Category: World

President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing White House construction and modernisation projects costing at least $927 million, with much of the expenditure expected to be financed with public money transferred through federal accounts.The planned spending represents a substantial expansion of work across the presidential complex, encompassing the East Wing redevelopment, security infrastructure, a visitor screening centre, improvements around Lafayette Square and a new helipad. More than $100 million in work orders had already been issued by the end of

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai A woman was handed over to police after allegedly throwing a slipper and stones at a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Pune’s Sasane Nagar area, triggering anger among residents and a wider debate over the response to the incident.CCTV footage from the site in Hadapsar showed the woman approaching the statue and throwing objects towards it. The statue was enclosed within a protective glass structure, which remained intact despite being struck. Videos of the incident

US Senator Bernie Sanders has urged OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta to pause the development of advanced artificial intelligence, arguing that emerging evidence of autonomous behaviour and powerful biological capabilities shows existing safety protections may no longer be sufficient.The Vermont senator addressed his demand to OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei and Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. Sanders said the companies should honour earlier commitments to slow or stop development when advanced systems crossed critical safety thresholds.

Nvidia is joining forces with six of the world’s biggest investment groups to mobilise more than $500 billion for artificial intelligence infrastructure, creating financing platforms designed to expand access to the computing capacity underpinning the global AI boom.The chipmaker has signed memorandums of understanding with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR. The firms plan to establish independent platforms that will provide dedicated pools of third-party capital for Nvidia customers seeking to build large-scale AI computing facilities. Final

Amazon is facing a direct challenge to its delivery model in New York City after Mayor Zohran Mamdani threw his support behind legislation that would require operators of last-mile facilities to employ delivery and warehouse workers directly rather than relying on networks of subcontractors.The Delivery Protection Act, sponsored by City Council member Tiffany L. Cabán, would impose a licensing regime on certain warehouses and distribution centres handling the final stage of deliveries to consumers. It would also introduce safety,

Suisun City in Northern California has declared a state of emergency after malicious software compromised municipal computer systems, disrupting 911 routing, police and fire dispatch and several government services. Emergency calls continued to be answered after dispatch operations were shifted to Solano County.The cyberattack struck at about 5.45 am on Friday, August 7, forcing officials to shut down the city’s entire information technology network. The shutdown was intended to contain the intrusion and preserve digital evidence as federal investigators

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi found themselves at the same high-profile social gathering in New Delhi on Monday evening, even as their political confrontation over student protests continued to dominate Parliament.The two leaders attended the wedding reception of Revati Sule, daughter of NCP MP Supriya Sule and granddaughter of Sharad Pawar. The reception was held at Pawar’s residence on Janpath Road and drew senior politicians from across party lines.

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai A Sanskrit recitation at IIT Delhi’s 57th Convocation has triggered a political argument over religion in educational institutions after Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed questioned why what she described as the Gayatri Mantra was played during the ceremony.The controversy quickly shifted, however, from whether a religious chant belonged at an academic event to what was actually recited. IIT Kanpur alumnus Gyan C Mehta, a 1968 Physics graduate and gold medallist, challenged the identification of the verses as

Yemen’s Houthi movement said it attacked Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery with a drone on Sunday, escalating a confrontation that has again placed the kingdom’s energy infrastructure and Red Sea shipping routes under pressure.Saudi authorities confirmed that a fire broke out at the Aramco facility in Jazan, in the kingdom’s southwest, and said emergency teams extinguished it. No injuries were reported. Saudi officials did not immediately confirm that the blaze was caused by the Houthi operation.The Houthis, who control much of

AI Financial Corp has sold its main operating subsidiary for a $12 million secured promissory note and shares in the buyer, marking a dramatic reversal for a fintech company that surged past a $1 billion market valuation after tying its fortunes to the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture.The Las Vegas-based company, formerly known as ALT5 Sigma Corp, completed the sale of Quebec-based ALT 5 Sigma Canada Inc to privately held Prime Delta Corp on August 3. AI Financial will receive a

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai BJP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, describing their interaction as detailed and enriching as attention grows around his possible role in the party’s preparations for the Punjab Assembly election next year. ][1])Chadha shared photographs of the 8 August meeting on social media and called it “a morning I will cherish”. He said he was grateful for Modi’s time and the opportunity to benefit from the Prime Minister’s insights and guidance.

