HONG KONG: Gold prices shot to a record high on Monday as investors grow increasingly optimistic that the US Federal Reserve would continue to cut interest rates through next year.&nbsp;The precious metal reached a peak of $4,383.76 in early trade as a string of data last week, pointing to further weakness in the US labour market and easing inflation, gave the central bank room to ease monetary policy further.&nbsp;Monday&#39;s gain pushed the commodity past its previous high of $4,381.52 touched in October.

Business

Monday's gain pushes the commodity past its previous high of $4,381.52 in October.

Gold price hits record high of $4,383.76 on US rate cut bets

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: In what could mark Pakistan&#39;s first major privatization in nearly two decades, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is set for a crucial bidding process on Tuesday, with the entire auction broadcast live on national television to ensure transparency. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif originally announced the decision during a high-level meeting with business leaders and representatives from pre-qualified bidding consortia earlier this month, according to the Prime Minister&#39;s Office. The sale is seen as a key test of Pakistan&rsquo;s broader economic reform agenda, as the government seeks to cut losses from state-owned enterprises and revive investor confidence. Islamabad has launched a five-year privatization plan covering 24 state entities between 2024 and 2029, including the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, three banks, power distribution companies, and the Postal Life Insurance Company, the Privatisation Commission of Pakistan confirmed. With the exit of Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd, three parties remain in contention: Lucky Cement group, Arif Habib Corporation, and private carrier Airblue. Privatization of loss-making state firms has long been urged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the country seeks to address fiscal and external financing challenges. The PIA sale is a key requirement under the country&#39;s $7 billion IMF bailout program agreed in September. Privatization Adviser Muhammad Ali said the government plans a full divestment of the airline, beginning with the auction of a 75% stake on Tuesday, with the remaining 25% to be offered later at a 12% premium. Signs of recovery and future plansThe airline has shown recent improvement. PIA reported its first annual profit in 21 years for fiscal year 2024, earning an operational profit of $13.7 million. The European Union lifted its four-year flight ban in November 2024; PIA resumed service to Paris in January 2025 and restarted flights to the UK in October 2025. This marks Pakistan&#39;s third attempt at privatization, following a failed 2024 auction that received only one bid of $35 million &mdash; far below the government&#39;s $298 million floor price, according to Privatisation Commission records. Under the new business plan, PIA&#39;s fleet is expected to expand from 18 to 38 aircraft by 2029, with service to over 40 cities. The government is targeting $302 million in privatization proceeds this year, though Ali said restoring PIA&rsquo;s operations remains the priority over maximizing short-term revenue.

A Pakistan International Airlines aircraft taxis before takeoff for France at Islamabad International Airport. (File/AFP)

Economy

Pakistan will auction Pakistan International Airlines on December 23 in a live televised bidding process, with three parties competing. The sale is part of a broader government plan to privatize 24 state-owned enterprises.

Pakistan to broadcast live auction for PIA privatization

MOSCOW: A senior Russian general was killed in southern Moscow on Monday after an explosive device placed under his car went off, investigators said in a statement.&nbsp;Russia&#39;s Investigative Committee, which examines major crimes, said it had opened a probe into the &quot;murder&quot; of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the training department within the General Staff.&nbsp;The possibility that the attack was &quot;linked&quot; to &quot;Ukrainian special forces&quot; was among the lines of inquiry, it said.&nbsp;Since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has been blamed for several attacks targeting Russian military officials and pro-Kremlin personalities in Russia and in Russian-controlled Ukrainian regions.&nbsp;General Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy of the General Staff, was killed in a car blast near Moscow in April.&nbsp;In December 2024, Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian radiological, chemical and biological defence forces, was killed when a booby-trapped electric scooter exploded in Moscow, an attack claimed by Ukraine&#39;s SBU security service.&nbsp;A Russian military blogger, Maxim Fomin, was killed when a statuette exploded in a Saint Petersburg cafe in April 2023.&nbsp;And in August 2022, a car bomb killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.

Europe

Authorities are investigating whether the attack may be linked to Ukrainian special forces.

