Pakistan News

Left-arm spinner Noman Ali finished with six wickets Tuesday as Pakistan dismissed South Africa for 269 in the first Test in Lahore after Tony de Zorzi’s gutsy century. Noman returned figures of 6-112 for his ninth haul of five wickets or more in Tests as South Africa lost their last four wickets for 53 runs an hour before lunch, having resumed on 216-6. Pakistan lead by 109 after they scored 378 in their first innings. De Zorzi carried the fight to Pakistan on a turning Gaddafi Stadium pitch as he completed his second Test century with a six and two singles off Noman. The left-hander finally holed out for 104 to long-on off Noman, where Shaheen Shah Afridi took a low catch, ending a 208-minute innings containing 10 fours and two sixes. Noman, who bowled a probing 35 overs, also removed Prenelan Subrayen for four during the session. Fellow spinner Sajid Khan took the first wicket of the day when he had Senuran Muthusamy caught by Salman Agha for 11. He then wrapped up the ...

In a day of high political drama at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, PTI’s Sohail Afridi was elected the province’s new chief minister. However, his victory unfolded amid walkouts, protests, and a deepening constitutional crisis over whether the outgoing CM, Ali Amin Gandapur, had even truly vacated his seat. As chants of “Sohail Afridi zindabad ” echoed through the assembly hall, the opposition staged a walkout, declaring the entire process “unconstitutional.” Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, however, pressed ahead and ruled it lawful under Article 130, declaring Afridi’s election valid even as questions swirled over Gandapur’s disputed resignation, returned by Governor Faisal Karim Kundi for having “disparate signatures.” The episode has set off a flurry of debate: can a new chief minister be elected when the previous one still holds office? Lawyers have since weighed in, dissecting whether the assembly’s actions uphold or undermine the constitutional process. An attempt to thwart t...

South Africa left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy took 6-117 on Monday, including three wickets in four balls, as Pakistan collapsed from 362-5 to 378 all out on day two of the first Test in Lahore. The 31-year-old’s maiden five-wicket Test haul helped the visitors restrict Pakistan, who began the day on 313-5, on a Gaddafi Stadium pitch beginning to take more turn. Salman Agha hit five fours and three sixes in his 93 and was the last man out, caught in the deep off spinner Prenelan Subrayen who took 2-78. Agha added 49 with Mohammad Rizwan to take their sixth-wicket stand to 163 before Muthusamy ripped out the middle order with three wickets in the 12th over of the day. Rizwan, on 75, was the first to go when he edged a sharply turning ball to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne after a knock containing two fours and two sixes. Two balls later Noman Ali went without scoring, bowled when he played down the wrong line and then Sajid Khan followed first ball, caught in the slips. It beca...

Every now and then, social media produces a ‘hero’. He/she suddenly rises, lingers and then either fades away or falls off by the wayside. All this can happen within days, weeks, months or within a few years. The appeal of such ‘heroes’ can be universal or entirely local. But the fact remains, their heroic status is almost always short-lived. People move on to search for another hero.  But it is not really about a search as such. It is mostly about construction. According to the University of Richmond (Virginia) Professor Emeritus of Psychology Scott T. Allison, heroism is a concept shaped by social, psychological and historical factors. It is a process that is influenced by our individual biases, and our collective needs and values. So, on most occasions, heroes are constructed by people to broadcast their own ideals, wishes, beliefs and aspirations.  A society, or segments of it, take fragments of information available of an event or of a personality and turn them in...

EDMONTON — The Vancouver Canucks need more than their goalie to start on time. Thatcher Demko ’s brilliant performance on Saturday wasn’t enough to save the Canucks, who were outshot 37-15 and lost 3-1 to the Edmonton Oilers. This was a goalie-adjusted blowout. Without Demko, as Canucks winger Brock Boeser noted, the score could have been 5-1 or 6-1. But had the Canucks just managed more in the first two periods, when they were outskated and outplayed and outscored 2-0, the game might have actually finished in their favour. That’s how good Demko was. Two games don’t make a trend — especially when there are 80 remaining. But in their National Hockey League opener on Thursday, the Canucks’ sloppy first half on home ice against the Calgary Flames looked like nerves, opening-night jitters for a team desperate for a strong start after an encouraging pre-season. But they also didn’t surrender many shots or scoring chances and dominated the final period in a 5-1 win. Against the Oiler...

