SAN FRANCISCO: Social media giant Meta says its bid to thwart coordinated disinformation campaigns created through ever-improving generative AI is working, despite widespread concerns. Meta’s latest study on “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” on its platforms comes as fears mount that generative AI will be used to trick or confuse people in upcoming elections worldwide, notably in the United States. “What we’ve …

WASHINGTON: The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered what appears to be a new record-holder for the most distant known galaxy, a remarkably bright star system that existed just 290 million years after the Big Bang, Nasa said on Thursday. Since coming online in 2022, the Webb telescope has ushered in a new era of scientific breakthroughs, peering farther than ever before …

HAMAS said on Thursday it had told mediators it would not take part in more negotiations during ongoing aggression, but was ready for a “complete agreement”, including an exchange of prisoners if Israel stopped the war. Talks, mediated by among others Egypt and Qatar, to arrange a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly stalled, with both sides blaming the other …

RAFAH: Intense shelling and gunfire rocked Rafah on Thursday after Israel declared it had seized a strategic corridor along the Palestinian territory’s border with Egypt. Israel said its forces had taken over the 14-kilometre Philadelphi corridor, which it claims was used for weapons smuggling via tunnels. Egypt, a longtime mediator in the conflict, has rejected claims of smuggling tunnels running …

BEIJING: China wants to work with Arab nations to resolve hot spot issues in ways conducive to upholding fairness, justice and achieving long-term peace and stability, President Xi Jinping said in a speech on Thursday that also highlighted the Gaza crisis. China is seeking to strengthen its relations with Arab states as a model for maintaining world peace and stability, …

At least 15 people have died of suspected heatstroke in India’s eastern states of Bihar and Odisha on Thursday, authorities said, with the region gripped in a debilitating heatwave expected to continue until Saturday. India has been experiencing a blisteringly hot summer and a part of capital Delhi recorded the country’s highest ever temperature at 52.9 degrees Celsius this week, though that …

The Slovenian government on Thursday approved a decision to recognise an independent Palestinian state, Prime Minister Robert Golob said, following in the steps of Spain, Ireland and Norway. “Today the government has decided to recognise Palestine as an independent and sovereign state,” he said at a news conference in Ljubljana. Parliament speaker Urska Klakocar Zupancic told a press conference in Ljubljana that …

Donald Trump on Thursday became the first former US president ever convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty on all charges in his hush money case, months before an election that could see him yet return to the White House. The jury found him guilty on each of the 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a payment …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit China on June 4 for a five-day visit at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese Premier Li Qiang, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Friday. According to FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, PM Shehbaz will visit China from June 4-8 and will visit the cities of Beijing, Xian and Shenzhen. He …

RAHIM YAR KHAN: The railway track between Khanpur and Rohri stations has been in a dilapidated condition since long because of various technical and operational issues, including staff negligence, theft of installation and poor maintenance, causing frequent derailments of passenger and goods trains. According to sources in the Pakistan Railways’ Sukkur Division, because of the broken fish-plates, the 165km-long track …