DHAKA: Sikandar Raza and Brian Bennett hit half-centuries as Zimbabwe secured an eight-wicket consolation victory over Bangladesh in the final Twenty20 Inte­rnational in Dhaka on Sunday to avoid a 5-0 whitewash. Captain Raza hit an unbeaten 72 off 46 to guide Zimbabwe to 158-2 after they restricted Bangladesh, who won the first four matches of the series, to 157-6. Bennett …

DUBLIN: Belligerent half-centuries by Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Rizwan steered Pakistan to a series-levelling seven-wicket victory over Ireland in the second T20 International here at Castle Avenue on Sunday. Chasing a testing 194, the tourists came home in just 16.5 overs as Fakhar and Rizwan — named player-of-the-match — combined for a match-winning partnership, with some luck, to help their team square …

HYDERABAD: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has ruled out any change in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, saying neither the federal government nor any other official has discussed any such amendment. He made these remarks while talking to reporters at the Hyderabad Press Club on Sunday. When asked about reports of an IMF suggestion to renegotiate the resource distribution formula among provinces, …

ISLAMABAD: As unaffordable power supplies affect demand and push consumers out of the nati­onal grid, question marks are being raised over the procurement of imported coal for power plants in the long term despite the government’s and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) overall policy direction for localisation and import substitution. The power plants are getting into long-term coal import — …

Bullish momentum continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday as shares gained more than 700 points. The benchmark KSE-100 index was up by 788.56 points, or 1.08 per cent, at 1:55pm, reaching 73,874.06 points from the previous close of 73,085.50 points. Finally, the index closed at 73,799.1, up by 713.61 points from the previous close. During intraday trade, …

TORONTO: The season’s first major wildfire continued to burn across Western Canada as firefighters tamed the fast-spreading blaze while authorities evacuated a town in British Columbia and advised residents of an oil hub in Alberta to prepare to leave. Alberta said the wildfire was extreme and out of control, located 16 km (9.94 miles) southwest of Fort McMurray and spread …

PORT SUDAN: Clashes reignited between the Sudanese army and rival paramilitaries earlier this week in the key Darfur town of El-Fasher, the United Nations said on Sunday, killing at least 27 people in one day. Eyewitnesses have reported air strikes, artillery fire and machine gun clashes battering the city since Friday, when an hours-long battle left an estimated 850 people …

WASHINGTON: The first patient to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant died, two months after the procedure, the US hospital that carried it out said. “Mass General is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Mr Rick Slayman. We have no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant,” the Boston hospital said. In a world first, surgeons …

TANAH DATAR: At least 34 people were killed and 16 more were missing in western Indonesia after flash floods and cold lava flow from one of the archipelago’s most active volcanos damaged homes, roads and mosques, officials said on Sunday. Hours of heavy rain caused flooding in Agam and Tanah Datar districts in West Sumatra province on Saturday evening, threatening …

MOSCOW: At least seven people were killed and 17 injured when a whole section of an apartment building in Belgorod collapsed after being hit by a missile fired by Ukraine, Russian officials said. In one of the deadliest attacks to date on the region of Belgorod, Ukraine launched what Russian officials said was a massive missile attack with Tochka ballistic …