KARACHI: Pakistan&#39;s Twenty20 league will be held on schedule from March 26 but without crowds and only at two venues to save resources due to the Gulf crisis, the country&#39;s cricket chief announced Sunday.&nbsp;Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi said the decisions on the Pakistan Super League (PSL) were taken after consultation with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.&nbsp;&quot;The prime minister has requested restricted movements of people because of the fuel crisis so we have decided that the PSL would continue as per the original schedule but without crowds,&quot; Naqvi told a press conference in Lahore.&nbsp;To stop fans travelling, the eight-team league has also been reduced to two venues, and not the original six, meaning Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan and Peshawar miss out.&nbsp;&quot;All PSL matches will now take place in Lahore and Karachi and we hope the league could be held with crowds but that would be contingent on the crisis in Iran ending,&quot; said Naqvi, who is also Pakistan&#39;s interior minister.&nbsp;&quot;I feel for the Peshawar crowds who were due to watch a match for the first time,&quot; said Naqvi.&nbsp;Naqvi said the PCB would compensate the franchise owners for the loss of revenue because of no crowds. The majority of gate money goes to the franchises.&nbsp;The 11th edition of PSL will run until May 3.

Cricket

Pakistan will hold the Pakistan Super League from March 26 as planned, but without crowds and only in Lahore and Karachi, due to a fuel crisis linked to Gulf tensions. Other cities were dropped, and teams will be compensated.

Pakistan's T20 cricket league cuts venues, crowds due to Gulf crisis

WASHINGTON: A top Cuban diplomat said the communist-led island is making preparations in the event of a potential US attack, but insisted it has &quot;no quarrel&quot; with Washington, according to an interview that aired Sunday.&nbsp;&quot;Our military is always prepared. And in fact it is preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression,&quot; Cuba&#39;s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio told NBC, adding, however, &quot;we truly hope that it doesn&#39;t occur.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;Cuba has no quarrel with the United States. We do have the need and the right to protect ourself. But we are willing to sit down,&quot; Fernandez de Cossio said.&nbsp;The interview aired as Cuban authorities were scrambling Sunday to restore power to the island after the second nationwide blackout in less than a week, as the grid struggles due to aging infrastructure and a US oil blockade.&nbsp;The breakdowns have intensified since Cuba&#39;s main regional ally and oil supplier, Venezuela&#39;s socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, was captured in a US military operation in January.&nbsp;In the interview, which was taped before the blackout, Fernandez de Cossio continued: &quot;We are acting as proactively as we can to cope with the situation.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;We do hope that fuel will reach Cuba one way or the other and that this boycott that the United States has been imposing does not last and cannot be sustained forever.&quot;&nbsp;Power went back on in some parts of Havana, but others were still dark early Sunday, a day after the energy ministry reported a &quot;total disconnection&quot; of the national electric system in the country of nearly 10 million people.&nbsp;There have been seven nationwide blackouts since 2024, making life more difficult for Cubans who fear food will spoil in refrigerators, among other problems in a country in economic crisis.&nbsp;US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba.&nbsp;No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, hitting the power sector while also forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector.

Americas

Cuba is getting ready in case the US attacks but says it doesn’t want a fight and is open to talks. At the same time, the country faces big power blackouts because of old equipment and an oil shortage.

