Iran says decision to rule out peace talks "definitive" as Trump extends truce
Tehran has called its decision not to take part in the second round of peace talks with the United States in Pakistan as "definitive," Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said Tuesday.
The decision was announced shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump said he would extend the ceasefire to allow more time for negotiations, as the current two-week truce is set to expire on Wednesday night.
Tasnim said the Pakistani mediator has been informed of Iran's decision, which has been made aiming to completely protect the Iranian people's rights.
Trump not viewing Iran's ships seizure near Hormuz Strait as breach of ceasefire: White House
U.S. President Donald Trump did not view Iran's seizure of two European ships by force near the Strait of Hormuz as a breach of the extended U.S. ceasefire with Iran, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday.
"These were not U.S. ships. These were not Israeli ships. These were two international vessels," she said on Fox News.
"These two ships were taken by speedy gunboats. Iran has gone from having the most lethal navy in the Middle East to now acting like a bunch of pirates. They don't have control over the strait. This is piracy that we are seeing on display," Leavitt said.
2 dead, 19 hospitalized after chemical leak at U.S. West Virginia plant
At least two people were killed and 19 others sent to hospital on Wednesday after a chemical leak occurred at a silver catalyst manufacturing plant in the U.S. state of West Virginia, local authorities said.
The incident was reported at approximately 9:31 a.m. local time at Catalyst Refiners, a silver recovery facility located in the community of Institute, about 16 kilometers northwest of the state capital city Charleston.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the plant was in the process of shutting down operations, with workers engaged in cleaning and decontamination activities in preparation for closure, according to a press release by the Kanawha County Commission.
SpaceX reaches deal with AI startup Cursor
U.S. private space company SpaceX has reached an agreement for the right to acquire San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Cursor for 60 billion U.S. dollars later this year, or to pay 10 billion dollars related to their collaboration, according to a statement from SpaceX.
SpaceX said Tuesday on social media that the combination of Cursor's leading product and distribution to expert software engineers with SpaceX's million H100 equivalent Colossus training supercomputer will allow both sides "to build the world's most useful models."
Cursor said it is partnering with SpaceX to accelerate its model training efforts. The company released its first agentic coding model, Composer, less than six months ago and has since continued to improve its performance.
EU ambassadors approve 90-bln-euro loan for Ukraine, new sanctions on Russia: reports
European Union (EU) members' ambassadors on Wednesday approved a 90-billion-euro (105.6 billion U.S. dollars) loan for Ukraine, according to reports citing sources from Cyprus, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.
The ambassadors also reached an agreement on a new round of sanctions against Russia, the reports said.
The final written procedure for the aforementioned measures is expected to be completed on Thursday.■
