be digital or satellite,&rdquo; he said. Attaullah Tarar said very capable women were heading most departments in PTV, adding that it is a women-led initiative in the information domain.He said in sports, we got exclusive rights of many series through which we generated revenue. The minister said a sustainable model is needed.&nbsp; He went on to say that we are trying to do collaboration with the private sector for PTV Home. &ldquo;We can make good dramas and do collaborations with the private sector under profit-cost sharing basis,&rdquo; he said, adding that public-private partnership is a way forward. He said those who are leaders in entertainment in private sector should be invited to collaborate with PTV. The minister said today all those who are leading the entertainment industry say they started from PTV. He added that PTV has given birth to the entertainment, sports and news industries. Attaullah Tarar said he does not believe in criticism for the sake of criticism, adding that there should be constructive criticism to bring reforms. He said the private sector will be strongly encouraged in media projects, adding that Pakistan Idol was launched as private sector collaboration at a minimum cost. The information minister said the government aims to expand youth involvement through private sector programmes.

Speaking at PTV Home’s programme ‘Rising Pakistan’ on the occasion of the channel’s 61st anniversary, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said new platforms are being created to connect Gen Z with PTV. (Photo: Pakistan TV Satellite)

SAT News Desk

Speaking at an event marking PTV's 61st anniversary, the information minister said new platforms are being created to connect Gen Z with PTV.

Moving forward with futuristic approach is essential: Tarar

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir praised the &ldquo;professionalism, resolve and commitment&rdquo; demonstrated by Pakistan&rsquo;s Armed Forces during Marka-e-Haq, stating that it had &ldquo;enhanced the global stature of Pakistan.&quot;&nbsp; He was addressing participants of the National Security Workshop&ndash;27 at GHQ, Rawalpindi, according to a press release by Inter-Services Public Relations, the military&#39;s media wing. The Pakistan Army defines the period of conflict with India, starting from the April 22 Pahalgam attack to the May 10 conclusion of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, as Marka-i-Haq in May. The army chief said Pakistan was a &ldquo;country of consequence and is destined to reach its rightful place in the comity of nations,&rdquo; ISPR said.&nbsp; The army chief highlighted the &ldquo;fluid regional environment shaped by heightened geopolitical competition, cross-border terrorism, and hybrid threats.&rdquo; Despite complex challenges including &ldquo;externally supported militancy and information-centric warfare,&rdquo; Pakistan&rsquo;s armed forces, intelligence agencies, and law-enforcement institutions continue to demonstrate unwavering professionalism and resolve to safeguard national security,&rdquo; the ISPR quoted him as saying. Participants were also briefed on ongoing &ldquo;national efforts against illegal activities, including the crackdown on smuggling, narcotics trafficking, and organized criminal networks that adversely impact security.&rdquo; Updates were shared on enhanced border controls and the repatriation of illegal foreigners to maintain internal order and protect national interests. Field Marshal Munir reiterated that the &ldquo;territorial integrity, security and protection of every Pakistani citizen is paramount for the Pakistan Army and will not be compromised under any circumstances.&rdquo; He reaffirmed the army&rsquo;s commitment to supporting federal and provincial governments. &ldquo;Coordinated national efforts and institutional synergy are vital for lasting peace, stability and prosperity,&rdquo; ISPR quoted him as saying. The National Security Workshop, run by the National Defence University, brings together parliamentarians, senior civil and military officials, academics, and representatives from civil society.

Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir addresses participants of National Security Workshop–27 (NSW–27) at the General Headquarters (GHQ) on November 26. — (ISPR)

Says success earned during Marka-e-Haq 'enhanced the global stature of Pakistan; crackdown on smuggling, narcotics trafficking, and organized criminal networks that adversely impact security continuing.

