MIAMI: The opening game of cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup will be held in Dallas with the final at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, organizers announced on Friday.
The expanded 20-team tournament is being jointly held by the United States and the West Indies and will get underway on June 1 at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas. The USA take on Canada in Texas, both teams making their first appearances at a T20 World Cup.
A total of 16 games will be held in the United States — the first time that a major international cricket tournament is held in the country.
A new venue 30 miles east of downtown Manhattan will host the big clash between India and Pakistan on Sunday, June 9 — one of eight games to be held at the 34,000-stadium being built in Nassau County.
Lauderhill in South Florida, the most established cricket venue in the USA, will host games featuring India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
While cricket is a niche sport in the United States it does enjoy significant support from the South Asian and Caribbean communities in the country.
“The USA is already one of cricket’s biggest audiences for ICC events and bringing the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to New York City, Dallas and Florida is a massive opportunity to exponentially grow the sport,” said Peter Hutton, chair of T20 World Cup Incorporated, the entity established in the USA to deliver the event.
“We’ve got three fantastic venues to host... a unique cricket spectacle featuring the best players in the world,” he added.
International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Geoff Allardice said the games in the USA represented a “new frontier” in the expansion of the sport.
“It allows us to make a statement in the world’s biggest sports market,” he said.
“It will also be great to have an ICC event back in the West Indies, which has such a rich history of the game. It has hosted World Cups with great success in the past and this tournament will certainly provide a boost to the game there, especially with the final being played in Barbados,” he added.
The West Indies hosted the 2010 T20 World Cup, three years after they held the 50-over version.
Defending champions England will begin their title defense on June 4 in Barbados against Scotland and 2022 finalists, Pakistan, will get underway when they play the USA in Dallas.
England will go up against traditional rivals Australia in Barbados on June 8.
The 20 teams have been divided into four groups of five, with the top two teams progressing to the ‘Super Eights.’
The Super Eight games will all be held in the Caribbean — in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The two top teams from each group in the Super Eight will progress to the semifinals, which will be held in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago on Jun 26/27. The final will be held in Barbados on June 29.
Group stage:
Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, USA
Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman
Group C: New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea
Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal
Pakistan in Group A as T20 World Cup co-hosted by US begins in June
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Pakistan in Group A as T20 World Cup co-hosted by US begins in June
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- This is the first time a major international cricket tournament will be held in the United States
- Cricket is a niche sport in the US but enjoys support from South Asian and Caribbean communities
Senior army officer, relatives released days after kidnapping in northwest Pakistan — military
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- Lt Col Khalid Ameer was visiting ancestral village in Dera Ismail Khan for his father’s funeral when he was abducted
- Military says tribal elders played role in ‘safe and unconditional’ release of the officer and three of his relatives
KARACHI: A senior army officer and three of his relatives, who were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, safely returned to their home on Saturday, the Pakistani military said.
The army officer, Lt. Col. Khalid Ameer, was on a visit to his ancestral village in Kulachi area of the Dera Ismail Khan district for the funeral of his father, when he was abducted along with three other relatives on Wednesday, according to police.
In a statement issued late Saturday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing, confirmed securing their “safe and unconditional” release.
“Safe and unconditional release of Lt Col Khalid Ameer and three of his other relatives has been secured due to role played by tribal elders and local notables,” the ISPR said. “All the abductees have safely returned home.”
The military statement had no mention of the kidnappers, but the northwestern Pakistani region has witnessed a surge in militant activities by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other groups in recent months.
This month, two policemen were killed when a convoy of judges came under attack in the region, according to police. In February, 10 policemen were killed and six others injured in an attack on a police station in Dera Ismail Khan.
In April last year, Judge Shakirullah Marwat was abducted by unidentified kidnappers near a village at the junction of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts, but was recovered after a few days.
Pakistan has faced deadly attacks by the TTP since an uneasy, months-long truce with the group collapsed in November 2022.
Islamabad blames the latest surge in violence on neighboring Afghanistan, saying Pakistani Taliban militants have taken refuge there and run camps to train insurgents to launch attacks inside Pakistan.
Kabul says rising violence in Pakistan is a domestic issue of Islamabad and it does not allow militants to operate on its territory.
Islamabad police ban public gatherings in view of ‘elevated security concerns’
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- The development comes a week before a rally by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party in Islamabad
- Islamabad police say the restriction has been imposed to maintain public order and ensure safety of all citizens
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad police have imposed a ban on public gatherings in the federal capital in view of “elevated security concerns,” Pakistani state media reported on Saturday.
