GRIF MAG

Pakistanis joining a growing list of countries acting as go-betweens for the United States andIran, four sources told NBC News, with two of those sources saying an in-person meeting could be held in the coming days in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

A diplomatic source said Pakistan is in conversations with both the U.S. and Iran and is "well poised to play an active role" in discussions to end the war, which has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced millions as it enters its fourth week. A Gulf official said Pakistan had been passing messages between the two countries for the past two days.

For the first time since the conflict began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, PresidentDonald Trumpsaid Monday that the U.S. and Iran had held "very good and productive conversations" and that the discussions would "continue throughout the week." Theannouncementwas an about-face from the president'sstark ultimatumover the weekend demanding that Iranreopen the Strait of Hormuzwithin 48 hours or the U.S. would "obliterate" the country's power plants.

"We're doing a five-day period. We'll see how that goes, and if it goes well, we're going to end up with settling this," Trump told reporters of his decision to postpone U.S. strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure. "Otherwise, we'll keep bombing our little hearts out."

Senior Iranian officials including Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf,deniedMonday that negotiations were taking place and accused Trump of trying to "manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the U.S. and Israel are trapped."

But Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acknowledged to official news agency IRNA that Iran had received messages in recent days from "certain friendly states conveying the U.S. request for negotiations to end the war," and that appropriate responses had been given.

Pakistan, which isembroiled in its own deadly conflictwith neighboringAfghanistan, is one of at least three countries — along with Turkey and Egypt — that are acting as intermediaries between the U.S. and Iran, according to a source familiar with the diplomatic efforts.

Iran's effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route along its southern coast that carries about a fifth of the world's oil, has beendevastating for Asia, and especially Pakistan. The South Asian country of about 260 million people relies on Gulf states for the vast majority of its crude oil imports andalmost all of its liquified natural gas.

A Middle East diplomat who has been briefed on the possible indirect negotiations between the U.S. and Iran said that "there are talks about talks" and that there might be a meeting in Islamabad.

Advertisement

Asked about a potential meeting between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan, the diplomatic source said diplomacy was in "full swing" but that there were multiple proposals and nothing had been confirmed.

The White House did not confirm whether Pakistan was acting as an intermediary with Iran.

"These are sensitive diplomatic discussions and the U.S. will not negotiate through the press," press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. "This is a fluid situation, and speculation about meetings should not be deemed as final until they are formally announced by the White House."

Pakistani Prime MinisterShehbaz Sharifspoke with Iranian PresidentMasoud Pezeshkianon Monday and "conveyed his serious concern over the dangerous ongoing hostilities in the Gulf region."

"In view of this grave situation, the Prime Minister underscored the urgent need to work collectively for de-escalation and a return to dialogue and diplomacy amongst all the neighboring countries to settle their differences," according to areadoutfrom Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"While sharing with the Iranian President the diplomatic outreach efforts of Pakistan's leadership, the Prime Minister assured the Iranian leadership that Pakistan would continue to play a constructive role in facilitating peace in the region," it added.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr. Badr Abdelatty also held separate calls with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday, along with the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar.

"Minister Abdel-Aty stressed during the discussions the importance of restraint and wisdom at this critical juncture," according to areadoutfrom Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "as well as the importance of ensuring the security of maritime navigation and preventing any obstruction of it, in light of its regional and international economic repercussions and its impact on trade, supply chains, and oil and food prices."

On Monday, Trump referred to the discussions between the U.S. and Iran as "preliminary" but expressed optimism that the two sides could reach an agreement.

"I think there's a very good chance we're going to end up in a deal," he said. "And so we're giving it five days, and then we're going to see where that takes us."

GENEVA (AP) — Scientists inGenevaare taking some antiprotons out for a spin — a very delicate one — in a truck, in a never-tried-before test drive.

Switzerland CERN Antiproton Adventure

If this so-called antimatter comes into contact with actual matter — even for a fraction of an instant — it will be annihilated in a quick flash of energy. So experts at theEuropean Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, will, over the course of four hours Tuesday, gingerly wheel out from its lab about 100 antiprotons. They are suspended in a vacuum inside a specially designed box and held in place by supercooled magnets.

Then, they'll ease it into a truck, and take about a half-hour drive to test how — if at all — the infinitesimal particles can be transported by road without seeping out. If all goes well, the antiprotons will be returned back to the lab.

The hard part: Manipulating antimatter, like antiprotons, can be tricky business. As scientists understand the universe today, for every type particle that exists, there is a corresponding antiparticle, exactly matching the particle but with an opposite charge.

If those opposites come into contact, they "annihilate" each other, setting off lots of energy, depending on the masses involved. Any bumps in the road on the test journey that aren't compensated for by the specially-designed box could spoil the whole exercise.