Field Marshal Munir hails armed forces for defeating India

LONDON:&nbsp;The co-founder of activist group Palestine Action will on Wednesday challenge a UK government ban under anti-terror laws that has led to mass arrests, sparking free speech and civil liberties concerns. United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk has said the ban &ldquo;appears disproportionate and unnecessary,&rdquo; while Europe&rsquo;s human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, criticised &ldquo;excessive limits&rdquo; on the right to protest. The UK government proscribed the pro-Palestinian group in July, days after activists protesting the war in Gaza broke into an air force base in southern England. Prosecutors have said they caused an estimated &pound;7 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft at the base. The legal action brought by the group&rsquo;s co-founder, Huda Ammori, at London&rsquo;s High Court is expected to last from Wednesday to Thursday, with a third day to be set at a later stage. The ban &mdash; which makes being a member of the group or inviting support for it a serious criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison &mdash; has resulted in at least 2,300 arrests, according to protest organizers Defend Our Juries. Those arrested include students, teachers, pensioners, and even an 83-year-old retired vicar, with many carried away from the protests by police. According to London&rsquo;s Met Police, so far 254 people have been charged with a lesser offence that carries a sentence of up to six months. The proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000 means the group has been added to a list that also includes al-Qaida and Hezbollah. The interior ministry, or Home Office, has accused Palestine Action of conducting an &ldquo;escalating campaign&rdquo; involving &ldquo;sustained criminal damage,&rdquo; including to Britain&rsquo;s national security infrastructure. It also accuses the group of &ldquo;intimidation, alleged violence, and serious injuries.&rdquo; &#39;Not non-violent&#39;At a court hearing on Thursday, prosecutors alleged a Palestine Action activist struck a police officer with a sledgehammer at an Israel-based defence firm&rsquo;s UK site after breaking into the factory in western Bristol in August. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, defending the ban in August, said some supporters of the group &ldquo;don&rsquo;t know the full nature of this organisation because of court restrictions on reporting while serious prosecutions are underway.&rdquo; &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s really important that no one is in any doubt that this is not a non-violent organisation,&rdquo; she said, adding the government had received &ldquo;clear security assessments and advice&rdquo; before opting for a ban. Set up in 2020, the group&rsquo;s stated goal on its now-blocked website is to end &ldquo;global participation in Israel&rsquo;s genocidal and apartheid regime.&rdquo; It has mainly targeted weapons factories, especially those belonging to the Israeli defence group Elbit. Since the ban came into force on July 5, protesters have held a string of rallies at which they have held up signs saying: &ldquo;I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.&rdquo; Award-winning British film director Ken Loach has called the ban on Palestine Action &ldquo;absurd&rdquo; and accused the government of being complicit in Israel&rsquo;s &ldquo;incredible crimes&rdquo; in Gaza. &ldquo;This level of political repression is not what we expect in a democracy &mdash; it&rsquo;s the kind of tactic typically associated with authoritarian regimes around the world,&rdquo; a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said. Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, said the government had broken past pledges that the Terrorism Act would not be used to prosecute people taking direct action. &ldquo;Classifying a protest group as a &lsquo;terrorist organisation&rsquo; should send a chill down your spine,&rdquo; Hamid said. &ldquo;Progressive change is rarely made by any government without pressure from the public, and removing our right to protest is an erosion of democracy,&rdquo; she said.

A protester is escorted away by police officers for taking part in a demonstration in support of "Defend Our Juries" and their campaign against the ban on Palestine Action, outside Britain's Ministry of Justice in London on November 20, 2025. (Photo by Ch

United Kingdom

The co-founder of activist group Palestine Action will on Wednesday challenge a UK government ban under anti-terror laws that has led to mass arrests, sparking free speech and civil liberties concerns.