Cuba readies for possible US attack, but ready to talk: diplomat

Syed Maisam Ali

ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban carried out widespread corporal punishments and public executions over the past year, intensifying concerns about human rights and due process under their rule, according to media reports and United Nations findings.&nbsp;At least 1,186 people were flogged and six publicly executed between March 2025 and early 2026, according to figures reported by Amu TV.&nbsp;&ldquo;Official figures indicate that nearly 100 women were flogged over an eight-month period, many of the punishments carried out in public,&rdquo; the outlet reported.&nbsp;Statements from Taliban courts suggest that the use of corporal punishment increased in the latter part of the year, with women among those subjected to public floggings.&nbsp;The developments come as the United Nations has repeatedly warned of a worsening human rights situation in Afghanistan. In its latest monitoring updates, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented the continued use of corporal punishment and restrictions on basic freedoms, noting that such practices raise serious concerns about compliance with international human rights standards.&nbsp;UN findings further highlight the disproportionate impact on women, describing Afghanistan as &ldquo;the world&rsquo;s most severe women&rsquo;s rights crisis,&rdquo; where women face systemic barriers to justice and are significantly less likely than men to access legal protections.&nbsp;Public executions have also resumed as a form of punishment.&nbsp;Over the past year, executions were reported in Khost, Badghis, Farah and Nimroz provinces, with at least three people executed in Badghis alone.&nbsp;In one recent case, a man was executed in a sports stadium in eastern Afghanistan&rsquo;s Khost province in front of thousands of spectators, including children, underscoring concerns over the public nature of such punishments.&nbsp;Human rights monitors say these actions reflect a broader pattern.&nbsp;UNAMA reports throughout 2025 documented extrajudicial punishments, arbitrary detentions and shrinking civic space, alongside a justice system lacking due process safeguards.&nbsp;Cases involving freedom of expression have also drawn attention.&nbsp;In Kapisa province, a man was sentenced to 39 lashes and one year and six months in prison for what Taliban authorities described as &ldquo;propaganda against the system,&rdquo; according to Amu TV.&nbsp;In another instance, an individual was flogged and jailed for allegedly insulting Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, highlighting increasing restrictions on speech.&nbsp;Abdul Ahad Farzam, a human rights researcher, warned that the continuation of such practices could have lasting consequences.&nbsp;&ldquo;These punishments violate basic human rights standards and create a climate of fear in society,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;Rights advocates say the expansion of corporal punishment reflects a broader rollback of fundamental freedoms since the Taliban&rsquo;s return to power in 2021.&nbsp;UN reporting consistently points to systematic restrictions on civil liberties, women&rsquo;s rights and access to justice, alongside the use of punitive measures that fall short of international legal standards.&nbsp;Human rights groups and international observers warn that the persistence of such practices is deepening Afghanistan&rsquo;s isolation and further eroding protections for its population.

Asia

The Afghan Taliban carried out public floggings and executions, disproportionately affecting women, restricting freedoms, and violating human rights. UN and observers warn these practices fuel fear and deepen Afghanistan’s rights crisis.

Afghan Taliban public punishments, executions fuel fear, deepen rights crisis

GENEVA: The Middle East war has reached a &quot;perilous stage&quot; with strikes around nuclear sites in Iran and Israel, the World Health Organization warned Sunday, as it called for maximum restraint.&nbsp;An Iranian ballistic missile ripped open residential buildings and left dozens wounded late Saturday in the southern Israeli town of Dimona.&nbsp;Dimona hosts what is widely believed to be the Middle East&#39;s only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons, insisting the site is for research.&nbsp;Iran said the strike was in response to an earlier attack on its nuclear site at Natanz, which hosts underground centrifuges used to enrich uranium for Iran&#39;s disputed nuclear programme, and was damaged in the June 2025 war.&nbsp;&quot;The war in the Middle East has reached a perilous stage&quot; with the strikes on Natanz and Dimona, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.&nbsp;&quot;Attacks targeting nuclear sites create an escalating threat to public health and environmental safety,&quot; he said.&nbsp;&quot;I urgently call on all parties to exercise maximum military restraint and avoid any actions that could trigger nuclear incidents. Leaders must prioritize de-escalation and protect civilians.&quot;&nbsp;Tedros said the International Atomic Energy Agency was looking into the strikes, and &quot;no indications of abnormal or increased off-site radiation levels have been reported&quot;.&nbsp;The war erupted on February 28 when the United States and Israel began their attacks on Iran, with Tehran in turn striking targets in Israel and Gulf nations. &nbsp;Since the war began, the WHO has provided training to its own staff and to other United Nations personnel across 13 countries to help them respond to public health threats in the event of a nuclear incident, said Tedros.

Middle East

The Middle East war has intensified, with Iran and Israel striking near nuclear sites in Natanz and Dimona. World Health Organization warns of public health risks, urges restraint, while IAEA monitors radiation; civilians remain in danger.

