MELBOURNE: The race that stops a nation also saw tens of thousands of spectators prevented from attending one of the biggest single-day sporting events in Australia. But like a familiar refrain in 2020, blame Covid-19. Irish-bred Twilight Payment, ridden by Jye McNeil and trained by Irishman Joseph O’Brien, gave Australian owner Lloyd Williams his seventh win in the Melbourne Cup. …

DUBAI: Australian all-rounder Shane Watson retired from all forms of cricket on Tuesday, drawing the curtain on an injury-plagued career which he managed to extend by reinventing himself as a journeyman Twenty20 specialist. Watson ended his Test career in 2015 and quit international cricket the next year, surrendering in his battle against a litany of injuries that bedevilled his career. …

The Norwegian makers of Internet browser Opera offered users to pay $9,000 payday for browsing the web for fun for two weeks. The makers said that the selected “Personal Browser” will spend two weeks performing online activities such as hunting for memes, watching cute baby animal videos and researching unusual topics while livestreaming the experience on Opera’s social media channels. …

KARACHI: Brilliant Ibrahim Iltifat outplayed Farhan Altaf 8-2 to win the executive men’s singles title while Zubair Raja outclassed Aqeel Shabbir 8-1 to win coaches singles title and in the ball boys singles category, Dhuruf Das beat Kamran Ahmed 8-4 at the inaugural Rotary Club Sindh Balochistan Executive Tennis Championships which was held at DA Central Club recently. Aziz Memon, …

LONDON: England’s Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran will be rested from the One-day International leg of the 50-over world champions’ tour of South Africa, it was announced on Tuesday. But with the 2021 Twenty20 World Cup on the horizon, the three players were all included in the squad for the three Twenty20s, which start later this month, ahead …

KARACHI: Southern Punjab surged to the top of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy standings after a cool-headed knock from Agha Salman guided them to a four-wicket victory over Balochistan at the National Stadium here on Tuesday. Sindh, meanwhile, lost a golden opportunity of defeating Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after unnecessarily dragging on their second innings at the UBL Sports Complex. In the end their opponents …

HONG KONG: The planned stock market debut of the world’s biggest online finance company, Ant Group, was suspended in Shanghai and Hong Kong on Tuesday, disrupting a record-setting $34.5 billion initial public offering that highlighted China’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The Shanghai stock exchange cited regulatory changes in Ant’s industry and a possible failure to meet disclosure requirements but …

Facebook and Twitter faced tests of the rules they announced to handle premature claims of victory in the United States election as they flagged some of President Donald Trump’s comments on the vote, which remained too close to call. Twitter hid a Trump tweet that said “we are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election” behind a label that …

ISLAMABAD: The government has changed the nominee rules for investors and certificate holders of National Savings Schemes (NSS) on the court orders to ensure payment of dues to ‘legal heirs’ instead of ‘nominated persons’ as required under Muslim Law of Inheritance. The finance ministry on Tuesday said the Sindh High Court (SHC), in its judgement of Aug 23, 2016 had …

ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday signed a $2 million grant agreement with the Asian Development Bank to strengthen efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The grant financed from the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund will help provide life-saving medical supplies, diagnostic and laboratory facilities and other critical equipment for communities affected by the pandemic. Economic Affairs Division Secretary Noor Ahmed …