Palestine Action launches court bid to overturn UK government ban

GUWAHATI: Spinner Simon Harmer took six wickets as South Africa romped to victory by 408 runs in the second Test for their first series win in India in 25 years on Wednesday.&nbsp;World Test champions South Africa bowled out a dismal India for 140 in a mammoth chase of 549 on day five in Guwahati for a 2-0 Test sweep.&nbsp;It is India&#39;s biggest defeat at home by runs and a fifth loss in seven home Tests, having been whitewashed 3-0 by New Zealand last year.&nbsp;Off-spinner Harmer, 36, returned figures of 6-37 as South Africa clinched a Test series in India for only the second time, the first in 2000 under Hansie Cronje.&nbsp;Ravindra Jadeja resisted with 54 before Keshav Maharaj had him stumped and the spinner soon got the final wicket of Mohammed Siraj, with Marco Jansen pulling off a stunning catch in the deep.&nbsp;India lost the opening Test in Kolkata inside three on a pitch with uneven bounce before South Africa once again beat the hosts in their own game of spin on a batting-friendly track.&nbsp;The visitors declared their second innings on 260-5 on day four to hand India a record chase but the hosts batting once again failed and they never threatened to get close.&nbsp;India rode their luck early in the day when Jansen had Sai Sudharsan caught behind but the delivery was declared a no-ball after the bowler overstepped. The batter was on four.&nbsp;In the next over another overnight batter Kuldeep Yadav survived a reprieve on four when Aiden Markram dropped him at first slip off Harmer.&nbsp;But the relief was short-lived for India as a relentless Harmer soon bowled Kuldeep for five for the first wicket of the day.&nbsp;The off-spinner then dismissed Dhruv Jurel, for two, three balls later and soon sent back skipper Rishabh Pant for 13 as India slumped to 58-5.&nbsp;The batters fell like nine pins on a pitch where South Africa posted 489 after they elected to bat.&nbsp;India were bundled out for 201 to concede a first-innings lead of 288 but South Africa did not enforce the follow-on and decided to bat again.&nbsp;Left-arm quick Jansen returned figures of 6-48 in India&#39;s first innings after the bowler hit a quickfire 93 with the bat.&nbsp;South African all-rounder Senuran Muthusamy led the batting charge with his 109, his maiden Test century.

World Test champions South Africa bowl out a dismal India for 140 in a mammoth chase of 549 on day five in Guwahati for a 2-0 Test sweep.

South Africa condemn India to biggest home Test loss for series sweep

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: source-sans-pro, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; 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; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" id="isPasted">MOSCOW: The Kremlin confirmed Wednesday that US envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Moscow next week to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Washington presses negotiations on a plan to end the Ukraine conflict. &quot;A preliminary agreement has been reached on (Witkoff&#39;s) visit to Moscow next week,&quot; Putin&#39;s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Russian TV. Several other officials from President Donald Trump&#39;s administration will accompany Witkoff, Ushakov said. Trump first announced the trip Tuesday, saying Witkoff would meet with Putin in Moscow and may be joined by Jared Kushner, the US president&#39;s son-in-law. The confirmation comes after news agency Bloomberg reported that Witkoff had coached Ushakov on how Putin should talk to Trump about a potential plan to end the conflict in Ukraine. &quot;I speak fairly often with Witkoff, but the content of those conversations is confidential,&quot; Ushakov said in his comments to Russian TV. He said such reports risked damaging US-Russian ties, which &quot;are being built, with difficulty&quot;, notably through phone calls.

The Kremlin confirmed that US envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Moscow next week to meet President Vladimir Putin, with additional Trump administration officials joining as Washington pushes negotiations on a plan to end the Ukraine conflict, adviser Yuri Ushakov said.

Kremlin confirms US envoy Witkoff will visit Moscow next week

ISLAMABAD: A British member of parliament has urged political leaders and the media to take greater responsibility in challenging rising Islamophobia across the UK. In a message shared to mark Islamophobia Awareness Month, Labour MP&nbsp;for Nottingham East, Nadia Whittome, warned that Muslim communities continue to face threats, discrimination, and attacks on places of worship, violence she says is being fueled by &ldquo;Islamophobic and anti-migrant rhetoric from far-right politicians and large sections of the media.&rdquo; &ldquo;We stand in solidarity with our Muslim friends and neighbors,&rdquo; Whittome wrote. &ldquo;All of us, but especially those in power, have a responsibility to challenge the normalization of such hatred.&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; line-height: 2;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1993365377561063628&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=c898a2a62ba7bb9baa026934ecf67f8368aff73a&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 897px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div>Her comments come amid ongoing concerns raised by community groups and rights organizations about the escalation of anti-Muslim incidents nationwide. Several mosques have reported targeted harassment this year, while advocacy groups have called for stronger government action and clearer commitments to countering hate speech. Whittome, who also serves on the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee and is a member of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, has been an outspoken critic of discriminatory rhetoric in public life. She emphasized that Islamophobia Awareness Month should serve as a reminder for institutions to strengthen protections for minority communities and promote social cohesion. Islamophobia Awareness Month, held each November, includes educational campaigns, community events, and initiatives aimed at challenging stereotypes and addressing the impact of anti-Muslim prejudice across the UK.

Nadia Whittome warns that Muslim communities continue to face threats, discrimination, and attacks on places of worship.

Articles by AP