The South Asian country has been witnessing a surge in militant attacks, including a string of coordinated assaults launched last Sunday that killed more than 50 people in the southwestern Balochistan province.
To prohibit any public gathering, the Islamabad police said they had imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a provision that allows authorities to prohibit assembly of four or more people.
“These restrictions are designed to maintain public order and ensure the safety of all citizens,” an Islamabad police spokesperson was quoted as saying by the state-run APP news agency.
The report did not specify how long the restriction would be in place.
The development also comes a week before a rally by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party in Islamabad on September 8. The rally was initially planned for July to build pressure for Khan’s release from prison following his arrest over a year ago, but the party had rescheduled it for August 22.
The PTI once again postponed the gathering this month after the Islamabad administration denied permission for the event, citing security threats and a lack of resources with security agencies.
The capital police urged the public to avoid participating in any “unauthorized” political activities that could disrupt the law-and-order environment, according to the APP report.
“We ask everyone to cooperate with these measures to help us maintain peace and security,” the police spokesperson said.
Brazil joins Pakistan, other nations in banning X social network
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- Beyond permanent bans, some nations have temporarily restricted access to X
- Formerly Twitter, X has often been used by political dissidents to communicate
PARIS: With its ban of X, which went into effect on Saturday, Brazil joins a small club of countries to have taken similar measures against the social network, most of them run by authoritarian regimes.
Beyond permanent bans, some nations have temporarily restricted access to X, formerly Twitter, which has often been used by political dissidents to communicate.
These have included Egypt in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprisings, Turkiye in 2014 and 2023, and Uzbekistan around that country’s 2021 presidential election.
Here is a list of some of the others:
China
Beijing banned Twitter in June 2009 — before it secured the prominent place it enjoyed in Western media and politics for much of the 2010s.
The block came two days before the 20-year anniversary of the government’s crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in the capital’s Tiananmen Square.
Since then, many Chinese people have turned to home-grown alternatives such as Weibo and WeChat.
Iran
Twitter was also blocked by Tehran in 2009, as a wave of demonstrations broke out following a contested June presidential election.
The network has nevertheless been used since then to pass information to the outside world about dissident movements, including the demonstrations against Iran’s repression of women’s rights since late 2022.
Turkmenistan
Isolated Central Asian country Turkmenistan blocked Twitter in the early 2010s alongside many other foreign online services and websites.
Authorities in Ashgabat surveil closely citizens’ usage of the Internet, provided through state-run monopoly operator TurkmenTelecom.
North Korea
Pyongyang opened its own Twitter account in 2010 in a bid to woo foreigners interested in the country.
But the application has been blocked along with Facebook, YouTube and gambling and pornography websites since April 2016.
Internet access beyond a few government websites is under tight government watch in the hermit regime, with access restricted to a few high-ranking officials.
Myanmar
X has been blocked since February 2021, when authorities took aim at the app for its use by opponents of the military coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government.
Since then, the junta has kept a tight grip on Internet access in Myanmar.
Russia
Access to Twitter was throttled from 2021 by Moscow, which complained the site was allowing users to spread “illegal content.”
A formal ban came in March 2022, just after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Many Russian users continue to connect to X via VPN services that allow them to get around the block.
Pakistan
X has been banned since parliamentary polls in February this year.
Pakistan’s government, backed by the army, say the block is for security reasons.
Former prime minister Imran Khan — now in jail — was targeted by widespread allegations of fraud spread via the platform against his opposition party.
Venezuela
Nicolas Maduro, who was declared winner of July’s presidential election despite grave suspicions of fraud, ordered access to X suspended for 10 days on August 9 as security forces were violently putting down nationwide demonstrations.
The block has remained in place beyond the expiry of the 10-day period.
Brazil
The country’s block on X has come from the judiciary, via Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes.
He has highlighted the reactivation of accounts that had been ordered suspended by Brazilian courts.
Users connecting to X via a VPN face a fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) per day.
Pakistan government rules out talks with ex-PM Khan party without apology over May 2023 riots
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- Khan’s arrest on May 9, 2023 triggered a wave of violence that saw his supporters attacking military installations and other property in Pakistan
- The government is currently engaged in a dialogue to address political, economic and security challenges, with Khan’s party not being a part of it
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government on Saturday ruled out negotiations with jailed former PM Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party as part of a national dialogue to address Pakistan’s political, economic and security challenges, saying it was not possible without an apology by the PTI over the May 9, 2023 riots.