The fear of smog has already started lingering upon us. We are once again bracing ourselves to choke in our own neglect. Are we doomed to suffer every year, through climate change, mismanagement, broken promises, or is it just bad luck? In truth, it seems less a matter of fate and more the outcome of willful ignorance — an ignorance far from blissful, especially given that under Article 9 of Pakistan’s Constitution, the right to life inherently includes the right to a clean and healthy environment. Numbers tell the story This contradiction defines our new normal. For the past several winters, Pakistan has ranked as the third most polluted country in the world . Nowhere is this crisis more visible than in Lahore, the country’s second-largest city, where nearly 14 million residents are forced to breathe poison. It’s the most polluted city in the world and in the last five years, its air has met the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) minimum safety standards on only seven days. The Wo...

The Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners offered up pure baseball theatre on Friday night during Game 5 of the American League Division Series. However, as the action was unfolding, the Toronto Blue Jays chose to refer to a different sport while describing the club’s likely thoughts in a post on its official X account. The GIF, which showed two boxers trading blows while the referee stood back and enjoyed the show, aptly described what was happening.  The Tigers and Mariners played for 4 hours, 58 minutes at T-Mobile Park in Seattle before Jorge Polanco’s single to right field off Tommy Kahnle decided the contest, 3-2, and sent the crowd of 47,025 into a frenzy. The 15-inning contest set a record for the longest winner-take-all game in MLB history.  “We’ve talked about the fight all year long,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson told reporters afterward. “To go 15 innings tonight, 15 rounds, so to speak, and to come out on top, that sure feels good.” ...

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said on Saturday that at least seven police personnel were martyred and 13 were injured in last night’s attack on a police training centre in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan. On Friday night, police had repulsed an attack on a police training centre in Dera Ismail Khan. At the time, officials had said that at least three terrorists, including a suicide bomber, were killed in retaliatory fire by police forces. On Saturday, a report issued by the CTD, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com , showed that seven cops were martyred while another 13 were injured in the incident. Dera Ismail Khan Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Hamid Siddiqui also confirmed the casualties to Dawn.com . According to the CTD report, the attack took place at 8:30pm on Friday within the limits of the Shorkot Police Station. “A National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) office near the training centre was also burnt down by terrorists,” Dera Ismail Kha...

SEATTLE — Jorge Polanco hit a game-ending single in the 15th inning, and the Seattle Mariners advanced to the AL Championship Series by outlasting the Detroit Tigers for a 3-2 victory Friday night in the longest winner-take-all post-season game in baseball history. With one out and the bases loaded, Polanco drove in J.P. Crawford with a liner to right off Tommy Kahnle. Crawford hit a leadoff single, Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch and Julio Rodríguez was intentionally walked before Polanco’s big swing on the 472nd pitch of an epic Game 5 in a tightly contested Division Series. The Mariners left 12 runners on base and still managed to advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2001. Next up is a matchup with the AL East champion Blue Jays, beginning on Sunday night at Toronto. “I know we played a long game, but this team never gave up,” Polanco said. “I know there is a lot of emotion, but we are always trying to keep it simple. I’m just trying to go out there and pla...

China on Thursday expanded its export controls over rare earths and related technology in a move to further tighten its grip and dominance on the critical minerals key to the energy transition. Five more medium to heavy rare earth elements — holmium, erbium, thulium, europium and ytterbium — and related material will be added from November 8, China’s commerce ministry said. The rare earths will join over twenty elements and related materials already listed , in each case forcing exporters to apply to Beijing for licences before selling overseas. China has also separately banned exports of gallium, germanium and antimony to the United States. Below is a summary of all Beijing’s mineral export restrictions since 2023: Rare earth China produces around 90 per cent of the world’s rare earths, a group of 17 elements with small but crucial uses in sectors like clean energy, defence and automotive . China first placed seven of the elements and related material on an export control list ...

A lopsided score in Vancouver will play second fiddle to the debate surrounding who was in net for it. Welcome to the storyline that is destined to dot the Calgary Flames ‘ season. In hindsight, it’s easy to second-guess Thursday’s decision to start Dustin Wolf in back-to-back games. After all, the Calder finalist wasn’t at his best in a 5-1 loss to the Canucks. But the reality is that starting their star netminder made the most sense, as it’s what gave the Flames the best chance to win in Vancouver Thursday night. While load management is important over the course of a season, what Ryan Huska cares about most is putting the best lineup out every night. No, it doesn’t mean he’s going to squeeze 70+ starts out of the 24-year-old netminder like the Flames did with Miikka Kiprusoff a remarkable seven seasons in a row. It means he has faith that the kid who has logged heavy workloads throughout his young career is certainly capable of being rested enough the last six months to star...