Pakistan News

Countries signed their first United Nations (UN) treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi on Saturday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to strengthen international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries were seen to sign the declaration on Saturday, which means it will go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone”, but that it was “only the beginning”. “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy… We need a strong, connected global response,” he said at the opening ceremony in Vietnam’s capital on Saturday. The UN Convention against Cybercrime was first proposed by Russian diplomats in 2017, and approved by consensus last y...

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Saturday that the government was committed to making Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) a profitable institution. He made the remarks during a ceremony at the Islamabad International Airport to mark the national flag carrier’s inaugural flight from the capital to the United Kingdom (UK) after a gap of nearly five years. Last month, the airline had received Third Country Operator approval for the UK. The development came after Britain’s Department of Transport concluded that security arrangements in the country were “satisfactory and in line with international standards”. Flight operations to Manchester are resuming in the first phase, with plans to extend them to Birmingham and London in the second. “After a long and difficult delay of five years, today the resumption of flights from Islamabad to Manchester is a feat we have achieved through our hard work and determination,” Asif said. “This success is not a coincidence, but a living testam...

TORONTO — Addison Barger wouldn’t say he was feeling restless, per se, but when the Toronto Blue Jays utility man was waiting to find out just when he’d be entering Game 1 of the World Series, it was, as he describes it, “stressful.”  On Friday night, Barger wasn’t in the starting lineup since Los Angeles Dodgers ace Blake Snell is a lefty, so the 25-year-old Barger spent more than two hours of the game warming up with a pitching machine while watching the game on TV. “You have to be mentally locked into the game, knowing that any moment you can be in there,” Barger explained.  Well, his moment came in the sixth inning, and what a momentous, historic one Barger turned it into.  The stage sure was set: Earlier in the inning, the Blue Jays had taken a 5-2 lead, there was just one out and the deck was loaded.  Barger strode up to the plate and worked a 2-1 count, and then he took the fourth pitch he ever saw in the World Series and he launched it ove...

WINNIPEG — Joey Daccord turned aside all 32 shots he faced and notched an assist as the Seattle Kraken wrapped a six-game road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.  Jaden Schwartz scored twice and contributed a helper for the Kraken (4-2-2), and Jordan Eberle tallied his second goal of the year with an empty-net strike.  The visitors opened the scoring when Schwartz snapped a soft rebound off a Shane Wright shot behind Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck at 2:28 of the second period.  Hellebuyck stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced for the Jets (5-2-0). Winnipeg pulled the goalie with just under two minutes to go in the third period but were unable to muster a sustained attack. Schwartz doubled the lead at 18:20 after Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey misplayed the puck at the Kraken blue line. Schwartz went in all alone on the empty net.  Eberle erased any doubt just 23 seconds later when he also scored with Hellebuyck on the bench. Schwartz had...

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has issued a suspension notice to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Multan Sultans, citing breach of contractual obligations, it emerged on Thursday. According to sources, the PCB has also sent a formal notice for termination of the franchise’s contract “after completing all necessary legal procedures”. The move marks a significant escalation in the simmering tensions between the board and the Multan franchise. Sources revealed that the action followed repeated public statements by franchise owner Ali Tareen, who allegedly criticised the PCB and PSL management. In April, Ali shared a podcast clip on X questioning the PCB’s pre-season build-up, writing: “How is PSL 10 bigger and better? Same games, same teams – what’s new? Fed up with hollow words. PCB had time to plan innovations, but we’re repeating last year. Our biggest brand deserves more. Explain the vision!” A few days later, he sought to clarify his stance amid backlash from other fr...

CALGARY — The Calgary Flames are on the cusp of what almost certainly looks like a lost season. And the latest team to help put them there is a perfect example of how the Flames should proceed from here. A 2-1 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday extended the Flames losing skid to seven, giving them just three points in their opening eight games. Only 10 teams in the last 40 years have started that poorly and made the playoffs. It’s time to start looking at what a proper rebuild can look like, and there’s no better example right now than Montreal. The difference in Wednesday’s highly entertaining affair was a world-class play by Ivan Demidov that set up Mike Matheson’s winner. Two nights earlier another gritty outing by the Flames was doused by a Mark Scheifele finish that served as a reminder of the difference between the Flames and playoff contenders — high-end skill. The Flames don’t have those type of players. “I mean, I can’t generate offence,” ...

“Never save your wallet key online,” warned Talha, a data scientist with an MS in computer science who works on web development. “I learned that the hard way.” Despite two-factor authentication (2FA) and strict security on his Facebook account, he lost access to his crypto wallet — not because he clicked a link or downloaded malware, but because months earlier, he had messaged himself his 12-word seed phrase on Facebook Messenger. “There was no login attempt, no alert. The funds just vanished,” he said. The experience taught him that no system is ever fully secure once your key is exposed. “We think we’re safe behind strong passwords or 2FA, but in reality, anything online is public,” he said. But that wasn’t his only lesson. He was active in several Telegram groups where people discussed new coins. “Someone with a Chinese profile reached out, talking about workouts, lifestyle, and crypto,” he recalled. “It felt like any normal networking chat.” The man introduced him to a supposed ...