Russian general killed in a Moscow explosion: investigators

SYDNEY: Australia&rsquo;s most populous state pushed ahead Monday with what it said were the country&rsquo;s strictest gun laws and a ban on displaying &ldquo;terrorist&rdquo; symbols after two gunmen killed 15 people celebrating a Jewish festival in Sydney last week.&nbsp; A father and son are accused of targeting a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach, killing 15 people in the nation&rsquo;s deadliest mass shooting in almost three decades. The country observed a minute&rsquo;s silence at 6:47 p.m. (0747 GMT) on Sunday &mdash; exactly a week since the first reports of gunfire. On Monday, the government of New South Wales &mdash; where the shooting took place &mdash; recalled its parliament for two days to introduce what it called the &ldquo;toughest firearm reforms in the country.&rdquo; &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t pretend that the world is the same as it was before that terrorist incident on Sunday,&rdquo; New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d give anything to go back a week, a month, two years, to ensure that didn&rsquo;t happen, but we need to make sure that we take steps so that it never happens again.&rdquo; The new rules will cap the number of guns an individual can own at four, or 10 for exempted individuals such as farmers. There are more than 1.1 million firearms in the state, officials said. The legislation would also ban the display of &ldquo;terrorist symbols,&rdquo; including the flag of the Islamic State, which was found in a car linked to one of the alleged shooters. Authorities will also be able to prohibit protests for up to three months following a terrorism incident. Police have said the two alleged gunmen were inspired by &ldquo;Islamic State ideology.&rdquo; One, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998. His 24-year-old son, Naveed, an Australian-born citizen, remains in hospital under police guard and faces multiple charges, including terrorism and 15 murders. Australia&rsquo;s federal government has also flagged a suite of reforms to gun ownership and hate speech laws, as well as a review of police and intelligence services. Gun buyback&nbsp; Australia&rsquo;s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced last week a sweeping buyback scheme to &ldquo;get guns off our streets.&rdquo; It is the largest gun buyback since 1996, when Australia cracked down on firearms in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 35 people at Port Arthur.

Police snipers are seen on a roof as they secure the area during the memorial held for the victims of a shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 21, 2025 (AFP)

Australasia

 Australia’s most populous state pushed ahead Monday with what it said were the country’s strictest gun laws and a ban on displaying “terrorist” symbols after two gunmen killed 15 people celebrating a Jewish festival in Sydney last week. 

Australian state pushes tough gun laws, 'terror symbols' ban after shooting

ISLAMABAD: Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defense Forces, called on Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud during his official visit to the Kingdom, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Monday.&nbsp;According to ISPR, the two sides discussed matters of mutual interest, including regional security dynamics, defense and military cooperation, strategic collaboration, and evolving geopolitical challenges. The meeting reaffirmed the deep-rooted, historic and brotherly relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.&nbsp;During the visit, Field Marshal Asim Munir was conferred the King Abdulaziz Medal of Excellent Class, the Kingdom&rsquo;s highest national honor, under a royal decree issued by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.&nbsp;ISPR said the honor recognizes Field Marshal Asim Munir&rsquo;s distinguished military service and leadership, as well as his key role in strengthening defense cooperation, strategic coordination and institutional linkages between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.&nbsp;The award also reflects his contributions to regional peace and stability, including sustained cooperation in counter-terrorism and security.&nbsp;The Saudi leadership appreciated the professionalism and strategic outlook of Pakistan&rsquo;s army chief, noting his commitment to further strengthening the longstanding brotherly ties between the two countries.&nbsp;Field Marshal Asim Munir expressed gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Saudi leadership for the honor, describing it as a symbol of the enduring bonds between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. He reaffirmed Pakistan&rsquo;s commitment to the security, stability and prosperity of the Kingdom.&nbsp;The conferment of the medal underscores the depth of Pakistan-Saudi Arabia relations and the shared resolve of both nations to further enhance strategic cooperation in pursuit of regional and global peace, ISPR added.

Security

Foreign Affairs

The ceremony takes place during a reception hosted by Prince Khalid bin Salman at the Ministry of Defense in Riyadh.

CDF Munir awarded King Abdulaziz medal for his efforts to ‘advance Pak-Saudi ties’

