BARCELONA: Real Madrid averted a crisis in the best way possible on Saturday by beating Barcelona 3-1 in the first empty Clasico, landing an early blow in La Liga’s title race. Barca had the chance to inflict a third consecutive defeat on their rivals and increase the pressure on Zinedine Zidane. Instead, Real’s win earns them a six-point lead over …

JOHANNESBURG: Acting president Beresford Williams and five other Cricket South Africa (CSA) board members resigned on Sunday, two days ahead of a deadline threatening intervention from the country’s sports minister. The resignations were annou­nced in a series of tweets on CSA’s official Twitter account. The organisation has been in disarray since chief executive Thabang Moroe was suspended last Dece­mber, prompting calls …

KARACHI: For the first time in their history, Karachi United went into a Pakistan Football Federation (PFFL) match with their destiny in their own hands. This was their chance to fulfill their long-time ambition. This just had to be their time. Since 2014, the club — founded in 1996 — has failed to earn promotion to the top-flight Pakistan Premier …

PORTIMAO: Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton became the most successful Formula One driver of all time in terms of race wins on Sunday with a dominant 92nd career victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver, who took the chequered flag a huge 25.592 seconds ahead of second-placed team-mate Valtteri Bottas, had equalled Ferrari great Michael Schumacher’s record 91 …

KARACHI: The opening day of any major sporting competition brings renewed hope of building on improvement from the previous season. But Central Punjab’s defence of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy cricket title on Sunday got off on a note of despondency against the cut and swerve of Tabish Khan. Elsewhere in the city, Southern Punjab were in full control already after dismissing last …

Increasing wheat imports along with those of tea, palm oil, spices and sugar caused a whopping jump of 56 per cent in the country’s food import bill in the first quarter of 2020-21. It amounted to $1.71 billion in the three-month period. In 2019-20, the food import bill plunged 4.31pc to $5.42bn. In September alone, the food import bill stood …

LAHORE: The Orange Line Metro Train, the country’ first electricity-run mass transit project, was inaugurated on Sunday with the ruling PTI and opposition squabbling over the credit. Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Chinese Consul General Long Dingbin and Transport Minister Jahanzeb Khan Khichi jointly inaugurated the project by pressing a button, allowing Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMTA) to start …

ISLAMABAD: The Natio­nal Assembly will organise a two-day seminar beginning on Monday titled “Pakistan-Afghanistan Trade and Investment Forum 2020” to explore opportunities to boost trade and investment between the two countries. Prime Minister Imran Khan will speak at the seminar as the chief guest. Others who will speak on the occasion include NA Speaker Asad Qaiser, Adviser to PM on …

SEOUL: Lee Kun-Hee, the ailing Samsung Electronics chairman who transformed the small television maker into a global giant of consumer electronics but whose leadership was also marred by corruption convictions, died on Sunday. He was 78. Lee died with his family members by his side, including his only son and Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the company said in a …

ISLAMABAD: The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has found fault with the utilisation of almost Rs3 trillion public funds by the power division, involving huge irregularities, mismanagement, misappropriation and embezzlement. In its report for the audit year 2019-20 that has been laid before the National Assembly after a delay of almost eight months, the AGP also put question marks over …