PAKISTAN missed a golden opportunity to beat India with a timid batting display, which makes it almost impossible to qualify for the next round of this T20 World Cup. Pakistan fans will be dumbfounded at the inability of the country’s first-choice batsmen to chase 120 in New York. How? Just how? The match came down to 21 runs needed off 2 overs, …

Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten defended the playing surface at New York’s T20 Cricket World Cup venue on Sunday following his team’s defeat to India in a low-scoring contest. India were bowled out for 119, their lowest-ever score against Pakistan in a T20 game but won by six runs after their rivals fell just short. All five games at the Nassau County International Cricket …

The country seems to be on the threshold of a cultural change with social activists, educationists, economists, progressive stakeholders, and policymakers actively exploring options for a challenging, long-term transformational change. “Factors that appear highly significant within one set of circumstances may become relatively insignificant or absolute non-factors when the combination of variables is altered,” says a concerned citizen referring to …

Pakistan’s coalition government is expected to lay out ambitious fiscal targets in the 2024/2025 (July-June) budget on Wednesday that will help strengthen its case for a new bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), officials and analysts said. Pakistan is in talks with the IMF for a loan estimated to be anything between $6 billion to $8 billion to avert a …

ISLAMABAD: The newly constituted National Economic Council (NEC) is set to convene today (Monday) to review ongoing and future investments and set targets for the next fiscal year. The council aims to achieve a 3.6 per cent growth rate amid the planning division’s push to increase next year’s federal Public Sector Development Pro­gramme to Rs1.5 trillion, against the Rs1.22tr recommended by the Annual Plan …

ISLAMABAD: The oil industry is protesting the Pakistan Railways’ “strange tender specifications”, which practically bar the procurement of high-speed diesel (HSD) from local refineries and, instead, favour imported products at a substantial foreign exchange cost. Adil Khattak, chairman of the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) and CEO of Attock Refinery Ltd, has formally complained to the government over Pakistan Railways’ …

GILGIT: In order to help mitigate the difficulties created by the electricity shortage in the region, Prince Rahim Aga Khan launched two solar power plants in Hunza on Sunday. Prince Rahim, who is on a visit to Pakistan these days, launched the development of Duiker Solar Power Plant Phase II and Nasirabad Solar Power Plant, which have a combined capacity of 3.6 …

MARSEILLE: A prisoner escaped from detention in southern France after casting his ballot in European elections on Sunday, a prison source and prosecutors said. The prisoner, who was held in a jail in the southern city of Arles, “was on supervised leave” to exercise his right to vote, the source said. He was accompanied by a probation officer and a …

ZURICH: Swiss voters backed legislation to promote renewable energy in a referendum on Sunday, while rejecting separate proposals intended to contain rising healthcare insurance costs. Seeking to enhance energy independence, the federal law passed in autumn 2023 comprises measures to boost the transport, storage and production of electricity, including facilitating the installation of solar panels on buildings. It also includes …

RIYADH: Oil giant Saudi Aramco said on Sunday that international investors had snatched up the bulk of shares sold in its latest offering, which was set to raise $11.2 billion. The secondary offering was expected to provide a short-term boost to Saudi Arabia’s finances as the Gulf kingdom builds large-scale projects including resorts and stadiums, part of a reform drive …