WASHINGTON:&nbsp;In a parallel reality, Queen Elizabeth II gushes over cheese puffs, a gun-toting Saddam Hussein struts into a wrestling ring, and Pope John Paul II attempts skateboarding. Hyper-realistic AI videos of dead celebrities -- created with apps such as OpenAI&#39;s easy-to-use Sora -- have rapidly spread online, prompting debate over the control of deceased people&#39;s likenesses. OpenAI&#39;s app, launched in September and widely dubbed as a deepfake machine, has unleashed a flood of videos of historical figures including Winston Churchill as well as celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley. In one TikTok clip reviewed by AFP, Queen Elizabeth II, clad in pearls and a crown, arrives at a wrestling match on a scooter, climbs a fence, and leaps onto a male wrestler. In a separate Facebook clip, the late queen is shown praising &quot;delightfully orange&quot; cheese puffs in a supermarket aisle, while another depicts her playing football. But not all videos -- powered by OpenAI&#39;s Sora 2 model -- have prompted laughs.In October, OpenAI blocked users from creating videos of Martin Luther King Jr. after the estate of the civil rights icon complained about disrespectful depictions. Some users created videos depicting King making monkey noises during his celebrated &quot;I Have a Dream&quot; speech, illustrating how users can portray public figures at will, making them say or do things they never did. - &#39;Maddening&#39; -&quot;We&#39;re getting into the &#39;uncanny valley,&#39;&quot; said Constance de Saint Laurent, a professor at Ireland&#39;s Maynooth University, referring to the phenomenon in which interactions with artificial objects are so human-like it triggers unease. &quot;If suddenly you started receiving videos of a deceased family member, this is traumatizing,&quot; she told AFP. &quot;These (videos) have real consequences.&quot; In recent weeks, the children of late actor Robin Williams, comedian George Carlin, and activist Malcolm X have condemned the use of Sora to create synthetic videos of their fathers. Zelda Williams, the daughter of Robin Williams, recently pleaded on Instagram to &quot;stop sending me AI videos of dad,&quot; calling the content &quot;maddening.&quot; An OpenAI spokesman told AFP that while there were &quot;strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures,&quot; public figures and their families should have ultimate control over their likeness. For &quot;recently deceased&quot; figures, he added, authorized representatives or estate owners can now request that their likeness not be used in Sora. - &#39;Control likeness&#39; -&quot;Despite what OpenAI says about wanting people to control their likeness, they have released a tool that decidedly does the opposite,&quot; Hany Farid, co-founder of GetReal Security and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told AFP. &quot;While they (mostly) stopped the creation of MLK Jr. videos, they are not stopping users from co-opting the identity of many other celebrities.&quot; &quot;Even with OpenAI putting some safeguards to protect MLK Jr. there will be another AI model that does not, and so this problem will surely only get worse,&quot; said Farid. That reality was underscored in the aftermath of Hollywood director Rob Reiner&#39;s alleged murder this month, as AFP fact-checkers uncovered AI-generated clips using his likeness spreading online. As advanced AI tools proliferate, the vulnerability is no longer confined to public figures: deceased non-celebrities may also have their names, likenesses, and words repurposed for synthetic manipulation. Researchers warn that the unchecked spread of synthetic content -- widely called AI slop -- could ultimately drive users away from social media. &quot;The issue with misinformation in general is not so much that people believe it. A lot of people don&#39;t,&quot; said Saint Laurent. &quot;The issue is that they see real news and they don&#39;t trust it anymore. And this (Sora) is going to massively increase that.&quot;

Entertainment

Hyper-realistic AI videos resurrecting dead celebrities are spreading online, amusing some but alarming families and experts, who warn about misuse of likenesses, ethical concerns, trauma, and growing distrust in digital content

AI resurrections of dead celebrities amuse and rankle

WASHINGTON: The US Coast Guard was pursuing another allegedly sanctioned tanker on Sunday, a US official told AFP, as Washington ramps up its pressure campaign targeting Venezuela&#39;s vital oil sector. The &quot;active pursuit&quot; in the Caribbean Sea was happening a day after the Coast Guard seized its second vessel off Venezuela in two weeks. US President Donald Trump announced on December 16 a blockade of &quot;sanctioned oil vessels&quot; sailing to and from Venezuela, demanding the return of allegedly stolen US assets in the oil-rich South American country. He has also deployed a large navy armada in the Caribbean with a stated mission of combatting drug trafficking, but which Caracas says is a pressure campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro. &quot;The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela&#39;s illegal sanctions evasion. It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order,&quot; a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in a statement to AFP. News outlets identified the ship involved as the Bella 1, an oil tanker under US sanctions since 2024 because of alleged ties to Iran and Hezbollah. According to the specialized site TankerTrackers, the ship was en route to Venezuela but not carrying cargo. US forces approached the vessel late Saturday, but the ship did not submit to being boarded and continued sailing, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed officials. Earlier on Saturday, the US Coast Guard seized the Centuries, which according to TankerTrackers is a Chinese-owned and Panama-flagged tanker. It said that ship was loaded with 1.8 million barrels of crude oil at a Venezuelan port earlier this month before being escorted out of the Latin American country&#39;s exclusive economic zone on December 18. An AFP review found that the Centuries did not appear on the US Treasury Department&#39;s list of sanctioned companies and individuals. The Trump administration claims that Venezuela is using oil, its main resource, to finance &quot;narcoterrorism.&quot; The US military since September has also conducted a series of air strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. Critics have questioned the legality of the attacks, which have killed more than 100 people. Caracas denies any involvement in drug trafficking and insists that Washington is seeking to overthrow Maduro to seize Venezuela&#39;s oil reserves.

