Pakistan batter Bismah Maroof was on Monday appointed the captain of the Pakistan cricket team for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup as the selection committee announced the tournament squad. The announcement from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) noted that this would mark her return to international cricket after two years as she took a break for the birth of her first child in December 2020. Maroof had confirmed her availability last month and was already being reintegrated into cricketing activities as well as resuming fitness sessions. “It is a great honour for me to lead my country into another World Cup. I am…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
Pakistan pace bowler Shaheen Afridi was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Player of the Year on Monday for his “sizzling spells, sheer display of pace and swing and some magical moments”, while captain Babar Azam was crowned as the ODI Cricketer of the Year by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for his “match-winning knocks, spell-binding stroke-play and memorable moments” in 2021. Azam beat Bangladesh’s Shakib al Hasan, South Africa’s Janneman Malan and Ireland’s Paul Stirling to bag the title and Shaheen was in competition with England’s Joe Root, teammate Mohammad Rizwan and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.…
India’s cricket pundits on Monday called for changes in the team after South Africa’s one-day series whitewash following Virat Kohli’s exit as skipper. India lost their third and final ODI by four runs in Cape Town to end a disappointing tour that also saw the tourists lose the Test series 2-1. Quinton de Kock’s 124 set up a tense win in the final 50-over match, which followed two emphatic victories for the hosts. “Huge for South Africa. Huge. And very well played. Proper post-mortem for India now,” commentator Harsha Bhogle wrote on Twitter. KL Rahul captained the ODI side in the absence of white-ball…
Contrary claims have emerged over construction activities in the country as constructors and builders paint a gloomy picture while the State Bank of Pakistan (SPB) paints a rosy scenario given 85 per cent growth in construction and housing finance in 2021. The decline in local cement despatches to 4.057 million tonnes in December 2021 from 4.124m tonnes in November 2021 as well as sliding imports of iron and steel scrap used in the manufacturing of steel bars in July-December 2021-22, signal the dwindling pace of construction activities. Former chairman of Constructors Association of Pakistan (CAP), Engr Syed Ashfaq Hussain said…
In six months and 20 days of the current fiscal year (between July 1, 2021, and Jan 20, 2022,) the rupee has lost 12 per cent value against the US dollar. On June 30 last year, the rupee closed at 157.54 per dollar in the interbank market; On Jan 19, 2022, it finished the day’s trading at 176.49. A rising trend in international fuel oil prices has made exchange rate management all the more challenging for Pakistan, already struggling to contain its current account deficit. The country reported about $9.092 billion current account deficit for July-Dec 2021, against a $1.247bn…
KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday arrested Mumtaz Hasan, founder of the Hascol Petroleum Limited (HPL), in a Rs54 billion scam. Director of the agency’s Sindh Zone Amir Farooqi said a total of 30 suspects — including present and former top officials of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), HPL and other organisations — had been booked in the case and that efforts were under way to arrest the remaining suspects. The FIA Sindh’s chief described the scam as the “country’s biggest financial fraud” that was committed by the HPC in connivance with the NBP’s top management and…
ISLAMABAD: Around 15 oil marketing companies (OMCs) are reported to have imported over 2.4 billion litres of petrol from China in two years earning a windfall of more than Rs20bn because of a special arrangement allowed under the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA). These OMCs have reported to the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) through the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) that they had imported about 2.416bn litres of petrol (motor gasoline) from China between January 1, 2020 and January 1, 2022. They were not required to pay 10 per cent customs duty on these imports under the CPFTA unlike…
BRUSSELS: Police fired water cannon and tear gas on Sunday at stone-throwing protesters after tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through Brussels against Covid-19 rules. Authorities estimated that around 50,000 people paraded through the Belgian capital — the largest in a spate of protests in the city over the past months. Clashes broke out close to the headquarters of the European Union as police used water cannon and tear gas to push back protesters hurling paving stones and firecrackers. News outlet RTL reported that masked demonstrators had smashed a glass entrance to the office of the EU’s foreign policy agency. The…
DUBAI: Using Iranian bank funds freed from American sanctions, South Korea has paid Iran’s $18 million in delinquent dues owed to the United Nations, Seoul said on Sunday. The step was apparently approved by Washington to restore Tehran’s suspended voting rights at the world body. The South Korean Foreign Ministry said Seoul had paid the sum using Iranian assets frozen in the country after consulting with the United States Treasury a potential signal of flexibility amid floundering nuclear negotiations. The ministry said it expected Iran’s voting rights to be restored immediately after their suspension earlier this month for delinquent dues.…
JERUSALEM: Israel’s cabinet approved on Sunday the launch of a state investigation into an affair involving the purchase of submarines and other warships from Germany, a case that has embroiled close confidants of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The graft scandal surrounds a possible conflict of interest and bribery involving a $2 billion purchase of naval vessels from Germany’s Thyssenkrupp that implicated some of Netanyahu’s closest associates. The former prime minister was questioned, but not named as a suspect, in the scandal, referred to in Hebrew as Case 3000. The Cabinet authorised establishing a state investigation into the case by…
