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Science· Verified

Pakistani astronaut selected for upcoming flight to China Tiangong space station

A Pakistani astronaut will travel to China’s Tiangong space station aboard the Shenzhou-24 mission, becoming the first foreigner to visit the orbiting outpost, Beijing’s manned space agency said on Saturday. Pakistan and China are close diplomatic and strategic partners, and signed a deal in February 2025 setting up a Chinese government training programme for Pakistani astronauts. The statement by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) did not give a date of departure, but the mission is expected to take place by the end of the year. However, earlier in October, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the space mission would take place on Nov 25 while addressing a ceremony. The Pakistani astronaut, a payload specialist, will join a short orbital flight before returning with the Shenzhou-23 spaceship, which docked at the Tiangong space station in May, according to the CMSA. The agency did not name the Pakistani crew member, but said in April that astronauts Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud had been chosen to start training in China. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met the two in April, and congratulated them on their selection. He said the space mission was a “matter of pride for the entire nation” and further commended their “round-the-clock efforts” in achieving the milestone. PM Shehbaz hoped that the space mission would “add new dimensions to the brotherly relationship between Pakistan and China”. Beijing has invested heavily in its space programme in recent years — catching up with its main rival the United States — and aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030. Pakistan is a natural partner, given the countries decades-long, “all-weather” friendship. China is Pakistan’s largest trading partner and a major foreign investor. In February 2025, Suparco and CMSA had signed a cooperation agreement. Under the pact, two Pakistanis were to train in China, with one joining a mission on the Tiangong space station operated by Beijing. China has been barred from participating in the International Space Station since 2011, when the US prohibited Nasa from collaborating with Chinese space agencies. Since then, Beijing has sought to build partnerships with other countries — including Pakistan — in its expanding space programme.

Politics· Developing

Mississippi Senate race remains undecided as parties dispute ballot counts

Democratic and Republican lawyers and groups trade sharp legal letters about procedures for counting ballots in tight race Democrat Scott Colom is on the verge of winning a Senate seat in Mississippi in a stunning upset, but ballots are still being counted in a close race where Colom holds a lead of just under 2,000 votes over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. Losing ruby-red Mississippi would be the final straw for Republicans after a midterm sweep by Democrats that turned Texas and South Carolina blue. A possible legal fight is also brewing, as both sides trade sharp legal letters about the procedures for counting remaining ballots. National voting groups and attorneys have descended upon the magnolia state, joining the local groups that worked to mobilize voters. Democratic and Republican groups, including Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic election attorneys from the Elias Law Group, have deployed hundreds of volunteers and lawyers to all the state’s 82 counties to oversee the final rounds of counting. Continue reading...

Business· Verified

US hiring beats forecasts in October with 165,000 positions added

Employment in the United States grew by 165,000 jobs in October, far exceeding analysts’ expectations, with the unemployment rate dipping to 4.1 per cent, government data showed on Friday. The relatively stable labour market has allowed the US Federal Reserve – which has a dual mandate to maintain inflation at a long-term 2 per cent target while ensuring maximum employment – to make fighting stubbornly high prices its priority. The strong October data could add to pressure for further rate...

World· Verified

Qatar mediates between US and Iran to avert regional conflict

Nov 7 (Reuters) - Qatar's Prime Minister said the country's mediation efforts between the US and Iran were continuing to prevent the situation in the region from spiraling out of control, Al Jazeera TV reported on Saturday. The USadministration remained willing to find a solution even after the midterm elections, signalling that Washington's interest in reaching an agreement had not changed, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said. Significant progress had been made and Al-Thani expressed confidence that a settlement could be reached.

