KARACHI: Pakistan Test opener Abid Ali faces a long road to recovery following surgery after he was forced off the field with chest pain during a domestic match, officials said on Thursday. The 34-year-old fell ill Tuesday while batting for Central Punjab in a Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match in Karachi and was rushed to a hospital. He underwent two angioplasty procedures after …

TOKYO: Japan will not send a government delegation to February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, it said on Friday, a move likely to deepen tension with China. The decision follows a United States-led diplomatic boycott of the Games over concerns about human rights in China, although Japan has avoided explicitly labelling its move as such. Japan, while a partner of the …

MELBOURNE: England have never come back from a 2-0 deficit to win an Ashes series but that is the task that faces Joe Root’s team when they walk out in front of a Boxing Day crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the third Test on Sunday. Cricket enthusiasts around the world would probably be satisfied with something resembling a …

PRETORIA: India vice-captain K.L. Rahul knows all too well the unique challenges batting in South Africa brings but says helping the team to get off to a solid start will be a key ingredient to victory ahead of the first Test in Pretoria on Sunday. For all its glorious history, India have never won a Test series in South Africa …

NEW DELHI: Veteran India spinner Harbhajan Singh, the first Indian bowler to grab a Test hat-trick, announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Friday, bringing down the curtain on a 23-year career in the sport. The feisty 41-year-old made his international debut in 1998 and played 103 Tests, 236 One-day Internationals and 28 Twenty20 Inter­nationals, taking 711 wickets …

KARACHI: A dip in foreign exchange reserves owing to external loan payments as well as concerns about rising inflation brought the stock prices down to the red zone in the last trading hour on Friday, according to Arif Habib Ltd. The stock market opened on a positive note as the central bank conducted another open market operation for 63 days, …

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday claimed that revenue collection from the sugar sector posted growth of 11 per cent from Rs29.3 billion a year ago to Rs32.43bn in the first six months of this year. The bureau linked this increase to the introduction of the track-and-trace system (TTS) in November disregarding the impact of the increased …

KARACHI: Arif Habib Ltd (AHL), which is the investment banking arm of the eponymous industrial conglomerate, said on Friday it expects inflation will be back in single digits in the second half of the next calendar year because of the high base effect, currency stabilisation, monetary easing and a slowdown in global commodity prices. Speaking to the press at the …

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) injected Rs1.08 trillion into the money market on Friday in yet another open market operation (OMO), which included around Rs382 billion for an unusual 63-day period. The SBP injected Rs701 billion at 9.82 per cent for seven days in addition to providing Rs381.75bn at 9.85pc for 63 days through the OMO, which is …

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar has said that domestic consumers’ gas needs in winter are met by curtailing supply to non-export general industries and captive power plants, but this year the Sindh High Court (SHC) issued a stay order on the curtailment. Speaking at the PTV on Friday, the minister said since the next hearing regarding the stay order was …