Washington: Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella called the idea that it is easy to change defaults on computers and smartphones as "bogus" as he took the witness stand on Monday in the U.S. Justice Department's once-in-a-generation antitrust fight with Alphabet's Google.

Nadella was dismissing an argument that Google has made - that it is easy to change defaults on devices. He said that Microsoft, itself a tech powerhouse, had sought to make its Bing search engine the default on Apple smartphones but was rebuffed.

The government has argued that Google, worth more than $1 trillion with some 90% of the search market, illegally paid $10 billion annually to smartphone makers like Apple and wireless carriers like AT&T and others to be the default search engine on their devices.

The clout in search makes Google a heavy hitter in the lucrative advertising market, boosting its profits.

"Changing defaults today is easiest on Windows and toughest on mobile," Nadella said.

"You get up in the morning and you brush your teeth and you search on Google," he added in a reference to Google's dominance in search.

Judge Amit Mehta, who will decide the case being tried in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asked Nadella why Apple would switch to Bing given the Microsoft product's lower quality.

The question suggests Google's argument - that it is dominant because of its quality and not because of illegal activity - has caught the interest of the judge.

Nadella responded that Microsoft had sought to show that Bing engineers would be able to "bridge the quality gap" with access to the number of queries made on Apple smartphones.

Turning to the next big tech market, artificial intelligence, Nadella testified that tech giants' efforts to build large content libraries to train its large language models and build AI "reminds me of the early phases of distribution deals."

"When I am meeting with publishers now, they say Google's going to write this check and it's exclusive and you have to match it," he said.

Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, long after the tech giant had faced its own federal antitrust lawsuit. That court fight, which began in 1998 and ended in a 2001 settlement, forced Microsoft to end some business practices and opened the door to companies like Google.

As Google, which was founded in 1998, became an industry leading search engine, the two became bitter rivals. Both have browsers, search engines, email services and a host of other overlaps. They have recently become rivals in artificial intelligence, with Microsoft investing heavily in OpenAI and Google building the Bard AI chatbot among other investments.

Islamabad: Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani will visit China to participate in the 3rd Trans-Himalaya Forum for International Cooperation, being held in Nyingchi, Tibet Autonomous Region, on October 4-5.

Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, sent a special invitation to the foreign minister, according to a statement released by the foreign office on Monday.

The Trans-Himalaya Forum was established in 2018 to foster greater practical collaboration among the nations in the region on a range of issues, including developing cultural ties, protecting the environment, conserving the environment, and geographical connectivity.

The Forum's most recent in-person gathering took place in 2019. This year's Forum will focus on "Ecological Civilization and Environmental Protection."

The Foreign Office in a statement said during his stay in Tibet, FM Jilani will address the opening ceremony of the Trans-Himalaya Forum.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia, the Foreign Minister of China, and the Interim Foreign Minister of Afghanistan will be among the regional leaders the foreign minister will meet with on the sidelines.

Toronto: A grizzly bear attacked and killed two people and their dog in Alberta's Banff National Park, according to Canadian park officials and a friend of the victims.

Parks Canada said in a statement on Saturday night it had received an alert late Friday from a GPS device indicating a bear attack in the Red Deer River Valley west of Ya Ha Tinda Ranch in Banff National Park.

The bear was later euthanized after it displayed aggressive behavior, the agency said.

The victims were a Canadian couple and their dog, according to Kim Titchener, the founder of Bear Safety and More and also a friend of the family.

Titchener, who provides training on bear safety and bear assessments, said such encounters are increasing as more people head outdoors but fatal attacks are extremely rare.

"It's really just the reason why we're seeing more attacks, which is more people heading outdoors and unfortunately not being educated on this," she said by telephone, adding that only 14% of grizzly bear attacks worldwide lead to fatalities.

Bear sightings increase during autumn as they become more active searching for food ahead of hibernating in the cold winter months.

Banff National Park, which attracts more than four million tourists every year, is home to both grizzly and black bears.

There are about 60 grizzly bears in Banff National Park and are considered to be a threatened population in the Alberta, Titchener noted.

Parks Canada said its rescue team had to travel by ground through the night to the location as weather conditions at the time did not allow for helicopter use.

The response team arrived on-site during the early hours of Saturday where they discovered two deceased individuals, the agency said.

An area closure around Red Deer and Panther valleys has been implemented and will remain in place until further notice, Parks Canada said.

Parks Canada did not immediately respond to queries on identifying the victims.