Politics· Verified

US midterm sweep offers Democrats fragile opening to rebuild democratic norms

Imagine, for a moment, that the US midterm elections had not delivered Democratic wins at a generational scale, but merely a trickle of flipped seats—enough, perhaps, to change control of the House of Representatives but not enough for a Senate majority. Is there any doubt that President Donald Trump would embrace such results as a good-enough validation of his often lawless and brutal administration? Would it not now be doubling down, striving to cast the polls as an imprimatur for its excesses? Instead, American democracy skirted a disabling blow. Yet it would be a grave mistake to take a further step by concluding that voters’ overwhelming rejection of Trump and his Republican Party marks a full-throated public re-embrace of democracy. The election was a disaster averted, but it was only an opening to assess and fix the damage caused by two years of a rogue administration acting without congressional oversight. The Democrats’ landslide victory could set America’s now clearly imperfect democracy on the difficult path of repair and improvement. But this opportunity could slip away unless seized swiftly. Conventional wisdom about the midterm results is already resurrecting James Carville’s old adage: “It’s the economy, stupid.” There is, indeed, a kernel of truth to this. The Associated Press exit poll conducted on election day flagged economic discontent as voters’ top concern. Likewise, a Gallup poll from a week beforehand also found voters ranking inflation and health care as the most important issues. Against this backdrop, the bizarre optics of Trump’s midterm campaigning—Look at my reflecting pool! My beautiful ballroom! What about Jon Husted’s great butt!—underscore Trump’s surreal detachment from everyday voters’ woes. So potent is this story that most influential media outlets are offering inflation and affordability as catch-all explanations for the Democrats’ sweep through states Republicans had held for decades. And it is easy to see this simple story becoming a guiding light for anti-Trump figures, including among Republicans, for the next two years. This emerging consensus captures an important part of the story, but also overlooks an important finding. According to the AP exit poll, almost one-third of voters named the health of democracy as their top concern—just six points behind the economy—while the Gallup poll appears not to have asked respondents about the issue at all. Concerns over democracy and the rule of law also help explain the massive swings among Hispanic and Black voters. A UnidosUS survey of Hispanics found that immigration “overreach”—that is, flagrant disregard for the rule of law—was a leading concern. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Black turnout was driven by anger at the dismantling of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act—that is, by outrage at right-wing judges’ frontal assault on multiracial democracy. The affordability narrative risks overshadowing this strong public demand for democracy and even erasing it from the shared public memory of this election. That understanding of history creates a trap for Democrats, leaving the new House and Senate majorities a hostage to fortune, or worse. While control of the House and the Senate offers them a few policy tools with which to address inflation and affordability, those tools may not work quickly, and Trump retains broad control over trade policy and war-making. Indeed, because Trump can still make things worse, it is reasonable to think that there will be scant improvement in economic sentiment two years from now. No doubt, the Republican presidential nominee in 2028 will pin the blame on the Democrats. At a minimum, the picture will be muddy. Despite this risk, the affordability narrative is seductive to many Democrats, because it means they don’t need to think about the structural problems with American democracy. Consider here rampant electoral gerrymandering, the Senate’s malapportionment favoring rural populations, and the egregious inflation of judicial power. This time, the size of the Democratic wave overcame those barriers. But it would be reckless to count on that in the future, particularly as Trump retains powerful tools to erode democratic norms further. The Democrats, then, would be wise to lean into the democracy message by pressing for more structural change—not only because it is the principled thing to do, but also because it is in their political interest. This does not mean simply focusing on the Trump family’s venality. Highlighting corruption can be politically effective, as the midterm results showed. But unless the strong linkage between corruption and a weakening of democracy is made explicit—how the scramble for spoils overcomes representation of voters and their interests—scandalous revelations can also breed disabling cynicism and even voter apathy. The US midterm election results are an opportunity and an invitation. Voters’ demand for the rule of law and democracy has helped destroy Trump’s MAGA movement. That demand must not be forgotten or suppressed. The Democrats have opportunities, in Congress and also in newly-won state capitals, to show voters they understand that only democracy will be responsive on the economic front. Affordability may rank first, but addressing it depends on the quality of democratic institutions. Americans have given the Democrats the chance to show why that is true. They must not squander it. This article was originally published on Project Syndicate and has been reproduced here with permission.

World· Verified

Iran asserts military strength has increased amid standoff with US

Iran said Saturday its military has grown “stronger” since the outset of its war with the United States, which has offered a $20 million reward for information about Tehran’s nuclear programme. Mediators have been working to prevent any resumption of fighting after months of deadlock in the Middle East conflict, which began when the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February. Tehran has sought to limit traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil consumption. Iranian army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said Tehran retained control over the strategic waterway and that it would remain closed until its demands were met by the US. He also said Iran’s forces had grown stronger and more confident, state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday. “Today, the Islamic Republic’s armed forces… having gained experience from direct confrontation with the United States and the Israeli regime, are on higher alert and are stronger than they were at the beginning of the war,” he said. “They now possess greater motivation, commitment, and self-confidence.” “Under the order of the Supreme Leader, the response of the armed forces will be immediate, effective, and without geographical limitations,” he added. Reward offered The US military said it was offering a $20 million reward “and possible relocation” for information about Iran’s nuclear programme. The programme was established in 1984 under the State Department’s national security rewards programme to offer money for information that protects American lives and interests. In a statement about the reward, the State Department said Iran’s “lack of compliance with the (International Atomic Energy Agency) on safeguards obligations has led to the agency’s loss of ‘continuity of knowledge’ regarding Iran’s production and inventory of key components like centrifuges.” It did not specify what type of information would warrant a $20 million reward. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said US forces have effectively obliterated Iran’s nuclear programme. “If we didn’t hit Iran, you wouldn’t have Israel today,” Trump said Friday night in West Palm Beach, Florida. “If they had nuclear, they would have used nuclear. They would have obliterated the Middle East.” Dialogue The president also said Iran — which he stressed has had its economy and military severely damaged over eight months of war — is eager to end the conflict. “We’re dealing with them now. They want to make a deal very badly,” he said. Trump called Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Friday to discuss efforts to end the war. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said this week his government was still trying to resolve the crisis through dialogue. Early on Saturday, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that two missiles had struck Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, adding there was no official information about any damage. Iranian state television reported two explosions on the island. The Iranian army said early Saturday that its air defences had “struck and destroyed” a US drone that was flying over the island, according to state media. It did not say whether the island was attacked.

Politics· Developing

Chuck Schumer pledges Democrats will stop conservative court picks by Trump

After midterm wins, Democratics plan comeback for when new Congress is sworn in, including pushback against Trump and his policies Donald Trump will be blocked from putting a “rightwinger” on the US supreme court, according to Chuck Schumer, the soon-to-be Senate majority leader, in remarks that were a preview of how Democrats intend to wield their power come January. In an interview with the Associated Press, Schumer said Democrats would not confirm “any crappy nominees” to the supreme court, lower courts or Trump’s cabinet. Continue reading...

World· Verified

China passes cross-border graft law expanding global asset recovery reach

China’s top legislature passed on Friday a landmark law targeting cross-border corruption, equipping Beijing with expansive new tools to pursue illicit offshore assets while countering foreign attempts to investigate wrongdoing in China. The Anti-Cross-Border Corruption Law was approved at the close of the 25th session of the 14th National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) and took effect immediately, according to the state news agency Xinhua. The statute establishes formal mechanisms...

World· Verified

Iran targeted in limited US military strikes on air defense site, Trump confirms

The president’s announcement comes days after an earlier attack on Iran was made public, and as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have accelerated Donald Trump has said the US military on Friday carried out a new round of limited strikes on Iran, targeting an air defence system, describing the action as “minor.” Iranian state media reported the sound of two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm Island, which is in the strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway for oil shipments that has been disrupted since the beginning of the US war on Iran in February. Continue reading...

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