China | Pakistan

China planned Chang'e-7, its most complex lunar mission, to search for water ice near the Moon's south pole

China’s robot contests show a decade of advances in a sector Xi Jinping sees as strategically vital

China has tightened EV oversight and safety rules as automakers battle in a fierce price war

Apple Intelligence, the ⁠company's suite of AI tools, is expected to launch in China in the coming months

China’s homegrown C919 jetliner completed its second international commercial flight on Thursday, landing in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24. Flightradar24 earlier reported that the Air China flight was en route from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar, having departed at 3:36pm local time (12:36pm PKT). Tracking data later showed that the flight landed at 5:17pm local time (2:17pm PKT), completing the journey in one hour and 41 minutes. Flightradar24 noted that the C919 is scheduled to replace the 737 MAX on the route over the coming week. The narrow-body Comac C919 completed its first scheduled international commercial passenger flight on Wednesday, marking a milestone for the aircraft following its maiden commercial flight on May 28, 2023, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua. The flight from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar landed safely after one hour and 42 minutes and was welcomed with a water-salute ceremony at the airport. “The operation of this flight on the China-Mon...

Shut at least 15 China branch offices and joint ventures in the past five years, filings show

Typhoon Dolphin lashed Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture on Saturday, injuring six people and cutting power to more than 50,000 buildings, while China shut ports and halted ferries ahead of the storm’s expected arrival on its east coast. Five elderly people, three of whom fell due to strong winds, suffered non-life-threatening injuries in Okinawa while another person was injured in Kagoshima prefecture, authorities said. Nearly 39,000 buildings were without power in Kagoshima while just over 12,000 were affected in Okinawa. Domestic airlines, ANA and Japan Airlines, cancelled flights to and from Okinawa. The typhoon had maximum sustained winds of 162 kilometres per hour with gusts reaching 216 kph. Okinawa and Amami Island in Kagoshima prefecture are the main areas expected to be affected in Japan. Typhoon expected to make landfall in China In China, where the typhoon is expected to make landfall between late on Sunday and early on Monday, authorities have designated Dolphin as an orange-category typhoon, t...

The 99th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the People’s Republic of China was commemorated at the General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi.

China urges US to stop making unwarranted accusations against Chinese research institutions

China says US threatens AI firms over alleged model copying without factual or legal grounds

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has appointed seasoned career diplomat Ali Asad Gilani as its new Ambassador to China, replacing Ambassador Khalil Hashmi, who has completed his three-year tenure in Beijing, in a move aimed at sustaining the momentum in the strategic partnership between Islamabad and Beijing amid deepening political, economic and.

TEHRAN: Iranian-made ‘Zulfiqar’ missiles are displayed at Azadi Square. As the US kept up its missile strikes on Iranian targets, the IRGC vowed to ‘kill a member of the US forces for every Iranian killed’.—AFP • Exploratory talks held during Iranian interior minister’s recent Islamabad visit • Dar meets Araghchi at SCO summit; Qatar calls for implementing Islamabad MoU • Beijing concerned as Red Sea closure would compound Hormuz woes • Trump says Iran getting serious about talks; warns China, Russia against ‘getting involved’ in conflict • Says US will punish Iran for attacks on ships by Houthi rebels • Four die as US continues strikes on Iran ISLAMABAD / DUBAI: Pakistan is said to be exploring a path towards a resumption of stalled US-Iran talks to end their nearly five-month-old war, following a push initiated by China. The development came as US missiles struck targets across Iran on Friday after President Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extendi...

China weighs steps to stop Western acquisition of advanced technology firms, report says

Tech firms are racing to roll out advanced smartphones that use artificial intelligence to do everything from ordering food to composing messages upon a simple voice command. Wide adoption of phones running on so-called AI agents would be a revolution, but would also take control away from major apps, which aren’t always happy about it. At least three firms were showcasing so-called agentic phones at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai this weekend — heralding what may be to come. Smartphone maker Nubia unveiled its NaviX Ultra, a phone powered by Doubao, China’s massively popular AI chatbot tool run by TikTok creator ByteDance. “A new era of AI agent smartphones begins,” Nubia said, sharing images of the handsets online. A limited run of a prototype dubbed the “Doubao Phone” sold out fast in December. Initially, the prototype could follow simple voice commands to execute tasks across apps, including ordering food and comparing shopping prices. However, days after it was released, tech gi...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China on Friday agreed to enhance cooperation in immigration, border management and institutional collaboration. An understanding to this effect was reached during a meeting of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry with a delegation of China’s National Immigration Administration led by Director General Qi Jingyang here. The two sides agreed to make joint operations more effective against illegal immigration, arms smuggling and cross-border crimes. It was also decided to finalise an agreement soon to expedite the immigration process. A Pakistan-China joint working group on border management and security will be established. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said cooperation with China on land borders, seaports and immigration management would be further enhanced. “The government of Pakistan is pursuing a zero tolerance policy against illegal immigration, border crossing and smuggling,” he said, adding that action was being taken without discrimin...

Macron says France and Germany share China concerns, citing a €1 billion daily trade deficit and job losses.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday cast ‌Beijing as the champion of a new global AI order, using China’s premier tech conference to promote open-source technology and challenge US influence over the rules governing the fast-moving sector. In a speech to the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, Xi urged countries to “seize the rare and historic opportunity” of open-source AI, and pledged to help developing ​nations build AI capabilities, warning against the emergence of “new historical injustices” from unequal access to the technology. The remarks amounted to Xi’s clearest articulation yet ​of China’s ambition to shape global AI governance, framing its open-source models as a global public good and positioning Beijing ⁠as an alternative to Washington at a pivotal moment in the race for technological leadership. Comparing AI’s significance to the invention of the steam engine and electricity, ​Xi outlined a vision in which China shares AI technology and expert...

China and Pakistan on Friday called on the United States and Iran to end fighting and return to the negotiating table, after they met in Shanghai, according to a government statement issued by Beijing. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar jointly “expressed concern over the deterioration of the current situation, calling on the involved parties to immediately cease hostilities… (and) return to dialogue”, the statement by Beijing’s foreign ministry said. Both countries have sought to mediate in the months-long Middle East conflict, which rekindled with renewed fighting over the Strait of Hormuz a month after the signing of a preliminary deal aiming to end the war. That agreement was “hard-won”, Wang said. “Peace is before our eyes, (we) cannot fall at the last hurdle and even more so cannot lose what we have gained,” he added. It should be mentioned that DPM Dar was in Shanghai for the World Artificial Intelligence Conference. Meanwhile, the Foreign Office (...

Islamabad - Pakistan signed the agreement on the establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (WAICO) at a signing ceremony that was held in Shanghai, China on Thursday.

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday revived sweeping and unsupported claims of voter fraud and Chinese meddling — firing a clear warning shot ahead of midterm elections that many expect him to dispute. In a primetime White House address, Trump portrayed the US electoral system as dangerously exposed and urged lawmakers to adopt new restrictions on voting, despite scant appetite for the measures even within his own Republican Party. “We can never watch a stolen election again,” Trump said, referring to his 2020 defeat by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump said he was declassifying intelligence that showed, among other things, that China had illicitly acquired 220 million US voter files. “Over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history,” he said from the White House. Trump also claimed that more than 250,000 non-US citizens were registered to vote in four states. He then atta...