Asia stock markets slide as tech shares slump:
Asian stock markets fell sharply on Friday, led by a sell-off in technology firms as investors worried that recent jumps in share prices had gone too far. Trading on South Korea’s Kospi was temporarily halted as an 8% fall in the benchmark index triggered a mechanism intended to curb panic selling. The index closed 5.8% lower. It comes after shares in Apple fell sharply on Thursday after it announced it would raise the prices of its iPads and MacBooks due to the soaring cost of computer chips. Some investors are also concerned about the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent this year by big tech firms to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Arslan Ash Wins 8th Evo Title, Earns Nearly Rs. 8 Million:
Pakistan’s Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique won the Tekken 8 tournament at Evo 2026 in Las Vegas, securing the eighth Evo title of his career and earning $28,000, equivalent to Rs. 7.8 million. He defeated South Korea’s Rangchu in the grand final to finish first in a tournament featuring 1,355 players. Arslan used a defensive approach against Rangchu and adjusted to his opponent’s pressure and wall positioning.
Govt Will Let Citizens See Who Accessed Their Personal Data:
The Government of Pakistan has introduced a new National Data Governance Policy that declares government-held data a strategic national asset while giving citizens expanded rights over the personal information held by public institutions. These new rights will let citizens see their personal data held by the government, including who accessed it and why. Issued by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, the policy creates a nationwide framework for how government data is collected, shared, protected, stored, and disposed of. It applies to all federal ministries, departments, statutory bodies, public-sector organisations, as well as contractors and partners that handle government data.
Apple and Xiaomi Back Major Wireless Charging Upgrade for Everyone:
The Wireless Power Consortium recently held a technical conference at Xiaomi’s headquarters in Beijing to work on the upcoming 50W Qi wireless charging standard. The Qi wireless charging standard is used by most smartphone makers, meaning this upgrade means wireless charging advancement for nearly all brands, iPhone and Android alike.
Interior Ministry Launches Inquiry Into CDA Online Billing System Breach:
The Ministry of Interior has launched an investigation into the recent cyberattack on the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) online billing system, which disrupted the authority’s revenue collection services and affected thousands of residents in Islamabad. Sources told Media that a technical committee formed by the Ministry of Interior visited the CDA headquarters to investigate the cyberattack. The committee reviewed the affected systems and is examining what caused the breach while identifying weaknesses in the existing digital infrastructure.
GTA 6 May Let Players Stream Their Own Spotify Playlists While Driving:
Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 could allow players to connect their Spotify accounts and stream personal playlists while driving, according to recent reports. The rumored feature would let players replace traditional in-game radio stations with their own Spotify libraries, making drives across Leonida more personalized. It could also give players more control over the music they hear while exploring the game’s open world.
Moto Launches Premium Pad 70 Pro With Dedicated PC Mode:
Motorola has launched the Moto Pad 70 Pro as the successor to the Moto Pad 60 Pro introduced in April last year. The new tablet features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset, a 13-inch 3.5K display, a 10,200mAh battery, and support for 120FPS gaming. It also comes with a Moto Pen Pro stylus in the box, while the optional Snap-On Keyboard is sold separately.
Vivo TWS 5 Pro Bring Lossless Wi-Fi Audio and 60dB ANC:
Vivo has introduced the TWS 5 Pro wireless earbuds alongside the X Fold6 foldable smartphone. The earbuds feature a dual-driver system, a dedicated Hi-Fi DAC, lossless audio transmission over Wi-Fi, and active noise cancellation of up to 60dB. They also support three simultaneous connections and offer up to 50 hours of total battery life. Each earbud uses a custom ultra-miniature balanced armature driver developed by Vivo and Knowles.
Phone SIMs on Expired CNICs Will Stop Working:
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has warned that mobile SIMs registered against expired, cancelled, or invalid Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) may be suspended or blocked if users fail to update their records. In a public awareness campaign, the PTA urged mobile subscribers to renew their CNICs before they expire to avoid any disruption to mobile services. The regulator said SIMs linked to inactive, cancelled, or expired identity cards in the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) database could become ineligible under existing regulatory requirements.