Middle East war at 'perilous stage' with strikes around nuclear sites: WHO

DOHA: Three Turkish nationals including a serviceman were on board a helicopter that crashed in Qatar&#39;s territorial waters, alongside three Qatari servicemen, the Gulf country&#39;s defence ministry said on Sunday. The Turkish defence ministry meanwhile said that &quot;a Qatari armed forces helicopter, which was carrying out a training exercise as part of the Qatar-Turkey Joint Forces Command, crashed into the sea&quot;. &quot;A member of the Turkish armed forces and two Aselsan technicians&quot; were killed in the crash, the ministry said, referring to the Turkish defence giant. Five passengers and a pilot were killed, Qatari authorities said, while a second pilot has been reported missing. The Qatari defence ministry had earlier said that the helicopter crashed due to a &quot;technical malfunction&quot; during a routine flight.

Three Turkish nationals, including a serviceman, were on board a helicopter that crashed in Qatar's territorial waters, alongside three Qatari servicemen, due to a technical malfunction.

Three Turks, including serviceman, among dead in Qatar copter crash

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk announced Saturday a plan to make chips for artificial intelligence, robotics and data centers in space, in the latest bold project by the world&#39;s richest person. The &quot;Terafab&quot;, a manufacturing facility based near Austin, Texas, will aim to produce one terawatt of computing power per year, Musk said. A terawatt is equivalent to one trillion watts. That is slightly less than the total power generation capacity of the United States, according to an industry group. Musk said the project would be run jointly by his electric-vehicle firm Tesla and his rocket company SpaceX. He did not disclose the initial investment. Previous US media reports have put the figure between $20 billion and $25 billion. Musk, who has no prior experience in semiconductors, said the Terafab was necessary because Tesla and SpaceX&#39;s demand for computing power was expected to far exceed that of global chip suppliers. &quot;We&#39;re very grateful to our existing supply chain, to Samsung, TSMC, Micron, and others... but there&#39;s a maximum rate at which they&#39;re comfortable expanding,&quot; Musk said. &quot;That rate is much less than we would like... and we need the chips, so we&#39;re going to build the Terafab.&quot; An &quot;advanced technology fab&quot; in Austin will have the facilities to design, manufacture, test and improve each chip, Musk said. Eventually, the project aims to make chips to support 100 to 200 gigawatts of computing power on Earth, and a terawatt in space. Musk did not give a timeline for the Terafab&#39;s output, and has previously promised grand results from other projects on compressed time scales. He said the Terafab would ultimately help humanity become a &quot;galactic civilization&quot; capable of harnessing the resources of other planets and stars.

Artificial Intelligence

Elon Musk unveils plan for “Terafab,” a joint Tesla and SpaceX project to build AI chip manufacturing capacity on Earth and eventually in space to meet rising computing demand.