The development comes as Pakistan faces low foreign exchange reserves, currency devaluation and high inflation, while the South Asian country has also witnessed a surge in militant activities in its two western regions, including a string of coordinated attacks launched last Sunday that killed more than 50 people in Balochistan.
Khan has been in jail since August last year on multiple charges, while his party and legal team have been struggling to get him out of the prison. Some reports earlier suggested that Mahmood Khan Achakzai, chief of Pashtookhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and a Khan ally, was engaged with the government for some indirect talks, but the government has ruled this out.
“Given Imran Khan and his way of politics, talks cannot be initiated till he apologizes to the nation and national security institutions over May 9 incidents,” Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told reporters after a key meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party in Lahore.
The statement came months after a spokesman for the Pakistani military, which has ruled the country for nearly half of its history, said political parties could hold negotiations to resolve national issues, but demanded a public apology from Khan and his party over attacks on military installments on May 9, 2023 during violent protests over Khan’s brief arrest in a graft case.
The protesters vandalized military installations in Lahore, Mianwali and Faisalabad in Punjab and a few others in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, prompting authorities to round up hundreds of Khan supporters for their alleged involvement in the riots. Khan has refused to apologize for the violence and says he was under detention at the time and was unaware of the May 9, 2023 protests, according to media reports.
Iqbal said the former premier would not get any amnesty and he would have to prove his innocence in the cases against him.
“You will not get NRO [amnesty],” he said, referring to Khan. “You will have to prove your innocence.”
Since his ouster from office in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April 2022, Khan was booked in dozens of cases and was convicted in four of them. Two of the cases have since been suspended and he was recently acquitted in the remaining two, but the authorities have since brought new charges against him.
Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says the cases against him are “politically motivated,” aimed at keeping him from returning to power. Pakistani authorities deny this.
Iqbal told Arab News that PM Sharif on Friday held a meeting with another opposition leader, Maulana Fazalur Rehman, who heads the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) party, as part of the national dialogue and he would be meeting other leaders as well as the country was facing an “unannounced war by the enemies.”
Political analysts say the Sharif-led government is the “beneficiary” of a stalemate between Khan’s PTI and the military establishment and hence, a thaw between the two was not in its interest.
“The PML-N needs time to consolidate its position and reclaim the lost political capital, so it would want this political deadlock to continue,” Zaigham Khan, a political analyst, told Arab News.
“The real issue at the moment is the tension between the PTI and the military establishment and a solution to it doesn’t seem imminent.”
Another analyst, Amir Zia, believed that it was against the government’s interest to engage the PTI in the dialogue.
“The PTI also seems least interested in talks with the government as they know the authority rests somewhere else,” he told Arab News. “But the politicians should demonstrate maturity to restore stability in the country.”
PM meets 5-year-old Pakistani Guinness world record holder, praises him for making Pakistan proud
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- Five-year-old Sufiyan Mehsood and his father this year set the Guinness world record for ‘fastest time to climb around a person’
- The father-son duo smashed the record of India’s K. Gokulnath and MV Arjun Priyan during the feat in Dera Ismail Khan on June 19
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday met with five-year-old Sufiyan Mehsood and praised him for making the nation proud by setting a Guinness world record for “fastest time to climb around a person,” Sharif’s office said.
Five-year-old Mehsood achieved the feat together with his father Irfan Mehsood, who holds several Guinness world record titles, and set a record of 7.87 seconds to climb around a person.
The father-son duo smashed the record of India’s K. Gokulnath and MV Arjun Priyan during the feat in Pakistan’s northwestern Dera Ismail Khan district on June 19.
“Sufyan Mehsud made Pakistan and his parents proud by making it to the Guinness Book of World Records at a young age,” PM Sharif was quoted as saying by his office.
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He said his government was providing sports opportunities to divert energies of the youth in a positive direction.
“The talented youth of Pakistan offer a guarantee for the country’s bright future,” Sharif added.
During the meeting, Mehsood’s father, Irfan, who specializes in martial arts, informed the prime minister about his sports and physical training academy in Dera Ismail Khan and the achievements of its trained athletes.
The prime minister directed officials of the PM’s Youth Program to collaborate with the sports academy of Mehsood’s father and take steps to promote various sports in the country.
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Irfan, 33, holds records for the most push-ups, squats, jumping jacks, squat thrusts, step-ups, knee strikes, elbow strikes, side jumps and high jumps.
He has so far broken the records of 16 countries, including the United States, Britain, India, China, Norway, Germany, France, Finland, Philippines, Spain, Italy, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria.