In December 2024, it was announced he would be leaving Ineos, despite signing a five-year contract in 2022, and shortly afterwards, a three-year deal was struck with Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team. The decision raised more than a few eyebrows as Q36.5 are a UCI ProTeam, meaning they compete at the second-highest level of pro road cycling, just below WorldTour teams. But from his results this year, Pidcock may have been vindicated.
In his first race for his new team, the 26-year-old claimed his first GC triumph at the AlUla Tour. He then finished third overall at the Vuelta a Andalucia, second in the Strade Bianche, and 16th in the Giro d’Italia general classification standings. He also won the MTB cross-country European Championship title and the Andorra World Cup race.
Now, with Q36.5 being awarded a wildcard place at the Vuelta, Pidcock has chosen to skip the MTB Worlds in September – and another potential battle with his old rival Mathieu van der Poel – to see if he can take the next step in his development and challenge for a Grand Tour podium place.
“It’s a shame, because I would have loved to race, especially to battle Mathieu, but I want to focus more on the road and we’re building up our team,” Pidcock told De Telegraaf. “So it makes sense for me to ride the Vuelta.
“Getting on the podium would be amazing, but winning a Grand Tour is the hardest thing in the world for me. I know what it’s like to win a one-day race, but a Grand Tour? That’s a different story.
“My time trial still needs to improve a lot, but maybe I can aim for a top 10.”
A podium place may seem unlikely, but then again, Pidcock likes nothing better than beating the odds.
Walmart has recalled frozen, raw shrimp sold in 13 states because federal health officials say it could have potential radioactive contamination.
The US Food and Drug Administration asked Walmart to pull three lots of Great Value brand frozen shrimp from stores after federal officials detected Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, in shipping containers and a sample of breaded shrimp imported from Indonesia.
The products could pose a “potential health concern” for people exposed to low levels of Cesium-137 over time, FDA officials said.
“If you have recently purchased raw frozen shrimp from Walmart that matches this description, throw it away,” FDA officials said in a statement.
The risk from the recalled shrimp is “quite low”, said Donald Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University.
Cesium-137 is a byproduct of nuclear reactions, including nuclear bombs, testing, reactor operations and accidents. It’s widespread around the world, with trace amounts found in the environment, including soil, food and air.
The level detected in the frozen breaded shrimp was far lower than FDA intervention levels. However, the agency said that avoiding potentially contaminated products could reduce exposure to low-level radiation that could lead to health problems over time.
The FDA is investigating reports of Cesium-137 contamination in shipping containers and products processed by PT Bahari Makmur Sejati, doing business as BMS Foods of Indonesia. US Customs and Border Protection officials alerted FDA that they found Cesium-137 in shipping containers sent to US ports in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami and Savannah, Georgia.
FDA officials collected several product samples and detected contamination in one sample of frozen breaded shrimp. The shipping containers and products were denied entry into the US
However, the FDA then learned that Walmart had received potentially affected products imported after the first detection, from shipments that did not trigger contamination alerts.
Walmart immediately recalled the products, a company spokesperson said. They include Great Value brand frozen raw shrimp with lot codes 8005540-1, 8005538-1 and 8005539-1, all with best-by dates of 15 March 2027. The shrimp was sold in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia. Consumers should discard the products or return them to any Walmart store for refund.
NEW YORK, Aug. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — WIT, a global leader in digital gamification, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Tally Platform, a pioneer of real-time audience engagement solutions. This strategic move strengthens WIT’s global market position, expands its technological capabilities, and opens new avenues for growth across a broad range of industries.
By integrating Tally’s real-time technology, WIT further enhances its ability to deliver high-impact engagement solutions to its network of more than 200 partners globally. The acquisition also propels WIT’s expansion into new markets and enriches its renowned suite of digital activations to create a uniquely powerful end-to-end offering for brands to capture more first-party data and maximize revenue.
“This acquisition is more than a milestone – it accelerates us toward our vision of redefining how brands connect with their audiences,” said Vaidhy Murti, CEO of WIT. “By combining Tally’s real-time technology with WIT’s best-in-class activation platform, we’re unlocking a new era of immersive, insight-driven experiences that transform audience engagement and drive unparalleled value for our partners.”
Bradley Vettese, CEO, Tally, who has joined WIT as Chief Growth Strategist added: “The fusion of Tally’s technology into the WIT gamification platform takes an already market-leading offering to the next level – I’m looking forward to bringing my experience to the team to support growth, and further demonstrate the power of the enhanced platform.”