Musk launches 'Terafab' project to make own AI chips

GENEVA: A strike on a hospital in Sudan killed 64 people and wounded 89 others, the World Health Organization said Saturday, with 13 children counted among the dead. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the attack on Friday hit El-Daein Teaching Hospital in the state capital of East Darfur, adding that &quot;enough blood has been spilled&quot; and it was time to stop the nearly three-year conflict ravaging Sudan. The hospital &quot;was struck, killing at least 64 people, including 13 children, two female nurses, one male doctor, and multiple patients,&quot; he announced on X. Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers reported that the hospital was hit by an army drone strike. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces dominate the vast Darfur region in western Sudan, while Sudan&#39;s army is in control of the east, center and north. Tedros said eight health staff were among the wounded in Friday&#39;s attack, which damaged the hospital&#39;s paediatric, maternity, and emergency departments. The hospital is now non-functional &quot;due to the extensive damage,&quot; he said, which resulted in a &quot;critical interruption of essential medical services.&quot; Tedros said the WHO was supporting local health partners to help fill urgent gaps by scaling up capacity at other health facilities, including by increasing capacity to treat the injured, and deploying trauma care supplies and essential medicines. &#39;Devastating human toll&#39;&nbsp;RSF-controlled El-Daein has been regularly attacked by the Sudanese army, which is trying to push the paramilitaries back towards its Darfur strongholds and away from Sudan&#39;s central corridor. Its most recent strike on the city&#39;s market earlier this month set fire to oil barrels that burned for hours. The WHO&#39;s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA) counts and verifies such attacks, but it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigative agency. The United Nations&#39; humanitarian office in Sudan said it was &quot;appalled by the attack.&quot; To the repeated condemnation of the UN, hospitals have been a regular target throughout the war, which erupted in April 2023. As a result of Friday&#39;s tragedy, the total number of people killed in attacks on health care in the conflict has now passed 2,000. The WHO&#39;s SSA site showed 2,036 people have now been killed in 213 such attacks. &quot;Beyond the devastating human toll, attacks on health care have immediate and long-term consequences for communities already in desperate need of both emergency and routine medical services,&quot; said Tedros. &quot;Health care should never be a target. Peace is the best medicine,&quot; he said. The SSA figures show attacks on health care in Sudan are growing deadlier by the year. In 2023, 64 attacks caused 38 deaths, and the following year, 72 attacks led to 200 deaths. In 2025, 65 attacks caused 1,620 deaths, 82% of reported deaths from attacks on health care worldwide. &#39;Enough suffering&#39;The WHO&#39;s SSA said Friday&#39;s strike involved &quot;violence with heavy weapons&quot; and affected not just the hospital, staff and patients but also supplies and storage. Near-daily drone strikes are now a hallmark of Sudan&#39;s brutal war, killing dozens at a time, mostly in the southern Kordofan region. UN rights chief Volker Turk this month said he was &quot;appalled&quot; after more than 200 civilians were reported killed by drone attacks within an eight-day period. &quot;Parties to the conflict in Sudan continue to use increasingly powerful drones to deploy explosive weapons with wide-area impacts in populated areas,&quot; he said. Across the country, the war has killed tens of thousands and driven more than 11 million people from their homes. It has fuelled what the UN describes as the world&#39;s largest displacement and hunger crises, with more than 33 million people in need of humanitarian aid. &quot;Enough blood has been spilled. Enough suffering has been inflicted,&quot; said Tedros. &quot;The time has come to de-escalate the conflict in Sudan and ensure the protection of civilians, health workers, and humanitarians.&quot;

Africa

WHO chief says the attack hit El-Daein Teaching Hospital in the state capital of East Darfur, adds that "enough blood has been spilled" and it was time to stop the nearly three-year conflict ravaging Sudan.



64 killed in attack on Sudan hospital: WHO

Web Desk/AFP

Iran warned that if the US attacks its power plants, it will fully close the strategic Strait of Hormuz until repairs are made. Currently, only about five percent of normal vessel traffic passes through.

Iran military says to completely close Hormuz if US targets power plants

WASHINGTON:&nbsp;Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who led a politically explosive investigation into Donald Trump&#39;s election campaign, has died aged 81, triggering a gloating response Saturday from the US president. US media reported that Mueller died late Friday, citing a family statement, without specifying a location or cause. Trump responded quickly on Truth Social, writing: &quot;Robert Mueller just died. Good, I&#39;m glad he&#39;s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!&quot; Barack Obama, whose presidency overlapped with Mueller&#39;s tenure as FBI chief for five years, hailed him as &quot;one of the most respected public servants of our time.&quot; Mueller led the FBI for 12 years, starting just days before the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States, during which time he built up the bureau&#39;s counterterror mission. After his tenure at the FBI, he was tapped as a special counsel for the Justice Department to lead an investigation into whether Trump&#39;s presidential campaign conspired with Russia to get him elected. Starting in 2017, Mueller operated for two years quietly behind the scenes, emerging in July 2019 to testify before Congress about the probe that Trump regularly denounced as a &quot;witch hunt.&quot; For many Americans, the nationally televised hearing was the first close look at the patrician, grey-haired former FBI director. What many saw was a cautious career prosecutor who was forced to testify under duress and who deflected questions from both Democrats and Republicans by referring repeatedly to his voluminous report. Mueller said his report did not exonerate Trump but he mostly deflected questions from lawmakers seeking to score political points for their sides. A &#39;straight shooter&#39;&nbsp;That was in keeping with the career of a public servant who had spent four decades serving both Democratic and Republican presidents. Before taking on the politically sensitive Russia investigation, Mueller, a former marine who was wounded and decorated for heroism in Vietnam, enjoyed a sterling reputation in Washington. Mueller is a &quot;consummate professional and a straight shooter,&quot; then-FBI chief Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee, said in July 2019. As a young prosecutor in San Francisco and Boston, Mueller took on cases involving grisly murders, organized crime, fraud by powerful banks and terror attacks, winning some, losing some, but rarely drawing serious criticism for his work. At the FBI, he gained a reputation of being an exacting taskmaster and, despite his early Republican political alignment, someone who was appreciated by politicians of both political parties. Two of his most heralded prosecutions involved New York mobster John Gotti and General Manuel Noriega of Panama. After retiring in 2013, he joined a private Washington law practice where he handled official arbiter missions. Trump&#39;s May 2017 firing of Mueller&#39;s successor at the FBI, James Comey, resulted in Mueller being recalled to public service to lead the investigation into suspected Russia meddling. Over 22 months, his investigators issued charges against 34 individuals, including six Trump associates, and three companies. Born August 7, 1944, in New York City, Mueller grew up on Manhattan&#39;s tony upper East Side. He attended the elite, and at the time all-male, Princeton University where he earned his bachelor&#39;s degree in 1966. After college, Mueller enlisted in the US Marines, and after one year as an enlisted man, entered officer candidate school. As a marine, Mueller earned a Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart for wounds received in combat. In 2001, he took over an FBI beset by scandals, including the years-long deception by FBI mole Robert Hanssen and the agency&#39;s failure to turn over thousands of pages of investigative documents to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh&#39;s attorneys. Then-president George W. Bush and legislators agreed that Mueller was the person to set the bureau right. &quot;His skills should be a perfect match for the challenge,&quot; Republican Senator Jeff Sessions said at the time. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, heartily agreed. &quot;Bob Mueller,&quot; he said, &quot;will give the FBI a major boost that will help it get back on its feet.&quot;

