PARIS: The world’s nations are currently planning to produce more than double the amount of coal, oil and gas consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Ten days before a climate summit that is being billed as key to the viability of the Paris Agreement temperature goals, the UN’s Environment Programme said …

LAHORE: A sessions court on Wednesday issued a notice to actor-cum-singer Ali Zafar on an application by singer Meesha Shafi saying she and her husband should be allowed to get their cross-examination recorded through a video link in a defamation suit by the former against the latter. Filed through Advocate Saqib Jillani, the application said Ms Shafi and her husband …

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has selected Thomas West, a diplomat with years of experience in dealing with Afghanistan, as America’s new Special Representative for the war-torn country. Mr West, who previously served as the Deputy Special Representative, replaces Zalmay Khalilzad who concluded the US-Taliban deal in February 2020 after two years of negotiations. Mr West has also served on then-Vice President …

SEOUL: North Korea successfully tested a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, state media reported on Wednesday as the nuclear-armed country seeks to show off its ever-expanding military capabilities. Tuesday’s test, carried out near Sinpo, the site of a major naval dockyard, came as both Koreas build up their weapons technology in what could become an arms race on the peninsula, and …

THE qualifying round might have already started but the first major cricket tournament since the pandemic struck begins in earnest this weekend with the Super-12 round of the Twenty20 World Cup. Pushed back a year due to Covid-19 and being held in the Middle East instead of India as originally planned, the tournament will be the first of two World Cups of …

Steve Smith has branded India favourites to win the T20 World Cup after Virat Kohli’s side outclassed Australia in a warmup match on Wednesday. Smith scored a half-century to help Australia post a competitive 152 for five in the tuneup in Dubai but India’s batsmen mowed down the total with 13 balls to spare to win by eight wickets. “They’re …

DUBAI: England captain Eoin Morgan has said he would be prepared to drop himself at the T20 World Cup if he cannot turn around his poor form. The 35-year-old left-hander has scored a mere 82 runs in seven Twenty20 International innings for England this year. And he only managed 133 runs at an average of 11.08 in the recently concluded …

ABU DHABI: David Wie­se bludgeoned an unbe­aten 66 as Namibia stayed alive at the T20 World Cup on Wednesday with a six-wicket triumph over the Netherlands. In a sweltering Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, where temperatures soared to 36 degrees, former South Africa international Wiese hit five sixes and four boundaries as Namibia chased down their target of 165 …

ABU DHABI: Wanindu Hasaranga starred with a fine all-round effort as Sri Lanka decimated Ireland by 70 runs to register their second successive win in the Twenty20 World Cup on Wednesday and qualify for the Super 12 stage. Hasaranga smashed 71 and Pathum Nissanka, who made 61, put on a critical fourth-wicket wicket partnership of 123 to guide Sri Lanka …

Former all-rounder Mudassar Nazar insists Pakistan will once again be the kings of Asian cricket despite India’s rise as world-beaters on the back of the riches of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Pakistan were kings of the sub-continent from the mid-1980s to 1990s with their on-field brilliance under Imran Khan, who led them to the 1992 World Cup, before India …