With this acquisition, WIT reinforces its commitment to innovation, cementing its role as the frontrunner in digital gamification and brand activation globally.
About WIT
WIT offers a digital gamification platform that powers some of the most exciting, turnkey experiences in sports and entertainment. WIT’s immersive experiences elevate marketing efforts, enhance brand partnerships, capture first-party data and drive revenue. Partners include 200+ iconic brands, including numerous venues, sports leagues and teams across the NFL, NHL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, MLS, NWSL, and NCAA.
Learn more by visiting WIT’s website and LinkedIn.
About Tally Technology
Tally Technology is a provider of real-time audience engagement technology that allows businesses to engage their audience in innovative ways through live polling, interactive games, and more. Tally’s platform enhances customer experiences by fostering greater interaction and participation, making it an ideal solution for live events, marketing campaigns, and digital activations.
India and China agreed on Tuesday to resume direct flights and step up trade and investment flows as the neighbours rebuild ties damaged by a 2020 border clash.
The Asian giants are cautiously strengthening ties against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable foreign policy, staging a series of high-level bilateral visits.
The two countries would resume direct flights and boost trade and investment, including reopening border trade at three designated points, and facilitate in visas, the Indian foreign ministry said.
Direct flights have been suspended since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. No date was given for their resumption.
The latest statements came at the end of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to New Delhi for the 24th round of talks with Indian National Security (NSA) Adviser Ajit Doval to resolve their decades old border dispute.
The border talks covered issues related to pulling back troops both countries have amassed on their Himalayan border, delimitation of borders and boundary affairs, the Indian ministry said.
Both countries have agreed to set up a working group to consult and coordinate on border affairs to advance demarcation negotiations, a Chinese foreign ministry statement released on Wednesday showed.
It said the mechanism will extend talks to cover the eastern and middle sections of the border. Meanwhile another round of talks on the western section will be held as soon as possible, the ministry said.
Beijing also said both countries agreed to meet again in China in 2026.
“Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X after meeting Wang.
Modi is scheduled to travel to China at the end of this month to take part in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — his first visit to the country in more than seven years.
Tibet dam
A readout from the Chinese foreign ministry said Wang told Doval that “the stable and healthy development of China-India relations is in the fundamental interests of the two countries’ people.”
The two sides “should enhance mutual trust through dialogues and expand cooperation”, Wang said, and should aim for consensus in areas such as border control and demarcation negotiations.
India said Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had underlined in his talks with Wang India’s concerns with regard to the mega dam China is building on the Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet.
Yarlung Zangbo becomes the Brahmaputra as it flows into India and Bangladesh, a lifeline for millions.
The dam would have implications for lower riparian states and the need for “utmost transparency” was strongly underlined, New Delhi said.
To that, China agreed to share with India emergency hydrological information on relevant rivers on humanitarian principles, China’s foreign ministry said.
Both sides agreed to engage an expert-level mechanism on cross-border rivers, and maintain communication to renew flood reporting arrangements, the ministry said.
Chinese officials had previously said hydropower projects in Tibet will not have a major impact on the environment or on downstream water supplies, but India and Bangladesh have nevertheless raised concerns.
Earlier on Tuesday, an Indian source said Wang had assured Jaishankar that Beijing was addressing three key Indian concerns — the need for fertilisers, rare earths and tunnel boring machines.
The Indian foreign and mines ministries and China’s commerce ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Iran “cannot completely cut cooperation” with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog but the return of its inspectors is up to the country’s security chiefs, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday.
The remarks come nearly two months after Iran suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following its 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iran has cited the IAEA’s failure to condemn Israeli and American strikes on its nuclear facilities as the reason for its decision, which saw the watchdog’s inspectors leave the country following the passing of new legislation by parliament.
“We cannot completely cut cooperation with the agency,” Araghchi said, noting that new fuel rods need to be installed at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant in the coming weeks, which will require the presence of IAEA inspectors.
“Under the law passed by parliament, the return of inspectors will be possible through a decision of the Supreme National Security Council,” he told the official IRNA news agency in an interview published on Wednesday, referring to Iran’s top security body.
In mid-June, Israel launched an unprecedented attack targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites, but also hitting residential areas.
The United States launched its own attacks on nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.
The war derailed talks between Iran and the US on a new nuclear deal to replace the one abandoned by US President Donald Trump during his first term in 2018.
Iran has since said cooperation with the agency will take “a new form” and earlier this month, the agency’s deputy head visited Tehran for talks.
At the time, deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran and the agency had agreed to “continue consultations”.
