ANOTHER tournament starts, and with it, hope rises once more in Pakistani hearts. Can they do it, those magnificent men in green? The team of returning king Babar Azam — the team once known for its predictable unpredictability, famous for possessing talents of random genius. The format is short and modern; T20 cricket in the US, which is both an emerging hub and a historic venue for the game — the factoid that cricket has been played there since the early 1700s is oft-quoted. But the odds of Pakistan winning a second T20 trophy are long. The reasons for this…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
LONDON: With just a week to go before Pakistan take on co-hosts United States in their T20 World Cup opener, the Babar Azam-led side are still in a phase of “figuring things out”. Their lingering frailties were magnified once more in their seven-wicket drubbing by England in the fourth and final Twenty20 International at The Oval on Thursday. Pakistan, as it seems, have sorted out the issue of low strike-rates in the powerplay, but their apparent cluelessness in the middle overs have raised question marks over their prospects in the upcoming showpiece in the US and the West Indies. Put into…
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) exceeded its target for May by Rs15.21 billion, driven by higher income tax and import duties collection, according to provisional figures released on Friday. The FBR reduced the tax collection target by almost Rs66bn for May and Rs8 bn for April. The targets were reduced downward to account for the tax amount of last year’s budgetary measures that were blocked in courts in FY24. Revenue collection in May stood at Rs760.21bn against a projected target of Rs745bn. It increased by 32.8pc compared with Rs572.29bn in the corresponding month of last year. These figures will improve…
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday urged the automobile industry to start local manufacturing of vehicles and export a considerable ratio of their products to contribute to national development. The prime minister, talking to a delegation of automobile and auto parts manufacturers, asked them to implement the Auto Sector Deletion Policy and become a part of the global value chain. It may be mentioned that the Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts & Accessories Manufacturers (Paapam) recently published an advertisement in national newspapers, drawing the government’s attention to the struggles of the automobile industry. The association expressed concern that the influx…
PESHAWAR: As part of a plan to check power theft and reduce outages, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to ask consumers using illegal connections (kundas) and defaulters to pay two years of outstanding bills with a three-month upfront payment. The remaining amount will be collected in easy installments, according to officials. They told Dawn that as the federal government had approved the plan, the district administrations and elected representatives would soon begin holding jirgas with power consumers using un-metered electricity and not paying bills. The officials said the formula came after the recent outbursts of provincial Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur…
KARACHI: As the federal government is busy giving finishing touches to its next year’s budget, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Friday sought from the prime minister a comprehensive development package for the metropolis. Speaking at a press conference here, the mayor asked the Centre to come up with development schemes for the business capital of the country and execute them all through the elected local government. He said being the revenue engine of the country and centre of economic activities, the city deserved the same financial assistance from the Centre as “it received from the province”. However, he put forward…
ROME: The United States and Italy are drawing up a plan to exchange a small number of refugees, a Rome source said on Friday, in a reported bid to deter illegal migration. “A reciprocal plan is currently being studied, according to which the US would host refugees present in Libya who want to go to Europe,” a source in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said. At the same time, “some European Mediterranean states would host a few dozen South American refugees”, the source said. The source was responding to a report by CBS News in the United States, which suggested that…
HODEIDA: The United States and Britain carried out air strikes on Yemen in what they said was a bid to degrade their maritime attack capabilities, with Houthi media on Friday reporting 16 killed. The Houthis have been targeting shipping around the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November, citing solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Journalists heard loud explosions in the capital Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida from Thursday night to Friday. Strikes also targeted telecom infrastructure in the town of Taez, the Houthi-controlled Al Masirah television reported. Citing health authorities, the TV station said 16 people…
LONDON: The world’s youngest Nobel laureate and co-founder of the Malala Fund, Malala Yousafzai, announced a new scholarship initiative for Palestinian students at the University of Oxford this week. According to a press statement, the announcement was made during her keynote address at the Oxford Pakistan Programme (OPP) fundraiser dinner, which takes place as the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to escalate due to sustained bombings by Israel. The graduate scholarship for Palestinian students, part of the Refugee Academic Futures Programme at Oxford, aims to break down financial barriers that hinder Palestinian students from accessing educational opportunities Oxford offers.…
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Friday called on Hamas to agree to a new offer from Israel on releasing prisoners in exchange for a Gaza ceasefire, saying this is the best way to begin winding down the deadly conflict. In his first major address outlining a solution to the eight-month conflict, Biden said the proposal started with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza. “It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin,” Biden said in a televised address from the White House, adding that “we can’t lose…
