Pakistan News

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China will send a robotic spacecraft in the coming days on a round trip to the moon’s far side in the first of three technically demanding missions that will pave the way for an inaugural Chinese crewed landing and a base on the lunar south pole. Since the first Chang’e mission in 2007, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, China has made leaps forward in its lunar exploration, narrowing the technological chasm with the United States and Russia. In 2020, China brought back samples from the moon’s near side in the first sample retrieval in more than four decades, confirming for the first time that it could safely return an uncrewed spacecraft to Earth from the lunar surface. This week, China is expected to launch Chang’e-6 using the backup spacecraft from the 2020 mission and collect soil and rocks from the side of the moon that permanently faces away from Earth. With no direct line of sight with the Earth, Chang’e-6 must rely on a recently deployed relay satellite orbitin...

LOS ANGELES — The two people they talk about more than anyone else on this Edmonton Oilers team are, well, so obvious that we don’t even need to name them. They carry the team so many nights, filling the highlight shows and All-Star ballots —until a gritty Game 4 in L.A.— on the muddiest of playoff tracks. Then it’s someone else’s turn. Someone else’s job, on a night where the Kings were the better, more desperate team, limiting Edmonton to a franchise playoff-low 13 shots on goal, while L.A. peppered Edmonton’s goal with 33. Now, after a gutty, gritty, 1-0 win, the two names come from the other end of the roster. Two guys who just four seasons ago were grinding it out together with the Wichita Thunder of the East Coast Hockey League, the thought of an NHL playoff game at Crypto.com Arena not just a distant dream, but more like a prayer. They are Stuart Skinner and Vincent Desharnais , two old friends who found a way to become the story Sunday night in L.A., whe...

If the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Prime Minister Narendra Modi succeeds in winning a third five-year term in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, many fear that India’s religious minorities, especially Muslims, will see their second-class status formalised in law and practice. But for Hindu supremacy to be fully realised, which is the stated aim of Hindu nationalists, they will have to expunge India of any Muslim influence, of which there is much, historically. When Indians cast their vote in the coming weeks, they would do well to be aware of the weight of their electoral choices. And the international community would do well not to drop the ball on India. Second-class citizens In a recent article, political scientists, Ashutosh Varshney and Connor Staggs asked the rhetorical question: “Is India under Narendra Modi … beginning to resemble the American South under Jim Crow?” referring to state and local laws introduced in the southern United States in the late 19th and early 20...

LAHORE: It proved a perfect series finale, having almost everything in it. Amid loud cheers from boisterous crowd at a jam-packed Gaddafi Stadium, Pakistan kept their cool to avoid what would have been an absolutely shocking series loss to a significantly under-strength New Zealand side. Though the two run-outs in the very last over — of tailenders Ben Sears and William O’Rourke — bowled by an intelligent Mohammad Amir ended the game in an unexpected fashion, the Michael Bracewell-led tourists stretched Babar Azam and his men almost to the fullest before falling short by nine runs in the end. First it was opener Tim Seifert and then late-order batter Josh Clarkson who gave goosebumps to the home fans — who were duly expecting their team to at least square the five-match series — as the tourists looked to chase a tough-looking 179 on a tricky wicket that had something for everyone. While pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who earned both player-of-the-match as well as the player-of the-seri...

TORONTO — The stakes couldn’t have been clearer. After all these Toronto Maple Leafs have been through in post-seasons past, after years of trudging through games with the cloud of that playoff misery hanging above them, there was no questioning what was needed in this pivotal Game 4: They needed something special, something exceptional. Something to break through this suffocating mediocrity, and pull them back to level ground. They needed greatness. Instead, on a night that would either even this series or send them back to Boston with their season on the line, the Maple Leafs came up with their most lacklustre showing yet. “Tonight, this game offensively would be our worst,” a quiet, dejected Sheldon Keefe said from the bowels of Scotiabank Arena late Saturday night, after the dust settled on a 3-1 win that pushed his team to the brink of elimination.  “The other three, I think we’ve done a good job to generate enough chances to win and score more than we have. Today, both o...

LAS VEGAS — Wyatt Johnston scored his second goal of the game in overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 3-2 victory over Vegas on Saturday night, cutting the defending champion Golden Knights’ series lead to 2-1. Johnston, who had a team-high eight shots, dragged the puck down the left side to the goal line, drawing goalie Logan Thompson into a low position, and beating him with a high shot 16:23 into the extra period. “What a player,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said about the 20-year-old forward. “He still can’t get in the casino and play cards, he’s not old enough, it’s unbelievable. “Really incredible play by one of … the great young players, the next generation of stars of this league. I thought he was just outstanding tonight for a kid to be under 21 years old and be on that ice with that level of player and look like he did all night tonight, just an outstanding player.” Johnston’s shots on goal tied a career high, as he was arguably Dallas’ best player. ...