President Joe Biden will visit the political battleground state of Wisconsin on Wednesday to announce plans by Microsoft to build a $3.3 billion high-tech data center that will create thousands of jobs, the White House said. The Microsoft facility in Racine County, in southeastern Wisconsin, will be built on the same land where Taiwan electronics manufacturer Foxconn had planned to …

iCube Qamar, Pakistan’s first-ever lunar satellite, has been successfully deployed in orbit. The iCube Qamar was launched on board China’s Chang’e-6 from Hainan, China, on May 3. According to the Institute of Space Technology, the satellite ICUBE-Q has been designed and developed by IST in collaboration with China’s Shanghai University SJTU and Pakistan’s national space agency SUPARCO. Chang’e6 is the …

KARACHI: Rejuvenated fast bowler Mohammad Amir said he has “unfinished work” at next month’s T20 World Cup, 15 years after dazzling as a teenager when Pakistan last lifted the trophy. The 32-year-old, who was jailed for spot-fixing in 2011, came out of retirement last month and is grateful to have another crack at the World Cup. “It’s a great feeling to be playing for …

IPOH: Forward Rana Waheed Ashraf scored from a penalty corner with a minute left to play to secure a 1-1 draw for Pakistan against Japan at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Tuesday that kept his side’s unbeaten run at the tournament intact. Japan had taken the lead from Ken Nagayoshi’s drag-flick conversion in the 33rd minute but Roelant Oltmans’ …

BERLIN: Six-time Cham­pions League winners Bayern Munich head into Wednesday’s second semi-final at Real Madrid ever more reliant on striker Harry Kane amid swirling off-field crises entirely of their own making. Bayern still do not have a coach lined up for next season, with reports emerging on Monday that Julen Lopetegui became the latest to knock back the German giants, …

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Tuesday approved 400,000 tonnes of additional wheat procurement by the Centre, allowed the import of 200,000 tonnes of urea, and sanctioned about Rs144 billion in supplementary grants. However, the ECC meeting, presided over by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, did not immediately allow the supply of subsidised gas to domestic urea …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif on Tuesday ordered stern action against the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officials, including its former chairman, allegedly involved in the installation of an ‘ineffective’ track and trace system (TTS) in various industries, causing losses to the tune of billions of rupees through tax evasion and smuggling. The decision to proceed against tax officials was made in …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit with the Middle East narrowed 28.18 per cent to $9.521 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year from $13.257bn during the corresponding period last year, mainly due to reduced imports of petroleum products from the region. The trade imbalance with the region has shrunk since the start of the current fiscal year …

QUETTA: As the wheat import scandal refuses to die down, former caretaker prime minister Anwarul Haq Kakar has said he never blamed the provinces for the excessive import of the grain, alleging that the media is circulating false news about him. Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr Kakar said the Food Security and Research Department was informed …