Australia are looking to their top-order batting led by the explosive David Warner as well as Adam Zampa’s bag of leg-spin tricks to get past a red-hot Pakistan in Thursday’s second semi-final of the Twenty20 World Cup. The Aussies made their first semi-final of the tournament since 2012 with four wins and a better run-rate than South Africa. But they …

GLASGOW: The United Nations climate summit in Glasgow has made some serious toddler steps towards cutting emissions but far from the giant leaps needed to limit global warming to internationally accepted goals, two new analyses and top officials said on Tuesday. And time is running out on the two weeks of negotiations. The president of the climate talks, Alok Sharma, …

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) on Tuesday grilled Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) over the controversial Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT). The meeting was presided over by PTI Senator Mohammad Hamayun Mohmand in a committee room of the Parliament House. Senator Prof Dr Mehr Taj Roghani said she had no doubts about the intention …

ISLAMABAD: The cabinet on Tuesday approved the Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2020-25 after a delay of more than two years. The framework envisages measures to enhance enterprises’ capacity to produce, distribute and sell products more efficiently than their competitors. This is the fourth strategic framework announced since 2009 by the government which allocated Rs45 billion for its implementation in the …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has sought Chinese government’s intervention to persuade China Export and Credit Insurance Corpora­tion — Sinosure — to clear about $13 billion insurance cover of energy and infrastructure projects on priority basis. Sinosure — the Chinese state insurer — has to underwrite all foreign investments and debts but has been holding back insurance cover of about $5bn to six …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s overall fiscal deficit in the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year dropped to 0.8 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Rs438.5 billion, which is one of the lowest in the comparable period of last four years of the current government. According to Fiscal Operations Data released by the Ministry of Finance, the total revenue …

OSLO: Norwegian police said they shot and killed a knife-wielding man who threatened several people early on Tuesday in central Oslo before attacking a patrol car that arrived on the scene. A policeman was injured as the officers tried to arrest the attacker in the capital’s Bislett neighbourhood, police told a press conference. No details about the identity of the …

WASHINGTON: Four astronauts returned to Earth on Monday in a SpaceX craft after spending six months on the International Space Station, a Nasa live broadcast showed, marking the end of a busy mission. The international crew conducted thousands of experiments in orbit and helped upgrade the solar panels on the ISS during their “Crew-2” mission. Its descent slowed by four …

ISLAMABAD: Afghan Interim Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will arrive here on Wednesday (today) on a three-day visit to Pakistan as head of a delegation for wide-ranging talks with the authorities. A statement issued by the Foreign Office said the visit was taking place as a follow-up to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s visit to Kabul on Oct 21. The talks will …

GLASGOW: Tuvalu’s foreign minister has filmed a video address to be shown at a UN climate summit on Tuesday standing thigh deep in seawater and pleading for help as his country slips beneath rising oceans. In the video, Simon Kofe tells delegates that “climate change and sea-level rise are deadly and existential risks for Tuvalu and low-lying atoll nations”. “We …