Popular Samsung Phone Could Soon Get S26 Ultra’s Flagship Software:
Samsung has begun internal testing of the Android 17-based One UI 9 update for Galaxy A24 4G, just days after rolling out the stable Android 16-based One UI 8.5 update for the device. A new test firmware carrying version A245FXXUCGZF4 has been spotted on Samsung’s servers, indicating that development of the next major software update is already underway.Samsung has not announced when the One UI 9 beta or stable update will be released for the Galaxy A24.
GTA 6 Becomes No. 1 Best-Selling Game on PlayStation, Xbox Stores:
Grand Theft Auto VI has become the No. 1 best-selling game on the PlayStation Store, despite being nearly five months away from its November 19, 2026 release. A screenshot from this writer’s PlayStation Store’s “Best Selling” chart shows GTA 6 occupying the top spot, ahead of major titles including Fortnite, NBA 2K26, Marvel Rivals, and Call of Duty. The game has also climbed to the top of Xbox Store sales charts following the launch of pre-orders.
Oppo Reno16 F Series Launches With Big Batteries and 4K Selfie Videos:
Oppo has introduced the Reno16 F and Reno16 FS for international markets alongside the global versions of the Reno16 and Reno16 Pro. The two phones share most of their specifications, including a 120Hz AMOLED display, three rear cameras, a 50MP ultrawide selfie camera, and the MediaTek Dimensity Energy 7300 chipset. The Oppo Reno16 F and Reno16 FS feature 6.57-inch AMOLED displays with Full HD+ resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and 10-bit colour depth. The screens reach a peak brightness of 1,400 nits and have a pixel density of 397 pixels per inch.
OnePlus Nord Buds 4 Launch With 52dB ANC and 54-Hour Battery Life:
OnePlus has launched the Nord Buds 4 as a more affordable alternative to the Nord Buds 4 Pro, which debuted in March. Despite the lower positioning, the new earbuds still offer active noise cancellation and up to 54 hours of total battery life. The OnePlus Nord Buds 4 use an in-ear design with silicone ear tips. The OnePlus Nord Buds 4 are available in Astral Teal and Stellar Black. Each earbud weighs 4.3 grams and carries an IP55 rating for protection against dust and water. The earbuds feature 12mm dynamic drivers with titanium-coated diaphragms.
GTA 6 will launch as download only – does that mean the disc is dead?:
Once, video games came with lots of physical goodies, such as guides, maps and manuals. Those days are mostly gone, but gamers have, up to now, usually been able to rely on one thing they could literally get their hands on – a disc. But when pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 went live on Thursday, developer Rockstar said customers who opted for the physical edition would get a box that just contained a code for a digital download instead. It’s not the first time a physical edition has launched this way. But if the makers of one of the biggest franchises in entertainment history has decided to follow suit, does that mean the disc is dead? And what does that say about game ownership in the digital age? “My initial reaction was one of confusion and shock,” Ben, a UK-based 24-year-old gamer who covers GTA news on social media under the handle ‘videotech’, told me following the announcement.
South Korea unveils $880bn chip and AI investment plan:
South Korea has unveiled plans for at least $880bn (£666bn) of investments to build out the country’s chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in the coming years. It is part of the country’s so-called Three Mega Projects to develop new chip production hubs, data centres and robotics technology. The plan is aimed at rejuvenating the economies of areas outside the capital Seoul, President Lee Jae-myung said on Monday.
Plans for massive data centre in north Devon:
A massive data centre and battery storage site is planned for a site in the north Devon countryside. The scheme is attracting considerable opposition from residents concerned about noise, water supplies, power usage and the impact on the landscape. Xlinks, the company behind a stalled bid to bring renewable energy to the UK from Morocco through cables under the sea, wants to build the data campus near Great Torrington. The firm claims the artificial intelligence campus – made up of giant warehouses full of powerful computers used to run digital services – will create between 650 and 1,200 new jobs and be worth up to £3.6bn to the economy.
