LONDON: UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has warned of a potential European boycott of the World Cup if FIFA’s plans to stage the tournament every two years go ahead. World football’s governing body is carrying out a review of the international match calendar, led by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who is proposing a major tournament every year. Under the proposals …

MANCHESTER: India cancelled their training session on the eve of the fifth Test against England as it was reported on Thursday that another member of their support staff had tested positive for the coronavirus. Head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach Ramakrishnan Sridhar have already been ruled out of attending the series finale at Old Trafford …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported as many as 3,689 new cases of the coronavirus and 83 deaths during the past 24 hours, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday. It said the nationwide death toll rose to 26,580 after 83 more people died of the viral disease. A total of 61,128 samples were tested during the previous 24 hours, …

Vietnam has approved the Hayat-Vax coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, the seventh to be endorsed in the country. The vaccine is manufactured in China and packaged in the United Arab Emirates, the government said in a statement. Hayat-Vax is the same Sinopharm CNBG’s BiBP inactivated vaccine that was registered by the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on December 9, …

ISLAMABAD: As many as 50 million citizens have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine while more than 20 million have been fully vaccinated against the viral disease, said NCOC head Asad Umar on Friday. “In the early days of the vaccination campaign we had set a daunting target of vaccinating 7 crore people by the end of …

DHAKA: Bangladesh named on Thursday all the players who completed a series win over New Zealand in their squad for next month’s Twenty20 World Cup. Mahmudullah will lead the side that took a 3-1 lead in the New Zealand series on Wednesday with one match still to play. Bangladesh, with a mix of established performers and rising new stars, have …

GILGIT : Local climber Wajidullah Nagri along with Peter and Jakub of Czech Republic scaled Rakaposhi (7,788m) on Thursday. They had begun the ascent of the peak, one of the world’s most challenging, on Sept 1 from the South Ridge. Wajidullah, 41, is the second Pakistani to climb Rakaposhi. Colonel Sher Khan was the first Pakistani to scale it in …

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan vice-captain Shadab Khan revealed on Thursday that as per wishes of the expected PCB chief Ramiz Raja, the national side will play aggressive brand of cricket, according to the requirements of modern day game. Ramiz, who has recently become member of the PCB’s Board of Governors called the national team to the National High Performance Centre at Gaddafi …

RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has exempted the New Zealand cricket team from rapid antigen testing upon their arrival at the Islamabad International Airport on Saturday. The waiver, however, is subject to other relevant SOP rules, such as thermal scanning upon arrival. The exemption was given in the light of request from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the …

ISLAMABAD: The Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have decried their ‘unending audits’ ordered by the government as anti-investment and demanded improved security and better vigilance to check the menace of oil smuggling reportedly causing over Rs250 billion per annum revenue loss. Reacting to a letter from the Ministry of Energy Petroleum Division to 25 OMCs, including refineries, for audit of their …