Americas

The US Coast Guard is pursuing a third sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean, intensifying pressure on Venezuela’s oil sector as Washington enforces a blockade and targets alleged sanctions evasion

US in 'pursuit' of third oil tanker in Caribbean: official

MIAMI: US and Ukrainian envoys issued a joint statement on Sunday that hailed &quot;productive and constructive&quot; talks in Miami, but did not announce any apparent breakthrough in efforts to end the war with Russia. Top representatives of Ukraine and Russia, as well as Kyiv&#39;s European allies, have been in southern Florida over the past several days for a series of separate talks hosted by US President Donald Trump&#39;s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Despite a flurry of high-level meetings in recent weeks, there have been no clear signals of imminent resolutions to key hurdles on ending the nearly four-year war. The diplomatic blitz came after Washington last month presented a 28-point plan on the war that was widely seen as echoing the Kremlin&#39;s demands. It has since been redrafted following Ukraine and Europe&#39;s involvement, though its contents have not been publicly disclosed. &quot;Over the last three days in Florida, the Ukrainian delegation held a series of productive and constructive meetings with American and European partners,&quot; Witkoff and Ukraine&#39;s top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said in separate statements on X. They said a bilateral US-Ukraine meeting focused on developing and aligning positions on &quot;four key documents&quot; -- a &quot;20-point plan,&quot; a &quot;Multilateral security guarantee framework,&quot; a &quot;US Security guarantee framework for Ukraine&quot; and an &quot;economic &amp; prosperity plan.&quot; &quot;Particular attention was given to discussing timelines and the sequencing of next steps,&quot; they said, without announcing any further meetings. National security advisors from Kyiv&#39;s European allies &quot;also joined the discussions to align on a shared strategic approach between Ukraine, the United States, and Europe,&quot; the statements added. Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev was also in southern Florida and believed to have met with the US delegation, which includes billionaire real estate developer Witkoff and Trump&#39;s son-in-law Jared Kushner. A video on Russian state media showed Dmitriev arriving in a motorcade to Witkoff&#39;s Shell Bay luxury golf club. The Kremlin on Sunday said recent proposed changes to the plan to end the war were a non-starter. Dmitriev &quot;should receive information about what has been developed by the Americans and Europeans&quot; in the plan and report that back to Moscow later, Kremlin&#39;s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV. Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, sees Europe as pro-war and argues its participation in the talks only hinders them. - War rages on -While little is known of the latest peace plans, Kyiv is likely to be expected to surrender some territory -- a prospect resented by many Ukrainians -- in exchange for US security guarantees. Though envoys from both Moscow and Kyiv were in town, the Kremlin had earlier ruled out three-way talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier described the talks as &quot;constructive&quot; and said they were &quot;moving at a fairly rapid pace.&quot; He nevertheless cautioned that &quot;much depends on whether Russia feels the need to end the war for real.&quot; He also hailed this week as &quot;historic&quot; for Ukraine, thanking Europe for pledging $100 billion of funding over the next two years. Moscow&#39;s troops have been steadily advancing at the eastern front in recent months. Putin on Friday hailed the Russian army&#39;s territorial gains -- and threatened more in the coming weeks. Just over the week, &quot;Russia has launched approximately 1,300 attack drones, nearly 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and 9 missiles of various types&quot; against Ukraine, Zelensky said. Most of them have pummelled the Black Sea region of Odesa, where relentless strikes wrought havoc on ports, bridges and energy facilities, killing eight people Saturday. In the eastern Sumy region, Russian troops attempted a breakthrough in an area previously spared from an intense ground offensive. Russian forces forcibly moved 50 people from a local village, said Kyiv. &quot;Russian invaders have stolen five dozen civilian people, mostly elderly women, from a tiny Ukrainian village Grabovske, right across the state border in the Sumy region,&quot; Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said. Russia made no comment on the matter.