Tech firms are blaming AI for mega device and console price rises:
For years, buyers of tech could rely on a familiar trend – that older devices would get cheaper over time. That now seems to have stopped, or in some cases, completely reversed.
Apple and Microsoft’s Xbox have joined the firms hiking prices for devices and games consoles which are years old. They and other tech companies have pointed to the rising cost of crucial components needed to build their machines, laying the blame on AI. Compute-hungry data centres, which power AI, need more and more chips to keep up with demand from AI companies – which means the demand for them is far outstripping supply.
Warning as AI clones voices and law falls behind:
People in the UK could have their voice or face cloned using artificial intelligence without their knowledge and current laws may not be strong enough to stop it, experts have warned. Rapid advances in AI mean realistic digital copies can now be created from short audio or video clips, raising concerns about identity misuse, scams and loss of control.
Will our peaceful rural life be destroyed by a huge AI data centre?:
Lindsey Charnley and her family moved to peaceful Auchtertool so her children could enjoy a rural childhood. Her youngest son, Teddy, is nine and has had 27 brain operations in the last four years. Noisy environments cause him debilitating pain. But their future in the Fife village is uncertain as plans are underway to build one of the world’s largest data centres on the other side of their garden fence.
Power banks and vapes now biggest fire risk on planes:
Flight passengers are being warned not to pack power banks or vapes in their hold luggage ahead of the busy summer holiday travel period beginning for parts of the UK. The fire risk posed by lithium batteries is now the number one safety risk to aircraft, according to the aviation regulator, as the number of devices found in hold bags has nearly doubled in a year. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says the average person now takes four different lithium powered devices on a flight.
Apple hikes some prices by nearly 20% while Xbox raises console cost:
Apple is increasing the price of MacBooks and iPads worldwide due to rising memory and storage chip costs. The iPhone maker has hiked the prices of some laptops and tablets by almost 20%, saying the electronics industry is facing an “unprecedented challenge” due to an “extraordinary surge” in demand for chips to power AI data centres.
IBM hails new ‘block of flats’ design breakthrough for ultra tiny chips:
IBM has unveiled a new chip design which it says could enable manufacturers to cram 100 billion transistors on a silicon chip the size of a fingernail. The current industry-standard size for chips, measured in a the unit of nanometres – a billionth of a metre and the size of a few atoms – is around two nanometres (nm). But IBM claims its new chip tech is the equivalent of around 0.7nm, which may make it the world’s first known chip technology below 1nm.
GTA 6 – all you need to know about Rockstar’s blockbuster game:
The latest instalment in Rockstar’s blockbuster game franchise, Grand Theft Auto, is set to be the biggest games launch of the year. GTA 6 became available to pre-order at midnight on 25 June in the UK and elsewhere around the world, after Rockstar revealed the game’s pre-sales launch date and cover art in mid-June. Analysts believe Rockstar’s action adventure could become the most expensive game ever made, with estimates putting development costs at more than $1bn (£866m).
Anthropic accuses Chinese rival Alibaba of illicitly extracting AI capabilities:
US artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic has accused Chinese e-commerce and technology firm Alibaba of “brazenly” and “illicitly” extracting its Claude AI model’s capabilities. In a letter sent to two members of the US Congress, the San Francisco-based company said operators linked to Alibaba carried out almost 29 million exchanges with Claude using thousands of fraudulent accounts in what it called the largest extraction campaign of its kind.
GTA 6 will cost £70 – and physical edition will not contain a disc:
Grand Theft Auto 6, the latest instalment of Rockstar Games’ biggest-ever franchise, will cost £69.99, with a more premium edition costing £89.99. One of the most hotly anticipated games of the year, GTA 6 opened for pre-orders around the world at midnight local time, and is priced at $79.99 and $100 for its standard and premium versions in the US. Rockstar said physical copies of the game will contain a code for a digital download for the game inside a box, rather than a disc.