ARENBERG: Simon Clarke of Israel Premier Tech won stage five of the Tour de France on Wednesday in a photo finish after a 157km run from Lille to Arenberg featuring 20km of cobbled mining roads. Belgium’s Wout van Aert of Jumbo retained his overall leader’s yellow jersey despite a nasty fall, but his teammate Primoz Roglic lost around two minutes …

HOOFDDORP: Global football players union FIFPRO has warned footballers about the risks of signing for clubs in China, Turkey, Greece and several other countries due to “systematic and widespread contractual violations”. China’s football association said in April clubs who failed to settle all outstanding wages by Dec 31 would be relegated or expelled, with Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic the latest team …

LONDON: Former champion Simona Halep said she is playing her “best tennis” as she set up a Wimbledon semi-final clash with Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina on Wednesday. Halep, the 2019 winner, comfortably reached her third semi-final at the All England Club with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Amanda Anisimova of the United States. Russian-born Rybakina became the first player representing Kazakhstan …

LAHORE: Expressing strong reservations over the way the new role of national junior team manager was given to him by the Pakistan Hockey Federation, former Olympian Manzoor Junior on Wednesday parted ways with the PHF. Talking to Dawn after the PHF issued a press release earlier on Wednesday announcing him as manager of the national junior team and appointing Kaleemullah …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) governing board on Wednesday decided to vacate the Liaquat Gymnasium of the Pakistan Sports Complex where Rangers personnel have been staying for over a month. Recently, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) directed the PSB to get the gymnasium vacated emphasising sports facilities are meant for sports only. It is relevant …

KARACHI: Oil production declined three per cent year-on-year in 2021-22 to 73,420 barrels per day (bpd). Lower production from Nashpa, Adhi and Makori East oil fields besides no addition of any sizable oil field led to the annual decline in oil production, according to Topline Securities analyst Mehroz Khan. Similarly, gas production went down 2pc year-on-year to 3,388 million cubic …

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has developed an online portal called the SBP Regulatory Approval System (RAS) to enable regulated entities (i.e. banks, electronic money institutions, payment system operators, payment service providers, etc.) to submit cases or proposals and receive regulatory decisions digitally. The SBP said on Wednesday that in order to promote digitalisation and encourage eco-friendly practices, …

KARACHI: The US dollar continued its upward drive for the second consecutive day against the rupee and gained another Rs1.05 to Rs207.99 in the interbank market on Wednesday. The dollar has absolute domination in the currency market but the inflow of $2.3bn from China on June 23 changed the scenario as the rupee recovered Rs4.70 in a single session to …

KARACHI: The federal government’s budgetary borrowing for the fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22) was more than 85pc higher than the previous year, while the private sector borrowing from banks jumped by 142pc. The latest data from the State Bank of Pakistan shows that the government’s budgetary borrowing exceeded by Rs1226 billion, or 85.4pc, to Rs2661bn during the fiscal year FY22 (up …