Robert Mueller, the former FBI director has died aged 81; The New York Times reported Mueller's death, citing a family statement, but did not specify a location or cause.

Former FBI chief Robert Mueller dies at 81

BRUSSELS:&nbsp;The European Commission on Saturday urged EU member countries to lower their target for filling natural gas storage in the coming months, to alleviate price pressures caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen sent a letter asking to &quot;consider reducing your filling target to 80 percent as early as possible in the filling season to provide certainty and reassurance to market participants&quot;, down from the usual 90% goal. Iran&#39;s retaliation for the US-Israeli <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/drone-strike-hits-iraq-gas-complex-cuts-supply-official" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">war</a> launched against has included attacks on its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/oil-prices-surge-stocks-sink-on-energy-shock-fears" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">oil- and gas-producing</a> Gulf neighbors, effectively closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz to tankers. Price shock&nbsp;Oil prices have soared more than 50% since the start of the war, which was triggered on Feb. 28, and natural gas prices in the EU have risen by more than 30%. The price shock is expected to lead to a higher pace of inflation, and dampen economic growth. While Europe is entering its warmer months, this is the period its countries refill their gas storage in preparation for winter. With higher gas prices, though, and elevated risk for supply, the EU is facing competition with Asia for supply. &quot;Developments in Iran and the wider region threaten regional and global security,&quot; Jorgensen said in his letter. &#39;Refill stores early&#39;&quot;When it comes to energy, this situation and the attacks on energy infrastructure are significantly impacting global oil and gas markets.&quot; He said that the EU&#39;s gas supply &quot;remains relatively protected at this stage&quot;, as it gets most of its liquified natural gas from the United States. &quot;But, as a net energy importer on global markets, the resulting high and volatile global prices may also impact the EU gas storage projections.&quot; Consequently, Jorgensen said, EU countries should look to refill stores early, and do so over a longer period, &quot;to mitigate pressure on prices and avoid (an) end-of-summer rush&quot;.&nbsp;He noted that, in case of &quot;difficult conditions&quot; and a commission assessment, the countries can deviate from the target by up to 20%.

Business

EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen sent a letter asking to ‘consider reducing your filling target to 80 percent as early as possible in the filling season to provide certainty and reassurance to market participants’.

Pakistan's T20 cricket league cuts venues, crowds due to Gulf crisis

Latest News

Cuba readies for possible US attack, but ready to talk: diplomat

Afghan Taliban public punishments, executions fuel fear, deepen rights crisis

Middle East war at 'perilous stage' with strikes around nuclear sites: WHO

Pakistan's T20 cricket league cuts venues, crowds due to Gulf crisis

Three Turks, including serviceman, among dead in Qatar copter crash