IPOH: Pakistan extended their impressive start at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, winning their second successive game by overwhelming South Korea in a dominant 4-0 victory on Sunday. A day after overcoming Malaysia 5-4 in the opener, Pakistan had four different scorers against Korea including last game’s hat-trick hero Sufyan Khan. Abdul Hanan Shahid opened the scoring with a solo effort in the third minute, going past six opposition players in a dazzling run before flicking the ball to the right of goalkeeper Kim Jaehyeon. “The goal that I scored was a team effort,” Hannan said afterwards. “I would not have…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
McLaren’s Lando Norris capitalised on a bit of good fortune to win the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, holding off Red Bull’s triple world champion Max Verstappen for his first Formula One victory. It was a long overdue triumph for the Briton who held the record for most podiums without a win — 15 — having finished runner-up an agonising eight times in 110 grand prix. Verstappen seemed well placed to claim a fifth win in six races until a midway crash allowed McLaren to cash in on a safety car period, with Norris pitting and coming out with the…
The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 index rose by 860 points on Monday amid a visit by a Saudi investment delegation. According to the PSX website, the KSE-100 index gained 862.15 points, or 1.2 per cent, to close at 72,764.24 from the previous close of 71,902.09. The index has surged 73.4pc over the past year and is up 12.9pc year-to-date. A Saudi delegation arrived in Islamabad on Sunday for talks on trade and investment opportunities, particularly in the exploration and production sectors. Adnan Sheikh, assistant vice president at Pak Kuwait Investment Company, said the market was up following news of the delegation’s…
ISLAMABAD: While the markup and dividend earnings of the federal government from the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) more than doubled in the first three quarters (July-March) of the current fiscal year, the provinces are unlikely to deliver the promised Rs600 billion cash surplus to the Centre if past trends are any indication. The government has collected about Rs227bn on account of markup from loans extended to the SOEs in the first nine months (July-March) compared to just Rs85bn a year ago, a rise of almost 170pc. Likewise, the dividend from government shareholding in various SOEs and privatised entities amounted to Rs64bn…
The ongoing protests by farmers against the government’s wheat procurement policy have triggered a debate. Some question why the government persists with a controlled wheat marketing system despite its widespread recognition as a failure, particularly in supporting smallholders, who make up over 90 per cent of the total farmers. It is pertinent to mention that this large-scale procurement, often relying on unsustainable commercial borrowing at high interest, is usually justified in the name of smallholders or national food security, especially when the announced wheat support price exceeds the international price, as in 2024. Every year, the government’s intervention in wheat procurement begins…
JERUSALEM: The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Sunday that Israeli authorities had barred him from entering Gaza for a second time since the Israeli aggression started on October 7. “Just this week, they have denied — for the second time — my entry to Gaza where I planned to be with our UNRWA colleagues including those on the front lines,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Lazzarini has been to Gaza four times since the war broke out including on March 17. “The Israeli authorities continue to deny humanitarian access to the United…
KYIV: Russian strikes on the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv killed three people and wounded at least a dozen more, officials said on Sunday. These latest attacks came as Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Russia celebrated Easter, and as Moscow said its forces had captured another village on the battlefield. “In Pokrovsk, rocket attacks killed two people and damaged a house,” Vadim Filashkin, Ukraine’s governor of the Donetsk region, said in a post on Telegram. Pokrovsk is around 60 kilometres (35 miles) northwest of Donetsk city, the Russian-held capital of the region which Moscow claims to have annexed.…
WASHINGTON: A driver died after crashing a car into the exterior gate of the White House late on Saturday, the US Secret Service said. “Shortly before 10:30pm a vehicle traveling at a high speed collided with an outer perimeter gate on the White House complex,” the service said in a statement on social media platform X, adding there was “no threat” to the White House itself. Officers arriving at the scene “attempted to render aid to the driver who was discovered deceased,” the statement said. The Secret Service, along with the police and fire departments of the District of Columbia,…
NEW DELHI: Afghanistan’s top diplomat in India resigned days after she was reportedly caught by airport authorities smuggling nearly $2 million worth of gold into the country. Zakia Wardak, the Afghan consul-general in India’s financial capital Mumbai, posted a statement on social media platform X announcing her resignation. Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi shut down in November, more than two years after the Taliban returned to power in Kabul following the collapse of the Western-backed government, leaving Wardak as the country’s most senior representative in India. “It is with great regret that I announce my decision to step away from…
PARIS: President Xi Jinping lauded China’s ties with France as an international model on Sunday as he arrived in Paris for a rare visit against a backdrop of mounting trade disputes with the EU. French President Emmanuel Macron is set to urge Xi to reduce trade imbalances and to use his influence with Russia over the war in Ukraine. China’s President is due to meet Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday. Xi, who was welcomed in Paris by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, said in a statement released on his arrival that ties between China and…
