GALLE: Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith both hit centuries to give Australia opening day honours against a Covid-hit Sri Lanka in the second Test here at the Galle International Stadium on Friday. The tourists reached 298 for five at stumps after electing to bat first in their bid to clinch the two-match series in Galle. Smith, on 109, and wicket-keeper/batsman …

Top seed Novak Djokovic set up a blockbuster Wimbledon final against Nick Kyrgios after recovering from a torrid start to overwhelm Britain’s Cameron Norrie 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 on Friday. For an hour on a sun-baked Centre Court, inspired ninth seed Norrie outshone the 20-time Grand Slam champion and looked capable of a huge upset in his first major semi-final. …

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and France footballing legend Michel Platini were both cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court on Friday after a seven-year investigation during which they were booted out of the sport. A judge said the pair’s account of a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ for FIFA to pay Platini 2 million Swiss francs ($2.05 million) for consulting work …

KARACHI: Despite the unbearable longer duration of electricity load-shedding across the country, the sales of household power machines remained depressed mainly due to high prices and low gas pressure in addition to shrinking purchasing power amid skyrocketing food and utility prices. In contrast, the imports of power generating machines rose to $113 million in May against $79.5m in April. However, …

KARACHI: Trading on the stock market in the outgoing week commenced on a negative note amid concerns over the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme, according to Arif Habib Ltd. Moreover, the exchange rate in the local currency gained Rs3.06 against the dollar to close the week at Rs207.91. Other market-moving news stories included the cement off-take …

ISLAMABAD: Taking note of the large number of complaints against the digital lending platforms, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has decided to take strict actions against fintechs in case of leakage of their clients’ data and the complaints will be inquired into on a regular basis. The SECP has directed digital lending non-banking finance companies (NBFC) to …

ISLAMABAD: More than half of the surveyed households reported a reduction in income, high food and fuel prices, sickness or death in their households in 28 districts in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), according to results of a household survey carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. The survey results, released on Friday, …

KARACHI: The massive hikes in the interest rate in recent months have had no impact on the exchange rate as the demand for dollars by the importers remained robust which kept the local currency under constant pressure. The State Bank of Pakistan has been delivering policy rate increases since September 2021 with a key objective to check the surging inflation …

Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla and the world’s richest person, has said he was terminating his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter because the social media company had breached multiple provisions of the merger agreement. Twitter’s chairman, Bret Taylor, said on the micro-blogging platform that the board planned to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. “The Twitter …

WASHINGTON: The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) said on Friday the first cosmic images from the James Webb Space Teles­cope would include unprecedented views of distant galaxies, bright nebulae and a faraway giant gas planet. The US, European and Canadian space agencies are gearing up for a big revelation on July 12 of early observations by the $10 …