The Institute of Space Technology on Tuesday said Pakistan’s “historic” lunar mission iCube-Q will be launched on May 3 at 12:50pm on board China’s Chang’e 6 lunar probe from Hainan, China. According to the Institute of Space Technology (IST), the satellite ICUBE-Q has been designed and developed by IST in collaboration with China’s Shanghai University SJTU and Pakistan’s national space …

NEW YORK: A group of newspapers, including the New York Daily News and Chicago Tribune, sued Microsoft and OpenAI in a federal court on Tuesday, accusing them of misusing reporters’ work to train their generative artificial-intelligence systems. The eight newspapers, owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital’s MediaNews Group, said in the lawsuit that the companies unlawfully copied millions of …

ISLAMABAD: Head coach Roelant Oltmans expects an improved show by Pakistan in the 30th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup as the national squad is set to leave for Malaysia to compete in the event on Wednesday night. “I am sure the team will play better to produce improved results in this tournament,” Dutch Oltmans said while speaking to reporters here …

WELLINGTON: New Zealand Cricket said Tuesday it will go ahead with a Test match against Afghanistan in September, a month after Australia scrapped a Twenty20 series against the same opponents. Cricket Australia postponed a three-match series due to take place in August at a neutral venue, saying the situation for women in the Taliban-ruled country was deteriorating. It was the third time since 2021 …

DORTMUND: The tantalising prospect of Kylian Mbappe squaring up to Real Madrid in the Champions League final looms large, with only Borussia Dortmund lying in Paris St Germain’s way. Mbappe becomes a free agent at the end of the season when Real are favourites to finally land the forward they have coveted for so long. Before that there are trophies …

LONDON: Paceman Jofra Archer was Tuesday recalled to England’s squad for the defence of their T20 World Cup crown after a year out of action. The 29-year-old, who has endured a string of injuries since his international breakthrough in 2019, has not played competitive cricket for a year but has recovered from a right elbow injury. He takes his place …

KARACHI: The government raised Rs252.9 billion on Tuesday through the auction of treasury bills. The government set the target of Rs300bn while the maturity amount was Rs166bn. The government raised Rs190.3bn through auction and Rs62.6bn thro­ugh non-competitive bids. The State Bank reported no change in the cut-off yields. The government raised Rs45bn for 3-month, Rs7.7bn for 6-month, and Rs137.5bn for …

The government on Tuesday slashed the price of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) for the next fortnight by Rs5.45 and 8.42, respectively. In a notification, the finance ministry said the reduction was due to price variations in the international market because of a decreasing trend in prices of petroleum products during the last fortnight. It said the new petrol price …

ISLAMABAD: With the country’s fiscal deficit widening to 3.7 per cent of GDP in the first nine months of FY24, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on Tuesday warned about the continuously increasing challenge of fiscal pressures driven by a massive 54pc surge in interest payments. “A significant challenge arises from the growing pressure on expenditures, primarily driven by higher markup …