United States and Ukraine envoys issued joint statements hailing Miami talks as productive, yet did not announce any apparent breakthrough

US, Ukraine hail 'productive' Miami talks but no breakthrough

Asfandyar Yahya

This week&rsquo;s Tell Me Why breaks down how Pakistan&rsquo;s nuclear deterrence actually works by translating missile ranges into real strategic meaning, showing how geography, distance, and overlapping strike coverage shape regional stability. Rather than focusing on destruction, it explains deterrence as prevention, how short-, medium-, and long-range nuclear-capable systems together create a balance of fear that discourages full-scale war. Through clear mapping and narrative, the piece shows why missile range isn&rsquo;t about who can be hit, but about who never dares to strike in the first place.

This weeks Tell me why breaks down how Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence actually works by translating missile ranges into real strategic meaning, showing how geography, distance, and overlapping strike coverage shape regional stability

Tell Me Why: Pakistan’s missile range keeps full-scale war at bay

WASHINGTON: US Justice Department officials on Sunday denied redacting the Epstein files to protect President Donald Trump as criticism mounted over the partial and heavily-censored release of documents. Victims of Jeffrey Epstein have expressed anger after a cache of records from cases against the late sex offender were released Friday with many pages blacked out and photos censored. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the Justice Department and a decision to remove an image of several group photos including at least one showing Trump. &quot;There were concerns about those women and the fact that we had put that photo up,&quot; Blanche, a former personal lawyer to the president, told NBC&#39;s &quot;Meet the Press.&quot; &quot;So we pulled that photo down. It has nothing to do with President Trump.&quot; When asked if any material was redacted to due to political sensitivities -- which would be illegal -- Blanche replied &quot;absolutely,&nbsp;positively&nbsp;not.&quot; Democratic lawmakers on Sunday accused Trump himself of defying a law ordering the release of all files on Epstein, who amassed a fortune and circulated among rich and famous people. &quot;It&#39;s all about covering up things that, for whatever reason, Donald Trump doesn&#39;t want to go public, either about himself (or) other members of his family, friends,&quot; Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin said on CNN&#39;s &quot;State of the Union.&quot; The tranche of materials released Friday included photographs of former president Bill Clinton and other famous names such as pop stars Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson. The Justice Department said it was protecting Epstein&#39;s victims with the blackouts.But the many redactions -- and allegations of missing documents -- only added to calls for justice in a case that has fueled conspiracy theories from Trump&#39;s right-wing base. - Republican: &#39;Selective concealment&#39; -Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who has long pushed for complete release of the files, on Sunday joined in with the Democrats&#39; demands. &quot;They&#39;re flouting the spirit and the letter of the law. It&#39;s very troubling the posture that they&#39;ve taken. And I won&#39;t be satisfied until the survivors are satisfied,&quot; he told CBS&#39;s &quot;Face The Nation.&quot; A 60-count indictment that implicates well-known people was not released, Massie charged. &quot;It&#39;s about the selective concealment,&quot; he said. Senator Rand Paul, a fellow Republican and frequent critic of Trump, warned during an appearance on ABC&#39;s &quot;This Week&quot; that any material not revealed &quot;will just plague them for months and months more.&quot; Trump tried to block the disclosure of the files linked to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. The president finally bowed to mounting pressure from Congress -- including members of his own party -- and signed the law compelling publication of the material. Trump was once a close friend of Epstein, regularly attending parties together, but he cut ties with him years before his arrest and faces no accusations of wrongdoing. - Accomplice in jail -At least one released file contained dozens of censored images of naked or scantily clad figures, while previously unseen photographs of disgraced former prince Andrew show him lying across the legs of five women. Other pictures show Clinton lounging in a hot tub, part of the image blacked out, and swimming alongside a dark-haired woman who appears to be Epstein&#39;s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell, Epstein&#39;s former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes, and is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting underage girls for the former banker, whose death was ruled a suicide. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, said on &quot;This Week&quot; that justice officials must provide written explanation to Congress within 15 days about why they withheld any documents. &quot;It does appear, of course, that this initial document release is inadequate,&quot; Jeffries said.

US Justice Department officials denied redacting the Epstein files to protect President Donald Trump as criticism mounted

Gold price hits record high of $4,383.76 on US rate cut bets

Related Articles

Gold seen surging beyond $5,000 by 2026 as global banks turn bullish

Gold rebounds as investors seek safety, but domestic demand divides

Latest News

Pakistan to broadcast live auction for PIA privatization

Russian general killed in a Moscow explosion: investigators

Gold price hits record high of $4,383.76 on US rate cut bets

Australian state pushes tough gun laws, 'terror symbols' ban after shooting

CDF Munir awarded King Abdulaziz medal for his efforts to ‘advance Pak-Saudi ties’