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China wants US to relax AI chip-export controls for trade deal: report

China wants the United States to ease export controls on chips critical for artificial intelligence as part of a trade deal before a possible summit between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Chinese officials have told experts in Washington that Beijing wants the Trump administration to relax export restrictions on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips,

Debt Swap Hub’ is a major opportunity for Pakistan: UN official

Pakis­tan has a significant opportunity to convert its debt into climate investments through a new “Debt Swap Hub” launching in 2026, provided the country prepares by building institutional capacity and identifying high-impact projects, United Nations Department of Economic Affairs (DESA) senior official said on Saturday. The United Nations and its partners will roll out the dedicated hub for c

Maqbool Ahmad Gondal named new Auditor General of Pakistan

Presi­d­ent Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday appointed Maq­bool Ahmad Gondal, a BS-22 officer of the Pakis­tan Audit and Accounts Group who had been serving as the Controller General of Accounts, as the new Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP). Talking to Dawn, Mr Gondal confirmed his appointment and said he would assume the post next month, upon the completion of the current auditor general’s term.

550-point gain helps PSX maintain record-setting spree

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) maintained its record-setting spree for a fifth consecutive session as it gained over 550 points on Thursday. The benchmark KSE-100 index rose by 992.53 points (0.68 per cent) to reach an intraday high of 146,081.02 points at 12:37pm, from the previous close of 145,088.49 points. However, the shares soon declined slightly, standing at 145,613.09 points at 3:

SBP reserves slip for third week

The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) continued to decline for the third consecutive week, falling by $72 million during the week ended Aug 1. This brings the SBP’s total reserves down to $14.232 billion. Since July 11, the central bank has lost a cumulative $294m in reserves, reversing part of the gains made by the end of the last fiscal year. The SBP had close