TOKYO: This summer’s virus-postponed Olympics could be held behind closed doors, Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto said on Friday, pledging to ensure the Games will be safe. Former Olympian Hashimoto said the Games could only be a success if organisers ‘completely protect’ athletes and people in Japan, and that she is hopeful people will ‘be glad’ the event went ahead. …

QUETTA: The Balochistan Assembly on Friday set up a special technical committee to find out details of petroleum exploration blocks awarded to state-run oil and gas companies without taking the province into confidence. Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) lawmaker Sana Baloch, while speaking on a call-attention notice in the provincial assembly on Friday, pointed out that the federal government had allocated …

PALLEKELE: Wicket-keeper/batsman Niroshan Dickwella hit a run-a-ball 64 not out in the second Test to help Sri Lanka reach 469-6 at stumps on the second day against Bangladesh at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Friday. Sri Lanka had lost two wickets in successive overs with its first-innings score on 382 but Dickwella’s knock wrestled back the initiative. Dickwella, an …

ISLAMABAD: Information and Broadcasting Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Friday announced that England’s cricket team would visit Pakistan later this year. In a Twitter posting via @fawadchaudhry following a meeting with British High Commissioner Christian Turner, the minister said: “Lovely meeting [with] my friend @CTurnerFCDO. Extremely delighted to know that after the gap of sixteen years, October this year English …

Seamer Hasan Ali took nine wickets in the match as Pakistan defeated hosts Zimbabwe by an innings and 116 runs after tea on the third day of the first Test at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday. Hasan moved past 50 Test wickets as he took a career-best 5-36 to help bowl Zimbabwe out for 134. He recorded figures of …

ISLAMABAD: A sub-committee of the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) on state-owned entities (SOEs) on Friday called for expediting the process of privatisation and empowering their board of directors at the earliest to improve their management structures. Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin presided over the meeting of the sub-committee of EAC on SOEs and privatisation. Minister for Privatisation …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday formally pitched a proposal to the World Bank for staggering power tariff increases in view of a third and more contagious and deadlier wave of Covid-19 pandemic that may force the government into smart lockdowns and hit an already struggling economy. This was the main theme at a virtual meeting Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin had with …

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday kept the prices of all petroleum products unchanged for the next 15 days by reducing tax rates. “In line with the vision of the prime minister to provide relief to the consumers in the holy month of Ramazan, the government has decided not to increase the prices of petroleum products,” said an announcement by the …

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) surpassed its revenue collection target by Rs34 billion to Rs384bn in April, the second highest collection in the second half of current fiscal year (FY21), provisional data collected by the tax authorities on Friday showed. April has emerged as the second consecutive month when the FBR revenue collection surpassed the projected monthly target …

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are all over tabloids this weekend after the former flames were recently spotted hanging out. Rumours of the exes rekindling their romance have been spiraling out of control following the Hustlers star’s recent split from Alex Rodriguez. While many may have been hoping for Affleck and Lopez to get back together years later, a source had told People that …