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National Games: System overpowers spirit in basketball

Just four days before the National Games basketball event was set to tip-off, the Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBBF) was told the venue was gone. With teams arriving and no court to play on, the event itself was in jeopardy. “We arranged everything in almost two days,” PBBF secretary Yaqoob Qadri told Dawn , revealing a significant off-court challenge. “There were some people who don’t want the event to happen.” Yet, on Sunday, the roar of a packed crowd for the Army-Sindh clash at the North Nazimabad Gymkhana in Karachi was the definitive answer. Against a backdrop of administrative hurdles, the players delivered a classic on the hardwood: a tale of Army’s clinical system slowly dismantling Sindh’s passionate home stand, culminating in a 97-62 victory. The roar in the arena was for Sindh. Every steal, every basket by the home team sent waves of noise crashing onto the court. But standing across from that passion was the cold, tall geometry of the Pakistan Army team. What unfolde...
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Pakistan, US to intensify cooperation on security, immigration

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States agreed to intensify cooperation on immigration and security during a meeting here on Saturday between Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and acting US Ambassador Natalie Baker. The acting US ambassador, who called on the interior minister, offered her country’s full technical assistance for counter-narcotics operations and efforts to curb illegal immigration. The meeting also focused on strengthening collaboration in intelligence sharing. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Naqvi said that Pakistan had a clear and firm policy regarding illegal immigration. He added said the identification of drug trafficking cases at airports remained a top priority. “State-of-the-art scanning machines are being installed at all major airports across the country.” The minister reaffirmed that the country was strictly implementing a zero-tolerance policy against narcotics. “Even today, drugs originating from Afghanistan are reaching dozens of countries and destroyin...
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US sets 2027 deadline for Europe-led Nato defence, officials say

The United States wants Europe to take over the majority of Nato’s conventional defence capabilities, from intelligence to missiles, by 2027, Pentagon officials told diplomats in Washington this week, a tight deadline that struck some European officials as unrealistic. The message, recounted by five sources familiar with the discussion, including a US official, was conveyed at a meeting in Washington this week of Pentagon staff overseeing Nato policy and several European delegations. The shifting of this burden from the US to European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation would dramatically change how the US, a founding member of the post-war alliance, works with its most important military partners. In the meeting, Pentagon officials indicated that Washington was not yet satisfied with the strides Europe has made to boost its defence capabilities since Russia’s expanded invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The US officials told their counterparts that if Europe does not meet t...
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Govt offers talks after PTI demands access to its leader

• Rana Sanaullah says party still not ready to come to the table • Alarm raised over alleged breach of privacy by FBR ISLAMABAD: After a fiery speech in the Senate by a PTI-backed lawmaker, deploring the absence of rule of law and an unannounced ban on meetings with incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, the ruling party once again held out an olive branch to the PTI, reassuring it that all issues could be resolved through dialogue. Speaking in the upper house of parliament on Friday, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Poli­tical and Public Affairs Rana Sana­ullah said the PTI had always rejected the path of negotiations, even though all issues could be reso­lved through dialogue rather than deadlock. He said the government was ready to hold a dialogue with the opposition to take the country forward, but the PTI leadership remained unwilling. The remarks came after PTI Senator Mashal Yousafzai chided two ministers over the claim that VVIP facilities were available to Imran ...
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Mexico to kick off 2026 World Cup against South Africa

The 2026 World Cup will kick off on June 11 with joint-hosts Mexico playing South Africa at the Azteca Stadium — venue of the 1970 and 1986 finals — followed by South Korea against a playoff winner after the draw was made on Friday. South Africa are appearing for the first time since 2010, when they drew with Mexico in the opening match but failed to reach the knockout stage. Fellow hosts the United States and Canada will join the party the next day, against Paraguay and a playoff winner — possibly Italy — respectively in Los Angeles and Toronto. Defending champions Argentina were grouped with Algeria, Austria and Jordan, while five-times winners Brazil will play Morocco — semi-finalists in 2022 — Haiti and Scotland. The Scots are appearing in the finals for the first time since 1998, when they lost to Brazil in the opening game. France’s first game will be against Senegal in a repeat of one of the biggest tournament upsets, when the Africans stunned the then-holders in their firs...
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Donald Trump awarded first FIFA ‘peace prize’ at football World Cup draw

US President Donald Trump said he was not attending the draw for the 2026 World Cup to receive a prize, but he got one anyway. Trump , who has campaigned aggressively this year for a Nobel Peace Prize, was given FIFA’s inaugural peace prize for his efforts to promote dialogue and de-escalation in some of the world’s hotspots. Amid TV cameras and flashbulbs from the international press, Trump dominated the scene at Washington’s Kennedy Center on Friday, placing himself squarely at the center of one of the biggest events in the sporting world. The United States, along with Canada and Mexico, will host the soccer tournament next year. The prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, and the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, were there, too, but it was all Trump’s show. “This will be unique, this will be stellar, this will be spectacular,” Gianni Infantino, the gregarious president of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, said at the opening of the ceremony, talking about next year’s ...
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US asylum freeze

IT is clear that the Trump administration is using last week’s shooting incident, in which two National Guard troopers were targeted, to further clamp down on asylum and immigration. The suspected shooter, a former Afghan security man with ties to US forces, came to America in 2021. In the wake of the Washington shooting, the US has suspended all asylum claims, while people from 19 “high-risk” countries will have their immigration status reviewed retroactively. Moreover, the US travel ban could be extended to more than 30 countries — mostly ‘ Third World ’ states in the words of the US president. According to the US homeland security secretary, “foreign invaders” who “snatch the benefits owed to Americans” are not welcome. Yet much of this xenophobic rhetoric conveniently overlooks one crucial fact: many of the asylum seekers and migrants heading to American shores come from countries that the US and its Western allies have themselves helped destroy through military interventions. ...
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