Tuesday's practice is a first step toward making good on hopes, one day, to deliver CERN antiprotons to researchers at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, which is about eight hours away in normal driving conditions.

The antiprotons have been encased in a 1,000-kilogram (2,200 pounds) box called a "transportable antiproton trap." It's compact enough to fit through ordinary laboratory doors and fit on a truck. It uses superconducting magnets cooled to -269 degrees Celsius (-452 Fahrenheit) that allows the antiprotons to be remain suspended in a vacuum — not touching the inner walls, which are made of ... matter.

The mass in Tuesday's test — slightly less than that of about 100 hydrogen atoms — is so little, experts say, that the worst possible outcome is the loss of the antiprotons. Even if they do touch matter, any release of energy would be unnoticeable, only an oscilloscope, which picks up electrical signals, would be able to detect it.

The trap, says CERN spokeswoman Sophie Tesauri, "is supposed to contain these antiprotons no matter what: if the truck stops, if it starts again, if it has to slam on the brakes — all that." Work remains: The trap can contain the antiprotons on its own for only about four hours, and the drive to Düsseldorf is twice that.

Advertisement

The Geneva-based center isbest known for its Large Hadron Collider, a network of magnets that accelerates particles through a 27-kilometer (17-mile) underground tunnel andslams them together at velocitiesapproaching the speed of light. Scientists then study the results of those collisions.

But the sprawling, buzzing complex of scientific experiment is more than just about smashing atoms together: theWorld Wide Web, for example, was invented hereby Britain's Tim Berners-Lee in 1989.

Heinrich Heine University is seen as a better place to study antiprotons in-depth, because CERN — with all its other activities — generates a lot of magnetic interference that can skew the study of antimatter.

But to get them there, those antiprotons will have to avoid touching anything on the way.

The center's Antiproton Decelerator, where a proton beam gets fired into a block of metal, causes collisions that generate secondary particles, including lots of antiprotons. It's billed as a unique machine that produces low-energy antiprotons for the study of antimatter.

CERN's "Antimatter Factory," lab officials say, is the only place in the world where scientists can store and study antiprotons.

The center has been experimenting with antimatter for years, and has made breakthroughs on measurement, storage and interaction of antimatter. Two years ago, the team transported a "cloud" of about 70 protons — not antiprotons — across CERN's campus.

It's a similar drill this time, except that with antiprotons, a much better vacuum chamber is needed, according to Christian Smorra, head of a team behind the apparatus designed to store and transport antimatter.

Jittery test teams weren't available for interviews before the exercise, but were expected to explain the results afterward on Tuesday.

By Stephen Nellis

ORCL

SAN FRANCISCO, March 23 (Reuters) - Oracle is revamping its cloud-based financial software used by large companies to work withartificial intelligenceagents, with a ‌goal of having humans ask the system business questions and letting AI figure ‌out how to find the data.

The changes, which Oracle planned to announce at an event in London on Tuesday ​local time, are part of a broader trend in which providers of highly specialized corporate software are revamping it to be used by AI agents that can carry out tasks on behalf of human users.

Oracle's shares are down about 40% this year as the company has been ‌swept by investor concerns that ⁠AI tools will largely supplant complicated business software. Oracle's executives have argued that the company is embracing AI tools to keep its software ahead ⁠of those changes.

In the latest case, Oracle is updating its Fusion suite of software, which includes core business tasks such as planning production in factories and collecting money from customers.

Steve Miranda, executive vice ​president ​of applications development at Oracle, said the company's ​goal is to make it easier ‌to focus on business questions, such as how to make a new product design cheaper and faster, while minimizing the risks to supply chain disruptions.

The data needed for those decisions, Miranda said, is scattered among the various applications in Oracle's suite and third-party software connected to it. AI will take on tasks such as entering and gathering data and making recommendations, ‌while for human employees there will be more emphasis on ​skills like knowing how to negotiate with suppliers and ​what kind of risk tolerance for ​supply disruption a company has, Miranda said.

"Typing in an invoice isn't a ‌particularly high-value skill to your enterprise or ​to the person you ​know who does that part of their job," Miranda said.

"Decision making is still kind of up to that human and weighing the different pros and cons of that ​case. But certainly the ‌execution, the typing of the invoices, the typing of the purchase order, that is ​what is going to be replaced in whole in AI."

(Reporting by Stephen ​Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

BTS performed for 1,000 top Spotify listeners at an intimate rooftop event in New York City

NEED TO KNOW

• The group performed songs from their new album ARIRANG, their first release since completing mandatory military service

• ARIRANG sold nearly 4 million copies on its first day and BTS will kick off a global tour of the same name starting April 9

BTS just performed in the U.S. for the first time in four years to a very special crowd.

