Islamabad/Lahore: The recently released results of the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) First Annual Examination 2025 by the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISEs) confirm a persistent trend in Pakistan’s educational landscape: the commanding academic strength of female candidates and the overwhelming dominance of private institutions among top position holders. Female candidates once again outperformed their male peers across all academic streams, reinforcing a pattern that has defined HSSC results in recent years. Of the 335 top positions announced across the nine Punjab boards and the Federal Board, a staggering 84 percent (283 positions) were secured by private institutions.…
Author: Raja Zahid Khanzada
Abu Dhabi, UAE Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are set to bolster their deep-rooted diplomatic and economic partnership by enhancing cooperation in the critical area of rail infrastructure. The commitment aims to upgrade Pakistan’s rail network, a move designed to turbocharge trade, improve regional connectivity, and support sustainable economic expansion. The announcement followed a high-level meeting in Abu Dhabi between Pakistan’s Minister of State for Finance and Railways, Bilal Azhar Kayani, and the UAE’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei. The ministers explored “opportunities to strengthen cooperation in upgrading Pakistan’s rail network to boost trade,…
Islamabad, Pakistan Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar took to the floor of the National Assembly to offer a detailed and rare glimpse into the intense, discreet diplomatic efforts by eight Muslim and Arab nations to alter the US-led plan for ending the Israeli offensive in Gaza. While confirming that the final 20-point plan announced by US President Trump was not the original draft, he stressed that the complex, high-stakes negotiations represented the only viable path to halting the bloodshed. “I made it clear that the 20 points that President Trump made public are not ours. Changes were made to our…
Islamabad, Pakistan Political tensions within Pakistan’s ruling coalition have intensified, culminating in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) staging a second consecutive walkout from the National Assembly. The move underscores a deepening rift with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), sparked by controversial remarks from Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz amid an ongoing dispute over flood relief and water rights. The session began with a stark announcement from PPP leader Naveed Qamar. While acknowledging that the government had sent a team to engage in dialogue following their previous walkout, he stated on the floor that “There has been no difference on the…
From Khan to Shehbaz: How Pakistan’s US Visits in 2019 and 2025 Tell Two Different Storie By Raja Zahid Akhtar Khanzada World politics is, in essence, a game of chess. Every move must be calculated, every step backed by design, intent and hidden objectives. Sometimes a sacrifice, sometimes a prelude to victory. The successful ruler is one who can read the board, sense the pieces, and keep his hand firmly on the pulse of time. Those who fail to do so become pawns in someone else’s game, remembered not for their vision but for their utility. The summer of 2019…
BEIJING, CHINA – China launched a new visa program on Wednesday aimed at attracting foreign talent in science and technology, part of its ongoing efforts to position itself as a world leader in these sectors ahead of the United States. The Chinese measure, first announced in August, stands in stark contrast to recent US policy. The Trump administration last month unexpectedly introduced new and expensive changes to its own skilled worker visas. China’s new K visa significantly simplifies the immigration process for those eligible, according to state media. State newspaper People’s Daily lauded the move, saying: “Against the backdrop of…
OBERGOMS, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s glaciers have melted considerably over the past 12 months, registering the fourth-largest reduction in ice volume on record, according to the monitoring body GLAMOS on Wednesday. The annual report by GLAMOS and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation found that a winter marked by minimal snowfall, particularly in the northeastern Swiss Alps, followed by intense heat waves in June, caused the glaciers to lose 3% of their total ice mass. “This is really a lot,” said Matthias Huss, the director of GLAMOS, whose reports cover the October-September hydrological year. While the melt rate was not as…
SAN FRANCISCO, US – OpenAI, the company behind the widely popular ChatGPT, has reached a staggering valuation of $500 billion, following a deal in which current and former employees sold approximately $6.6 billion worth of shares. A source familiar with the matter provided the details to Reuters on Thursday. This new figure represents a massive leap from the company’s previous valuation of $300 billion, underscoring OpenAI’s exceptionally rapid gains in both its user base and revenue generation. As part of the deal, OpenAI employees sold shares to a consortium of high-profile investors, including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu…
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – The technology-focused buyout group Silver Lake has long coveted video game developer Electronic Arts (EA), the studio behind massive franchises like “Battlefield” and “Madden NFL.” This spring, a brainstorming session between Silver Lake investors and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, began mapping out the plan that resulted in the world’s largest leveraged buyout. Sources familiar with the talks said the discussions began between Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban and Kushner. The $55 billion deal, announced Monday and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will significantly expand Silver Lake’s portfolio in games…
In India, Bollywood stars are asking judges to protect their voice and persona in the era of artificial intelligence. One famous couple’s biggest target is Google’s video arm YouTube. Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, known for her iconic Cannes Film Festival red carpet appearances, have asked a judge to remove and prohibit creation of AI videos infringing their intellectual property rights. But in a more far-reaching request, they also want Google ordered to have safeguards to ensure such YouTube videos uploaded anyway do not train other AI platforms, legal papers reviewed by Reuters show. A handful of…
