India’s star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra predictably won gold in his first competition at home in three years, but refused to read too much into his below-par 82.27 metre throw as he prepares to defend his Olympic title in Paris. Chopra began his season with a second-place finish at the Diamond League meeting in Doha on Friday, immediately dashing home to compete in the Federation Cup in the east Indian city of Bhubaneswar. Chopra sealed the top of the podium with his fourth attempt and did not take the final two throws in his first home contest since winning India’s…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
It would not be Pakistan cricket if it were elaborate, calculated, and structured. There has to be an element of uncertainty. It is, after all, that “mercurial” tag that makes Pakistan cricket so intoxicating. How else would you define a side that suffered a shocking loss to a team that rarely plays against bigger nations and, despite all its promise, ranked outside the top 10 in the format before pouncing back with dominating wins following a template it vowed not to? Pakistan’s cricket discourse has been (and will continue to be until the T20 World Cup next month) dominated by numbers. Numbers that reflect…
ISLAMABAD: The government has formally sought about a 25 per cent increase in the base national electricity tariff to become effective from July 1, 2025, to secure a revenue requirement of about Rs4 trillion in FY25 for power companies. The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has called a public hearing on May 23 to examine a petition filed by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) of the Power Division on behalf of power companies seeking an increase of Rs4.40 to Rs6.51 per unit in the overall power purchase price (PPP) for FY25. The CPPA, acting as a commercial agent…
ISLAMABAD: The country’s large-scale manufacturing (LSM) sector recorded a consistent growth for the fourth consecutive month with a 2.04 per cent increase in March compared to the same period last year, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. The quantum index of LSM industries was 115.53 points in March this year, while it stood at 113.21 in the same month last year. However, the index for March contracted 9.35pc from February 2024 — 127.44 points. The annual change in the LSM index has been mostly positive since August, when it rose 0.26pc. Before that the…
ISLAMABAD: As the Centre prepares the federal budget, set to be presented next month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed the authorities concerned to take all provincial governments on board so that the document could be finalised through mutual consultation. The prime minister expressed these views during a meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at the PM House. The prime minister said the Centre will help address the problems confronting the provinces. In a separate meeting, the PM emphasised the need to ensure that PSDP aligns with the annual development programmes of the provinces. He also the…
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was publicly challenged on Wednesday about plans for the Gaza Strip by his own defence chief, who vowed to oppose any long-term military rule by Israel over the ravaged Palestinian enclave. The televised statement by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant marked the most vocal dissent from within Israel’s top echelon against Netanyahu during a seven-month-old and multi-front conflict that has set off political fissures at home and abroad. Netanyahu hinted, in a riposte which did not explicitly name Gallant, that the retired admiral was making “excuses” for not yet having destroyed Hamas in a conflict…
ISLAMABAD: As dengue has been spreading in a number of countries across the world, a new vaccine for the mosquito-borne disease has received pre-qualification from the World Health Organisation (WHO). “TAK-003 is the second dengue vaccine to be pre-qualified by WHO. Developed by Takeda, a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company, it is a live-attenuated vaccine containing weakened versions of the four serotypes of the virus that cause dengue,” a statement issued by WHO said. The world health body has recommended the use of vaccine in children aged 6–16 years in settings with high dengue burden and transmission intensity. The vaccine should…
WASHINGTON: Incumbent President Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreed on Wednesday to hold the first presidential debate in June. The Democrat president challenged his rival to “make my day” and the scandal-plagued Republican promptly responded that he was ready to “rumble.” CNN announced it plans to host the first debate on the 27 of June, in Atlanta (Georgia). Biden proposed a second debate in September and Trump accepted. Joe Biden, who is now aged 81, had set out ‘his own terms’ for the debates with ‘political showman’ Trump. The terms relate to the time limits for speakers and the fact…
TEHRAN: Iran’s parliament approved changes to the working week for all government employees on Wednesday that would establish a 40-hour working week with a Friday-Saturday weekend. The legislation, which still requires a green light from constitutional watchdog the Guardian Council, would replace the existing 44-hour working week with a half-day Thursday and a full-day off Friday. The change had been hotly debated, and 136 lawmakers voted in favour with 66 against and three abstentions, the official IRNA news agency said. Lawmaker Mohsen Pirhadi told parliament on Wednesday that leading cleric Ayatollah Javadi Amoli had raised no objection to Saturday as a weekend…
NEW DELHI: India granted citizenship on Wednesday to a first batch of 14 people under a controversial law that has been criticised for discriminating against Muslims, midway through general elections in which religious divisions have taken centre stage. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) grants citizenship to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians who fled to India from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec 31, 2014 because of religious persecution. Enacted in 2019, the law was not immediately implemented due to strong protests and sectarian violence in New Delhi and other places that resulted in the death of scores of people. India implemented…