In recent weeks, Britain, France and Germany have threatened to trigger a snapback of UN sanctions lifted under the 2015 accord if Iran fails to agree a deal on uranium enrichment and cooperation with the IAEA.
Researchers at MIT’s Jameel Clinic and CSAIL, in partnership with biotech firm Recursion, have unveiled Boltz-2, an open-source biomolecular foundation model that transforms the pace and precision of drug discovery. This next-gen tool unifies molecular structure prediction and binding affinity estimation into one sleek AI-powered package, enabling researchers to screen millions of molecules in mere seconds.
Previously, physicists used free energy perturbation (FEP) simulations to model molecule protein binding, a method prized for accuracy but sluggish and costly. Boltz-2 achieves near FEP-level precision up to 1,000× faster, processing each ligand protein pair in just about 20 seconds on an NVIDIA A100 GPU.
Built on Recursion’s massive BioHive-2 supercomputer, Boltz-2 is engineered for performance. Optimizations like custom cuEquivariance kernels cut computation time and memory load by roughly 3×, making AI-scale drug screening practical.
Boltz-2 crushes benchmarks previously dominated by docking and ML methods. In high-throughput screens like MF-PCBA, it doubles average precision compared to traditional approaches. In CASP16 affinity challenges, it showed best-in-class performance in predicting binding strengths.
What truly sets Boltz-2 apart is its accessibility. Released under an MIT open-source license, researchers worldwide can use, fine-tune, and deploy the model in academia or industry. Enterprise users can tap into Boltz-2 NIM, a production-ready microservice built for scalable inference.
In the broader innovation ecosystem, Boltz-2 is already reshaping possibilities. By integrating with Recursion’s SynFlowNet toolkit, researchers can now generate and validate novel, synthesizable high-affinity molecules, streamlining early-stage drug development.
August 20,
2025 (MLN): The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has approved the
merger of HA Fibres (Private) Limited (HAFL) with and into Husnain Textile
Mills (Private) Limited (HTML).
The
transaction involves the amalgamation of HAFL with and into HTML, with both
undertakings being private limited companies incorporated in Pakistan.
Husnain
Textile Mills, incorporated in 2004, is engaged in the manufacturing and sale
of yarn. Similarly, HAFL, incorporated in 2006, operates in the same line of
business. Both entities are active in the textile sector, specifically within
the yarn production segment.
The
Commission, in its review of the proposed transaction, identified the relevant
market as “Yarn Cotton Polyester” within Pakistan.
Upon
evaluation, the Commission concluded that the transaction does not result in a
substantial lessening of competition.
The
parties’ combined market share remains limited, and the merger neither creates
nor strengthens a dominant position in the relevant market. Moreover, the
transaction does not give rise to any significant entry barriers.
Accordingly,
the CCP has authorized the proposed merger under Section 31 of the Competition
Act, 2010.
BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) — China’s first 8K movie shot in space, titled “SHENZHOU 13,” is set to premiere nationwide on Sept. 5, China Media Group (CMG) has announced with the release of a trailer.
The movie features footage captured by Shenzhou-13 astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu. The story is based on the crew’s six-month orbital mission in the country’s space station, according to the CMG.
The movie, largely told from Wang’s perspective, showcases never-before-seen cosmic vistas and intimate glimpses of life aboard the space station. As China’s first space-based film project, it was shot using fully domestically developed 8K ultra-high-definition cameras.
The creative team, working alongside aerospace engineers, overcame significant challenges, including rocket vibration tests, space environment simulations and adapting equipment for safe charging and storage within the space station. The specialized filming equipment was delivered to the space station via the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft in 2021.
On Oct. 16, 2021, the Shenzhou-13 mission sent three taikonauts to China’s space station core module for a six-month stay. During their mission, the crew members performed extravehicular activities twice and delivered two live classes from the space station. The mission marked China’s completion of the verification of key technologies used on the space station. ■
The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) on Wednesday appreciated by 01 paisa against the US Dollar (USD) in the interbank trading and closed at Rs. 281.95 against the previous day’s closing of Rs. 281.96.
The price of the Euro decreased by 91 paisa to close at Rs. 328.33 against the last day’s closing of Rs. 329.24, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The Japanese yen remained unchanged and closed at Rs1.90, while the exchange rate of the British Pound witnessed a decrease of 20 paisa to close at Rs. 380.81 against the last day’s closing of Rs. 381.01.
The exchange rates of the Emirates Dirham and the Saudi Riyal remained stagnant at Rs. 76.76 and Rs. 75.13, respectively.
