BRIDGETOWN: Sury­akumar Yadav smashed a fine half-century before India’s bowlers slammed the brakes on Afghanistan’s flamboyant shot-makers to romp to a 47-run win in the T20 World Cup on Thursday. Suryakumar’s 53 was his 19th fifty in the format and helped India post a challenging 181-8 in their second-round Super Eights opener. Experienced fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah then combined with …

GROS ISLET: Defending champions England brushed aside their struggles in the opening phase of the Twenty20 World Cup with an eight-wicket victory over the previously unbeaten West Indies in their Super Eight opener at the Daren Sammy National Stadium in St Lucia on Wednesday. England’s bowlers restricted West Indies to 180-4 on the same pitch where the co-hosts had scored 218 against Afghanistan on …

NEW DELHI: India will kick off their home cricket season against Bangladesh in Sept­e­mber before hosting New Zealand in October and England next year, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Thursday. India will welcome Bang­ladesh for a two-match Test series, which will be played in Chennai and Kanpur from September 19-23 and September 27-October 1. …

KARACHI: There was an all-Pakistan squash final in Malaysia over the weekend; two sisters going head-to-head for gold. By the end of it all, Mahnoor Ali overcame the challenge of Sehrish Ali to be crowned the Under-13 champion at the PBA 20th Penang Malaysia Junior Open. It was a thrilling yet bittersweet victory for Mahnoor, who stormed back from losing …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), in collaboration with Huawei, conducted the country’s first trial of Symmetric 50G-PON technology that will help implement next-generation fibre-optic broadband services in Pakistan. Symmetric 50G-PON can provide 50 Gbps connectivity in downstream and upstream transmission simultaneously. It has an edge over the Asymmetric 50 G-PON, which supports 50 Gbps in downstream transmission only. PTCL …

Bulls continued their stampede at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday as shares gained more than 1,200 points to briefly cross the 80,000 level — a day after it closed at a now-broken all-time high. The benchmark KSE-100 index gained 1238.54 points, or 1.57 per cent, to stand at 80,059.87 — a record high — from the previous close of 78,801.53 …

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Zubair Tiwana drew flak for an increase in taxes and punitive measures for non-filers, as the Senate Standing Committee on Finance deliberated on the Finance Bill 2024 on Thursday. In addition to a proposed raise in taxes on imported electric vehicles, reservations about hikes in other sectors, such as cement, telecom and beverages, were also discussed, and senators observed that abrupt …

ISLAMABAD: While telecom operators and mobile phone manufacturers have expressed concerns over taxation measures and the subsequent hike in service and set costs after the budget is approved, traders have already started charging higher prices for the current stocks. Telecom Association of Pakistan (TOA) has challenged the proposed Finance Bill 2024-25 in a letter to IT and Telecom State Minister Shaza Fatima. …

PESHAWAR: National and provincial lawmakers from Khyber Pakhtun­khwa continued to forcibly enter grid stations and turn on power supply on Thursday even as the utility company warned such actions could seriously damage the transmission infrastructure. The provincial home and tribal affairs department has also directed district administrations to ens­ure no unscheduled loadshedding is carried out. This is the latest development in the row bet­ween …

VATICAN CITY: Carlo Maria Vigano, a former Catholic Church diplomat and virulent critic of Pope Francis, said on Thursday the Vatican was putting him on trial for denying the pontiff’s legitimacy. The 83-year-old ultra-conservative, who was the Vatican’s US ambassador from 2011-2016, said the powerful department of doctrine had summoned him to hear the charges. In a blog posting he …