The K-pop superstars teamed up with Spotify to host Spotify x BTS: SWIMSIDE, an invitation-only event, performance and Q&A for 1,000 of the group's top listeners on the streaming platform. The immersive experience at New York City's South Street Seaport marked BTS's first performance in the States since their Permission to Dance: Las Vegas concerts in April 2022.

The event saw fans "step into the world of BTS'sARIRANG," their new album, released March 20, with an immersive experience on a rooftop with views of the Brooklyn Bridge and tall ships reminiscent of the one in their latestmusic video.

"It's really an honor for us to do our first stage in America here," RM, the group's leader said during a Q&A moderated by Suki Waterhouse "Thanks to Spotify for giving us this chance. And thank you for being together again with us. It's been four years but now we're here. We seven, and with you all, ARMY [the group's fandom name]. We, with you, can take over the world."

The seven members — RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook — played a game of "Normal vs Alien" (the names of two of their new songs) before treating fans, who weathered chilly temperatures and rain showers, to a mini performance.

Advertisement

SWIMSIDE was a unique opportunity for fans to see BTS in a relatively intimate environment, far from the crowds of more than 60,000 that will be filling their upcoming 80-plus stadium shows starting next month.

The hip-hop track "2.0," a nod to the beginning of BTS's second chapter, got temperatures rising as the energetic crowd jumped around, light sticks in hand. The anthemic "NORML" proved it's worthy of a stadium as it turned into a giant, arm-waving sing-along. And their current single, "SWIM," rounded out the set, ending on a heartfelt note of connection.

This album marks a major comeback for BTS, who paused their group activities in 2022 in order for the members to complete South Korea's mandatory military service and pursue solo activities. The final members were discharged in June 2025 and they all spent the following months working on a new album in Seoul and Los Angeles alongside collaborators including Diplo, who was in the crowd at SWIMSIDE, plus Mike WiLL Made-It, and Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, among others.

On March 21, they debuted the album with a global concert event,BTS The Comeback Live: ARIRANG, which was live-streamed to 190 countries on Netflix from South Korea's Gwanghwamun Square, where over 100,000 people reportedly attended in person. The set highlighted classics and new songs, including "SWIM," an alternative pop track, which they released alongside acinematic music video starringRiverdale's Lili Reinhardt.

ARIRANG, which is named after a beloved Korean folk song, sold nearly 4 million copies on the first day of its release, according to Hybe, BTS's record label. The ARIRANG tour kicks off in Goyang, South Korea, on April 9 before heading to the U.S. on April 25, followed by dates in Europe, then Asia and Australia into 2027.

Read the original article onPeople

Sienna Miller said she thinks "being pregnant in your 40s is the best" in a new interview

NEED TO KNOW

• Miller is expecting her third baby, and her second with boyfriend Oli Green

• She revealed she froze her eggs when she was in her 30s but "didn't use them"

Sienna Milleris opening up about experiencing her third pregnancy in her 40s.

Miller, 44, opened up about why she thinks "being pregnant in your 40s is the best" in a new interview published inGlamour. "Having had a baby at 29, and then having a baby at 42, and now 44, it's so much easier when you don't have the conflict of feeling scattered and like you want to be doing X, Y, Z," Miller told the outlet.

"If I'm in bed at 9 p.m. with a book, I'm so happy now," Miller continued. "And now I've got the excuse to do it. Life is in a more grounded space. I think the 30s are chaos. You're like, 'I want to settle down. I want kids.'"

Miller is currently expecting her third baby, and second with boyfriendOli Green.

TheAnatomy of a Scandalactress went on to discuss embracing a more relaxed philosophy as she entered her 40s, and how it went into her decision to have her third baby.

"But by the time you hit 40, you're like, 'I kind of know who I am. I don't really give a s--t about what anyone else thinks,'" Miller said. "I'm a much more grounded human."

The model and actress then posed a poignant question.

"We don't judge men who are having kids in their 80s," Miller said. "Why on earth is there any sort of narrative?"

Advertisement

Miller also shared that she was glad she froze her eggs, even though she "didn't use them."

"I was really fortunately able just to get pregnant, but it was an existential relief having done that in my late 30s," Miller added of conceiving her third baby.

On March 20, the21 Bridgesactress returned to Instagram following an 8-year-hiatus, with a post in which she showed off her baby bump.

Miller initially debuted her baby bump at the 2025 Fashion Awards in London at the Royal Albert Hall as she walked the red carpet in December 2025.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE'sfree daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

This is the third baby for Miller, who welcomed a daughter with Green, 29, at the end of 2023, and is also mom to daughter Marlowe, 13, whom she shares with ex Tom Sturridge.

A rep for Miller did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment at the time.

Read the original article onPeople