Beijing has been designated the UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture for 2029, placing the Chinese capital at the centre of a global programme examining how architecture and urban planning can create more sustainable and liveable cities.UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany approved the designation following a recommendation from the Joint UNESCO-International Union of Architects Committee for the World Capital of Architecture, chaired by French architect Dominique Perrault. Beijing will become the fourth city to hold the title after Rio de Janeiro, Copenhagen

Spain has introduced temporary border controls for travellers arriving from Italy, escalating a migration dispute between Madrid and Rome after Italy tightened checks on arrivals from Spain following the mass crossing of migrants into Ceuta.The Spanish Interior Ministry said the controls would take effect from midnight on Saturday and remain in place until September 7. The measure applies to arrivals from Italy and mirrors controls imposed by Rome after tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco into Spain’s North

President Donald Trump has ordered a new layer of trade protection for the US solar supply chain, imposing tariffs and minimum import prices designed to favour domestic manufacturing while raising the prospect of higher costs for developers and households adopting solar power.The measures place a 15% tariff on imported polysilicon and products derived from it, alongside minimum prices covering key stages of crystalline-silicon solar manufacturing. The price floors are $21 per kilogram for polysilicon, $100 per kilogram for ingots

BTS have pushed their comeback album ARIRANG beyond 4 billion Spotify streams, setting a new speed record for an album by a group and by an Asian act on the world’s largest subscription music-streaming service.The milestone was reached about 137 days after the album’s 20 March release, extending an extraordinary streaming run that began when all 14 tracks entered Spotify’s global chart simultaneously. The performance makes ARIRANG the first album released in 2026 to cross 4 billion streams on the

African technology developers are increasingly adopting Chinese artificial intelligence models as lower costs, open access and easier customisation reshape competition with more powerful proprietary systems developed in the United States.Models from Alibaba, DeepSeek and Beijing-based Moonshot AI are becoming widely used foundations for applications in education, agriculture, healthcare and financial services. Their appeal is strongest among start-ups and research teams working with limited computing capacity, constrained funding and languages poorly represented in mainstream AI systems.Alibaba’s Qwen, DeepSeek’s model family and

WASHINGTON — SpaceX has launched three AST SpaceMobile satellites designed to deliver high-speed cellular broadband directly to ordinary smartphones, expanding a constellation intended to connect users beyond the reach of terrestrial mobile towers.A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 3.49 am Eastern Time on Wednesday, carrying the BlueBird 11, 12 and 13 spacecraft into low-Earth orbit.The rocket’s reusable first stage separated as planned and landed on the

Gold prices surged above $4,200 an ounce on Wednesday as weaker US employment data, a softer dollar and falling Treasury yields drove investors towards the precious metal, although claims that bullion gained 4.5% during the day appeared to overstate the move recorded by leading benchmarks.Spot gold climbed more than 3% to about $4,200 an ounce, its highest level since late June. US gold futures advanced roughly 2.6% to around $4,261, placing the actively traded contract close to the $4,255 level

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has rejected a report that the military has exhausted nearly 80 per cent of its principal high-altitude missile interceptors during the war with Iran, insisting that American forces retain the weapons required to sustain operations.Hegseth described the account as untrue after CNN reported that the Pentagon had used almost four-fifths of the interceptor inventory for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, known as THAAD, compared with levels held before the conflict. The report also

The Development Bank of Southern Africa has backed a major financing package to rehabilitate and expand Angola’s Lobito railway, strengthening a trade route designed to connect Central Africa’s copper and cobalt-producing regions with Atlantic markets.The bank is providing up to $200 million in senior debt alongside $553 million from the US International Development Finance Corporation. The $753 million package has reached financial close, allowing work to proceed on the railway and associated freight infrastructure after financing agreements were signed in

Qatar said mediators were making progress towards ending the war between the United States and Iran, but an attack on a commercial vessel near the Strait of Hormuz exposed the fragility of the diplomatic effort and renewed concerns over energy supplies.Doha’s assessment followed contacts involving Qatar, Oman and Pakistan, which have been working to move Washington and Tehran towards formal negotiations. The initiative has focused on securing a ceasefire, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and establishing conditions for broader talks

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai A political controversy erupted in Srinagar after Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti was seen holding the national flag upside down during a protest against the constitutional changes imposed on Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.Mufti, a former chief minister of the erstwhile state, led PDP workers in an overnight sit-in outside the party headquarters on Tuesday. The demonstration preceded the seventh anniversary of the removal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and its division into

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai The Calcutta High Court has questioned whether a legal challenge to the compulsory singing of all six stanzas of Vande Mataram in madrasas can proceed before any punitive action is taken against students or institutions.A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen made the observation on Tuesday while hearing a public interest litigation challenging a government directive requiring the complete national song to be rendered in madrasas.“The heavens will not

Iran is considering allowing European countries to clear naval mines from the Strait of Hormuz, signalling a possible compromise that could help restore commercial shipping and advance negotiations to halt the wider conflict.The proposal would mark a shift from Tehran’s opposition to any foreign military presence in the waterway. France, Belgium and the Netherlands are among the European countries with specialist mine-countermeasure vessels and trained crews capable of supporting a large clearance operation.Any European mission would probably be limited to