Author: News Desk

Pakistan cricketer Umar Akmal’s 18-month ban over corruption charges has been reduced to a year, the Court of Arbitration for Sports said Friday. The verdict from the Lausanne-based body will likely come as a relief for the troubled batsman, who has a history of disciplinary issues that have earned him a string of fines and bans during his career. But the court also hit him with a hefty fine of 4.2 million rupees ($26,854) over his breaching of the Anti-Corruption Code. A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) disciplinary committee banned Akmal for three years last April after he failed to report…

Yusuf Pathan, former India all-rounder, announced his retirement from all formats of cricket on Friday. Yusuf, the older brother of another former India cricketer Irfan Pathan, is a two-time World Cup winner. Yusuf has also won the Indian Premier League twice with Kolkata Knight Riders – in 2012, 2014 – and once with Rajasthan Royals in 2008. “I thank my family, friends, fans, teams, coaches and the whole country wholeheartedly for all the support and love,” tweeted Yusuf along with a retirement statement. https://twitter.com/iamyusufpathan/status/1365252075710410754?s=20 Yusuf played 57 ODIs and 22 T20Is for India since making his international debut in 2007. He was part of the Indian…

A clash of two fan-favorite Bantamweights is the latest addition to BRAVE CF 48: Arabian Nights, scheduled for March 18, in the Kingdom of Bahrain, also known as “The Kombat Kingdom”, as Kuwait-Canadian Tariq Ismail takes on South Africa’s Nkosi Ndebele. Tariq Ismail holds a professional record of 6 wins and a single loss, suffered on his last professional appearance, against Bernardo Sopai, at BRAVE CF 38, back in October. Eager to bounce back after experiencing the bitter taste for the first time ever, the “Desert Storm” will face fierce competition in one of the most prominent young stars in…

The global economy warrants caution due to uncertainty over coronavirus vaccinations and variants, though Japan’s economy shows signs of recovery with low infections, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Friday. Speaking to reporters after attending a virtual meeting of Group of 20 financial leaders, Aso also urged the major economies to unite in backing low income countries given widening disparities of economic growth and vaccinations. “To support low income countries, Japan will back a new allocation of SDRs (Special Drawing Rights),” Aso said, referring to the International Monetary Fund’s resources. (Reuters)

Facebook ended a one-week blackout of Australian news on its popular social media site on Friday and announced preliminary commercial agreements with three small local publishers. The moves reflected easing tensions between the U.S. company and the Australian government, a day after the country’s parliament passed a law forcing it and Alphabet Inc’s Google to pay local media companies for using content on their platforms. The new law makes Australia the first nation where a government arbitrator can set the price Facebook and Google pay domestic media to show their content if private negotiations fail. Canada and other countries have…

Indonesia has authorised one of the world’s first private vaccination schemes to run alongside its national programme so that companies can buy state-procured vaccines to inoculate their staff in Southeast Asia’s biggest country. The initiative, approved by a government regulation, has drawn criticism from some health experts who warn it could worsen inequity. The world’s fourth most populous country has launched an ambitious programme to vaccinate 181.5 million people for free in about a year, but business had been pushing for a way of inoculating staff faster to open up the economy. The regulation stipulates that companies can buy vaccines…

The draw on the fifth edition of the Khalifa bin Salman Basketball will be held on Tuesday (March 2). The Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) is stepping up preparations for the draw which will be held at the BBA arena in Umm Al Hassam. The association has lined up a special programme for the draw on the cup which bears the name of late His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. BBA-affiliated clubs have been invited to designate one representative each to attend the event. Mandatory precautionary measures for combating the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will be respected.

A single dose of Pfizer and BioNtech’s COVID-19 vaccine cuts the number of asymptomatic infections and could significantly reduce the risk of transmission of the virus, results of a UK study found on Friday. Researchers analysed results from thousands of COVID-19 tests carried out each week as part of hospital screenings of healthcare staff in Cambridge, eastern England. “Our findings show a dramatic reduction in the rate of positive screening tests among asymptomatic healthcare workers after a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,” said Nick Jones, an infectious diseases specialist at Cambridge University Hospital, who co-led the study. After separating…

The government of the south Indian state of Kerala has made the on-arrival COVID-19 RT-PCR test free for those coming from abroad. Kerala Health minister K.K. Shailaja made the announcement in Kerala and said all international passengers will continue to be tested on arrival as per the latest travel protocol announced by India’s federal government. The new requirement of mandatory COVID-19 RT-PCR test came into effect on February 23, following which, several expats had sought exemption from the test fee, which is charged at different rates at different airports in India. In Kerala, the cost of the test was capped…

Bitcoin fell as much as 6% on Friday to its lowest in two weeks, as a rout in global bond markets sent yields flying and sparked a sell-off in riskier assets. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency slumped as low as $44,451 before recovering some of its losses. It was last trading down 1.3% at $46,588. The sell-off echoed that in equity markets, where European stocks tumbled as much as 1.5%, with concerns over lofty valuations also hammering demand. Asian stocks fell by the most in nine months. Bitcoin has risen about 60% from the start of the year, hitting an all-time…