COLOGNE: Youri Tielemans breathed new life into Belgium’s Euro 2024 campaign as the Aston Villa midfielder’s goal after just 73 seconds inspired a vital 2-0 win against Romania on Saturday. Domenico Tedesco’s side would have been on the brink of elimination if they had suffered a second successive Group ‘E’ defeat. But Tielemans’ second-minute strike in Cologne eased fears of …

BRIDGETOWN: Chris Jordan took four wickets in five balls, including the third hat-trick of the T20 World Cup, as defending champions England qualified for the semi-finals with a 10-wicket thrashing of the United States in his native Barbados on Sunday. The 35-year-old all-rounder, born and educated on the Caribbean island, justified his recall for this match in spectacular fashion with …

South Africa edged the West Indies by three wickets in a rain-affected Super Eights match on Sunday to reach the T20 World Cup semi-finals and eliminate the hosts. Chasing a revised 123 off 17 overs, South Africa stuttered to 110-7 as Roston Chase took three wickets, but they reached their target when Marco Jansen hit the first ball of the …

The federal government has allocated Rs5 billion for the Kissan package for the next fiscal year starting July 1. The amount is equal to a little over the two-day expense of running the civil government (for which the government has projected a Rs839bn expense for FY25, bringing the daily expense to about 2.36bn). This federal fund for agriculture will be …

At the last meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC), the highest decision-making body of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), in May, Pakistan requested Beijing to begin construction work on electricity generation projects and propose infrastructure schemes, like the Mainline-I railway project, for Chinese financing. The generation projects, according to Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, include two hydropower schemes — Azad Pattan and Kohala — …

Setting aside their worries, Pakistanis engaged in qurbani (sacrifice) and Eid festivities this year as best as they could. However, market sources confirm that the level of activity was noticeably affected by the sluggish economic situation. Despite the rush at parks and picnic spots, Eidul Azha was relatively quiet this year. This occurred despite the generous inflow of funds from expatriates, who typically reaffirm …

Economic activity and consumer spending during the festive season of Eidul Azha can be deemed a barometer for the overall health of the economy. Higher household incomes generally lead to higher spending during the season, and vice versa. Since almost all spending during the festive season is purely cash-based, it is difficult to fairly estimate the size of spending during the weeks …

In the social democracies of Europe, people file tax returns on time and pay the correct amount of taxes voluntarily because they are eligible, in return, for palpable benefits. For good governance and positive outcomes, rights must be linked with responsibilities. In Pakistan, the situation is altogether different. “Prime facie,” notes an analyst, “the government is defaulting on all aspects …

MOSCOW: Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, could reduce the decision-making time stipulated in official policy for the use of nuclear weapons if Moscow believes that threats are increasing, parliament’s defence committee chairman said. The war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, with President Vladimir Putin last month saying that …

QUETTA: The Reko Diq Mining Company (RDMC), which is developing the copper and gold project in the Chagai district, has inaugurated another reverse osmosis (RO) plant in Nok Chah village as part of its efforts to provide potable water to local communities. A spokesman for RDMC said on Sunday that this is the third RO plant the company has established …