ABSENCE usually makes the heart grow fonder, but the amount of T20 cricket being played means that the absence of the World Cup was little noticed. The relevance of West Indies winning in Kolkata in 2016 is zero. T20 cricket is a game that moves on rapidly. But now that the tournament is under way in the United Arab Emirates, …

Pakistan won the T20 World Cup just once, back in 2009, when the Younis Khan-led and Shahid Afridi-inspired unit went all the way and beat Sri Lanka in the final. Since then, the Men in Green have failed in four attempts to recapture T20 glory at global stage. To give it a fifth shot this year, a group of 15 has …

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has announced a 12-man squad for Sunday’s T20 World Cup 2021 clash with India in Dubai. Addressing a press conference in Dubai on Saturday, Azam named the shortlisted dozen men, from whom the final playing eleven will be picked. From the 15-man complete squad, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Mohammad Nawaz and Sarfaraz Ahmed did not make the …

LAHORE: The government is convincing Chinese companies — engaged in various power projects — to receive capacity payments in installments instead of full amounts, as it would be convenient for it to clear pending dues. “There are some issues prevailing in various CPEC and non-CPEC projects. One of the major issues is the capacity payments liable to be paid by …

PARIS: France on Friday urged Iran to curb nuclear activities of unprecedented gravity as US and European envoys met to discuss efforts aimed at reviving the troubled 2015 Iran nuclear deal. US envoy Robert Malley joined counterparts from France, Britain and Germany at the meetings in Paris, at what the French Foreign Ministry called a critical time in efforts to …

BALUKHALI: Gunmen killed seven people and wounded at least 20 on Friday in a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, police and a medic said, in an attack that heightens tensions after the recent shooting of a prominent community leader. The attackers shot and stabbed people attending a religious school in the camp, a regional police chief said. Four people died …

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday left for a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia to attend the launch ceremony of the ‘Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) Summit’ being held in Riyadh, according to the Foreign Office (FO). The prime minister left with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Energy Minister Hammad Azhar and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate …

LONDON: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, 95, was back at her desk at Windsor Castle on Friday after she spent a night in hospital for the first time in years for what Buckingham Palace termed “preliminary investigations”. The world’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch stayed in hospital overnight on Wednesday, but returned to Windsor Castle, to the west of London, the following day, …

MOSCOW: Sixteen people were killed and one person was missing after a fire broke out at a Russian explosives factory southeast of Moscow on Friday, local authorities said. The blaze took place in the village of Lesnoy, 300 kilometres from the capital in the region of Ryazan. Authorities originally said 15 people had died, but later said one man who …

BRUSSELS: European leaders gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel a standing ovation on Friday at her last EU summit after a 16-year reign that helped guide the bloc through major ups and downs. Merkel has attended a staggering 107 EU summits that saw some of the biggest twists in recent European history, including the eurozone debt crisis, an inflow of Syrian …