Finland plans to offer preemptive bird flu vaccination as soon as next week to some workers with exposure to animals, health authorities said on Tuesday, making it the first country in the world to do so. The Nordic country has bought vaccines for 10,000 people, each consisting of two injections, as part of a joint EU procurement of up to 40 million doses for 15 nations from manufacturer CSL Seqirus. The European Commission said Finland would be the first country to roll out the vaccine. “The vaccine will be offered to those aged 18 or over who are at increased…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
Rashid Khan’s rise to become a multi-millionaire cricket superstar began in the most desperate of circumstances as a refugee living in Peshawar. However, as an in-demand franchise cricketer with his box of leg-spin tricks, the 25-year-old has now amassed riches which would have been unimaginable when his family fled the war in Afghanistan. His most recent deal in the money-spinning Indian Premier League earned him an estimated $1.8 million and he boasts homes in Dubai and Sharjah. Now, the Afghanistan captain also finds himself just two wins away from the T20 World Cup title. For the coach who taught him cricket during…
Australian opener Usman Khawaja believes that repeated restructuring in Pakistan cricket could be the cause of their poor performance in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Pakistan were knocked out of the tournament’s group stage for the first time in their history after they lost their two opening games. A stunning super-over humiliation for the Green Team at the hands of the United States was followed by a six-run loss to bitter rivals India in a game where they failed to chase down a paltry 120-run target. Subsequently, after rain distributed equal points in the match between Ireland and the USA, Pakistan were indirectly knocked out…
FRANKFURT: Romania’s Razvan Marin scored a first-half penalty to cancel out Ondrej Duda’s headed goal for Slovakia as the teams played out a 1-1 Euro 2024 Group ‘E’ draw on Wednesday to both reach the last 16. Belgium also qualified for the last 16 after a 0-0 draw with Ukraine, who exited the tournament despite all four teams in Group ‘E’ finishing level on four points. Romania earned top spot on goals scored from Belgium and Slovakia ending third, ahead of Ukraine on goal difference. Belgium go to Duesseldorf and face France on Monday. Romania reached the knockout stages of…
GEORGETOWN: India can take a huge step towards winning their first major title in over a decade and bury any doubts about their backbone in the knockout rounds when they face defending champions England in the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals on Thursday. Despite being backed by the world’s richest cricket board, success on the biggest stage has largely proved elusive for India and their 2013 Champions Trophy triumph is the most recent of their five global titles. Rohit Sharma’s team, however, head into the clash with England in Guyana on a six-match unbeaten streak in the tournament and determined to…
South Africa demolished Afghanistan’s T20 World Cup dream in ruthless fashion on Wednesday, thrashing the minnows by nine wickets with more than 11 overs to spare to reach the final of the cricket showpiece for the first time. Left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3 for 6) and gangling pacer Marco Jansen (3-16) spearheaded the rout of Afghanistan’s brittle batting line-up for just 56 off 11.5 overs after they chose to bat. Fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje maintained the relentless pressure with two wickets apiece at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad. On a surface which encouraged all…
WASHINGTON: Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s biggest cloud computing outfit, is making a major push to entice the public sector to join the artificial intelligence revolution, as the generative AI race with Microsoft and Google heats up. AWS and the other cloud giants say that the technology, made famous by ChatGPT, can have a huge impact on improving public services, including in health, security, charity and NGO work. But getting governments and nonprofits to sign on will be a bigger ask than persuading private companies — and AWS on Wednesday opened a $50 million, two-year envelope for potential public customers to…
ISLAMABAD: The government should have no business doing business, Senate Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani said in an address to a conference on Wednesday. Over 70 presidents of different chambers of commerce and industry, ambassadors and diplomats attended the gathering. In keeping with the “right man right job principle”, the government must play the role of a regulator instead of running businesses and leaving business to businessmen, the Senate chairman said. Mr Gilani claimed that economic indicators had started picking up over the last few months “thanks to the new government’s business-friendly decisions”. He described political stability as unavoidable for ease of…
ISLAMABAD: After four consecutive fortnightly price cuts, the major petroleum products — petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) — are estimated to become costlier by Rs7 and Rs8 per litre, respectively, with effect from July 1 for the next fortnight, mainly because of the higher international market. Informed sources said the prices of petrol and HSD had increased in the international market by about $4.4 and $5.5 per barrel, respectively, in the last fortnight. Depending on the final calculation and existing tax rates, the price of petrol is projected to be Rs7 higher and that of HSD to go up by…
The Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday said that a resolution passed by the US House of Representatives in support of democracy in Pakistan stemmed from an “incomplete understanding” of the country’s political situation and electoral process. In a significant display of bipartisan support, the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution expressing robust support for democracy in Pakistan by an overwhelming 368-7 vote. Lawmakers supporting resolution HR 901, titled ‘Expressing support for democracy and human rights in Pakistan’, claimed that the approval highlighted the United States’ commitment to promoting democratic values globally. The resolution — passed with 85 per cent…
