MULTAN, Pakistan: Pakistan captain Shan Masood admitted England taught his team a “harsh reality” on how to win a Test with their massive innings and 47-run victory in Multan on Friday.
England’s attack made short work of the last four Pakistan batters on Day 5, dismissing the hosts for 220 and drawing first blood in the three-match series.
England found a way to win despite Pakistan’s first innings total of 556, responding with the fourth-highest Test score of 823-7 in response.
“It can’t be more disappointing than this,” said Masood who has lost all six Tests since being appointed captain last year.
“England taught us the harsh reality on how to find a way to win a Test match which we couldn’t find,” said Masood who scored a hundred to set up Pakistan’s first innings.
“After two days being under the sun and being 556 behind they gave themselves a chance to bat and scored big and when they came back with the ball they had a plan and they executed that well.”
Harry Brook smashed 317 and Joe Root a record-setting 262, giving England a 267-run lead and both players their highest Test scores.
Chris Woakes then dismissed Abdullah Shafique with the first ball of the second innings before Jack Leach led the England attack to victory with figures of 4-30.
Masood said England proved themselves a quality side.
“The harsh reality in Test cricket is that no matter what the pitch is, quality sides will find a way and England did that and for us the learning is to find a way to win Tests,” said Masood.
Pakistan’s batting has been stumbling due to a slump for talisman Babar Azam, who has gone without a half-century in his last 18 Test innings.
“There is no doubt that Babar is Pakistan’s best batsman,” said Masood of Azam who scored a scratchy 30 and five in the match.
“You always believe that your best batsman is just one innings away and we hope that he returns to form soon.”
Meanwhile, spinner Abrar Ahmed remained doubtful for the second Test in Multan starting on Tuesday.
“The condition of Abrar is not good so we all pray that he recovers well and plays cricket again,” said Masood of the spinner who did not take the field on the last two days due to a high fever.
The third and final Test is in Rawalpindi from October 24.
Masood admits England defeat ‘a harsh reality’ for Pakistan
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Masood admits England defeat ‘a harsh reality’ for Pakistan
- England’s attack made short work of last four Pakistan batters on Day 5, dismissing hosts for 220, drawing first blood in three-match series
- England found a way to win despite Pakistan’s first innings total of 556, responding with the fourth-highest Test score of 823-7 in response
Pakistani deputy PM discusses new investments in energy, infrastructure with Abu Dhabi Fund chief
- Dar presents Al Suwaidi with Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam, one of Pakistan’s highest civil awards
- UAE is Pakistan’s third largest trading partner after China and US, key source of remittances
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met Director General of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) Mohammed Saif Al-Suwaidi on Tuesday to discuss boosting development cooperation and new investments in energy and infrastructure, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
The UAE is Pakistan’s third largest trading partner after China and the United States. More than 1.5 million Pakistanis live and work in the UAE, sending back billions of dollars in remittances annually. Bilateral trade between the two nations reached approximately $10.9 billion in fiscal year 2023–24, including $2.08 billion in exports and $6.33 billion in imports, according to Pakistani figures.
“They discussed enhancing development cooperation, expanding ADFD’s support for key infrastructure and energy projects in Pakistan, and exploring new avenues for sustainable investment,” Radio Pakistan said in a statement after Dar’s meeting with Al-Suwaidi.
According to the report, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to “deepening economic ties and promoting shared growth and prosperity.”
Dar also presented Al Suwaidi with the Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam, one of Pakistan’s highest civil awards, on behalf of President Asif Ali Zardari, in recognition of his “exceptional contributions to the promotion of Pakistan-UAE cooperation,” the broadcaster said.
The ADFD has funded major development projects in Pakistan for decades, including roads, airports and energy infrastructure to support economic growth.
Last year, the UAE said it had committed $10 billion to invest in promising economic sectors in Pakistan.
Islamabad has been pushing for foreign investment in a bid to shore up its $350 billion economy, which has struggled with high inflation and low growth as it navigates tough reforms mandated by the International Monetary Fund.
Children in Pakistan among millions under threat as vaccine coverage faltering — study
- Cases of polio, long eradicated in many areas thanks to vaccination, have been rising in Pakistan and Afghanistan
- Researchers say setbacks threaten WHO goal of essential vaccines for 90 percent world’s children, adolescents by 2030
PARIS: Efforts to vaccinate children against deadly diseases are faltering across the world due to economic inequality, Covid-era disruptions and misinformation, putting millions of lives at risk, research warned Wednesday.
These trends all increase the threat of future outbreaks of preventable diseases, the researchers said, while sweeping foreign aid cuts threaten previous progress in vaccinating the world’s children.
A new study published in The Lancet journal looked at childhood vaccination rates across 204 countries and territories.
It was not all bad news.
An immunization program by the World Health Organization was estimated to have saved an estimated 154 million lives over the last 50 years.
And vaccination coverage against diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, polio and tuberculosis doubled between 1980 and 2023, the international team of researchers found.
However the gains slowed in the 2010s, when measles vaccinations decreased in around half of the countries, with the largest drop in Latin America.
Meanwhile in more than half of all high-income countries there were declines in coverage for at least one vaccine dose.
Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
Routine vaccination services were hugely disrupted during lockdowns and other measures, resulting in nearly 13 million extra children who never received any vaccine dose between 2020 to 2023, the study said.
This disparity endured, particularly in poorer countries. In 2023, more than half of the world’s 15.7 million completely unvaccinated children lived in just eight countries, the majority in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the study.
In the European Union, 10 times more measles cases were recorded last year compared to 2023.
In the United States, a measles outbreak surged past 1,000 cases across 30 states last month, which is already more than were recorded in all of 2024.
Cases of polio, long eradicated in many areas thanks to vaccination, have been rising in Pakistan and Afghanistan, while Papua New Guinea is currently enduring a polio outbreak.
“Routine childhood vaccinations are among the most powerful and cost-effective public health interventions available,” said senior study author Jonathan Mosser of the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
“But persistent global inequalities, challenges from the COVID pandemic, and the growth of vaccine misinformation and hesitancy have all contributed to faltering immunization progress,” he said in a statement.
In addition, there are “rising numbers of displaced people and growing disparities due to armed conflict, political volatility, economic uncertainty, climate crises,” added lead study author Emily Haeuser, also from the IHME.
The researchers warned the setbacks could threaten the WHO’s goal of having 90 percent of the world’s children and adolescents receive essential vaccines by 2030.
The WHO also aims to halve the number of children who have received no vaccine doses by 2030 compared to 2019 levels.
Just 18 countries have achieved this so far, according to the study, which was funded by the Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccine alliance.
The global health community has also been reeling since President Donald Trump’s administration drastically slashed US international aid earlier this year.
“For the first time in decades, the number of kids dying around the world will likely go up this year instead of down because of massive cuts to foreign aid,” Bill Gates said in a separate statement on Tuesday.
“That is a tragedy,” the Microsoft co-founder said, committing $1.6 billion to Gavi, which is holding a fund-raising summit in Brussels on Wednesday.
Pakistan says Trump still deserves Nobel for halting India clash, Iran-Israel fighting
- Islamabad says US president helped end conflicts with India and between Iran and Israel
- Defense minister urges Trump to now work on implementing two-state solution for Palestine
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday defended Islamabad’s decision to recommend United States President Donald Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, citing his role in brokering two ceasefires in under two months.
The government last week announced it would formally nominate Trump for what it called his “decisive diplomatic intervention” during last month’s military standoff with India, a brief but intense escalation in which the nuclear-armed rivals exchanged missile, drone and artillery strikes before the US brokered a truce on May 10.
The standoff, which killed nearly 70 people on both sides, renewed fears of a wider conflict between Pakistan and India, who have fought three full-scale wars, mostly over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Indian officials have denied that Trump played any role in securing the May 10 ceasefire, but Pakistan insists his behind-the-scenes push was key to defusing the crisis.
The nomination, however, has sparked public criticism after Trump last week launched strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in retaliation for attacks on Israeli targets. The region narrowly avoided further escalation when Washington subsequently said it had brokered a ceasefire between Iran and Israel on Monday, ending nearly two weeks of missile and drone attacks that killed over 200 Iranians and about 30 Israelis.
“I believe that within just a month and a half, President Trump has managed two ceasefires,” Asif told Independent Urdu in an interview. “So, our endorsement for his Nobel Prize, it’s not just about one but two ceasefires that has further strengthened our case for it.”
Asif also credited Trump for preventing a wider regional war in the Middle East and urged him to build on the momentum by reviving efforts for a two-state solution in Palestine.
“And I would take it a step further that President Trump should now work toward a two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he said.
While reports of violations continued to emerge after the Iran-Israel ceasefire was announced, the truce has largely held under heavy US pressure. Trump, who campaigned on pledges to act as a “peacemaker” and quickly resolve conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza — both still ongoing five months into his presidency — has called the Iran-Israel truce a personal diplomatic triumph.
Trump has also claimed credit for mediating a deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda to defuse tensions over rebel groups operating near their border. He has also previously offered to mediate the decades-old Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan and has sought to portray himself as a mediator in the long-running Serbia-Kosovo conflict.
UN estimates 2.5 million refugees will need resettling in 2026 from Pakistan, other countries
- The largest refugee populations likely to be resettled were Afghans, Syrians, South Sudanese, Rohingya from Myanmar, and Congolese
- Part of the decline in resettlement is linked to the US, long the world’s biggest resettler of refugees, which has now shut its doors
GENEVA: An estimated 2.5 million refugees worldwide will need to be resettled next year, the UN said Tuesday, at a time when the United States but also other nations are shrinking resettlement access.
UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, said the needs were down slightly from this year, when around 2.9 million refugees are estimated to need resettlement.
“This is mainly due to the changed situation in Syria, which has allowed for voluntary returns,” UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told reporters in Geneva.
“We are seeing some people pull out of resettlement processes in favor of plans to go home to rebuild,” she added.
Mantoo said that in 2026, the largest refugee populations likely to need to be resettled were Afghans, Syrians, South Sudanese, Rohingya from Myanmar, and Congolese.
Most of the refugees will need resettling from major host countries including Iran, Turkiye, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Uganda, she said.
The announcement came as the UNHCR’s resettlement efforts face towering hurdles.
“In 2025... resettlement quotas are expected to be the lowest in two decades, falling below the levels seen even during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many countries paused their programs,” Mantoo said.
Part of the decline is linked to the United States — long the world’s biggest resettler of refugees — which has now slammed its doors shut.
Shortly after returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump halted the US refugee resettlement program.
Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had embraced the program designed to facilitate legal resettlement of vetted refugees, resettling over 100,000 refugees in the United States last year.
Mantoo stressed though that the problem was not with just one country.
“We have indications that a number of countries are reducing or adjusting quotas,” she said.
Stressing that resettlement among other things “offers a concrete alternative to dangerous journeys,” Mantoo urged countries to “sustain their programs and increase their intake.”
In recognition that the needs far outstrip the available spots, she said that the international community had set itself a goal of resettling 120,000 refugees in 2026.
“Recent history shows that this is achievable,” she said.
Last year, she said that despite the challenges, the UNHCR supported the resettlement of 116,000 refugees globally.
“Every place is invaluable for those fleeing danger.”
Earlier this month UNHCR said a record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024.
But that figure dropped to 122.1 million by the end of April this year, as Syrians began returning home after years of turmoil.
PM hosts Pakistani delegates for successfully presenting Islamabad’s case on India crisis
- Pakistan, India engaged in a military conflict last month that saw the neighbors attack each other with drones, missiles and artillery
- Pakistani delegates this month visited key capitals to apprise them of India’s unilateral moves, including suspension of key water treaty
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday hosted a dinner in honor of a Pakistani delegation, led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, that presented Islamabad’s stance on recent crisis with India before key world capitals.
Pakistan and India engaged in a four-day military conflict last month that saw the two neighbors attack each other with drones, missiles and artillery in their worst fighting in decades.
The conflict had raised fears of a full-blown war between the nuclear-armed neighbors who agreed to a United States-brokered ceasefire on May 10, with the conflict killing nearly 70 people on both sides.
Bhutto-Zardari led Pakistan’s mission to the US, United Kingdom and Europe to apprise the world powers of Indian unilateral actions, including the suspension of a World Bank-brokered water-sharing treaty with Pakistan.
“The delegation presented the events from Pahalgam to the Indus Waters Treaty [suspension] in the right perspective and in a good manner,” Sharif said. “I hope that with the guidance, cooperation and suggestions of all of you, we will overcome all internal and external challenges.”
Other members of the Pakistani delegation included Sherry Rehman, Musadik Malik, Hina Rabbani Khar, Bushra Anjum Butt, Faisal Sabzwari, Khurram Dastgir and Jalil Abbas Jilani.
On Monday, Bhutto-Zardari said Islamabad had defeated New Delhi on the “battlefield, in diplomacy, and in the war of narratives.”
“India has two options: share water fairly or we will deliver water to us from all six rivers [of the Indus basin],” Bhutto-Zardari said, while addressing the lower house of Pakistan parliament.
“The attack on Sindhu [Indus river] and India’s claim that the IWT has ended and it’s in abeyance, firstly, this is illegal, as the IWT is not in abeyance, it is binding on Pakistan and India but the threat itself of stopping water is illegal according to the UN charter.”
His comments followed a statement from Indian interior minister Amit Shah in which he said they would take the water that was flowing to Pakistan to the Indian state of Rajasthan by constructing a canal.
“Pakistan will be starved of water that it has been getting unjustifiably,” Shah told Times of India newspaper.
The IWT grants Pakistan rights to the Indus basin’s western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — for irrigation, drinking, and non-consumptive uses like hydropower, while India controls the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — for unrestricted use but must not significantly alter their flow. India can use the western rivers for limited purposes such as power generation and irrigation, without storing or diverting large volumes, according to the agreement.
Islamabad is also exploring a legal challenge to India’s decision to hold the treaty in abeyance under international law.
Last month’s conflict between Pakistan and India was triggered by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam town.
India accused Pakistan of backing the assault that killed 26 tourists on April 22 and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, which ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms, among a slew of punitive measures.
Islamabad denied the allegation and offered to join a credible, international probe into the Kashmir attack, followed by its own set of diplomatic measures against New Delhi.
