Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Former South African captain Faf du Plessis has announced he will join Pakistan&rsquo;s premier Twenty20 tournament, the Pakistan Super League (PSL), next year, bringing his 14-year Indian Premier League (IPL) career to a close. In a post on X earlier this week, the former Proteas skipper said he had chosen not to enter this year&rsquo;s IPL auction. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big decision, and one that comes with a lot of gratitude when I look back,&rdquo; he wrote. Du Plessis, who appeared in 154 IPL matches, said the tournament had been &ldquo;a massive part&rdquo; of his cricketing journey. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been lucky to play with world-class teammates, for amazing franchises, and in front of fans whose passion is like nothing else,&rdquo; he said, adding that his time in the league had given him &ldquo;friendships, lessons, and memories&rdquo; that shaped him both as a cricketer and as a person. While acknowledging that 14 years was a long time, he stressed it was not a farewell. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll see me again,&rdquo; he said. The former South African captain confirmed that he will take on &ldquo;a new challenge&rdquo; next year by joining the upcoming PSL season. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an exciting step for me, a chance to experience something new, to grow as a player, and to embrace a league filled with incredible talent and energy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A new country. A new environment. A new challenge. I&rsquo;m looking forward to the Pakistan hospitality. See you all soon,&rdquo; du Plessis added.

Cricket

Former South African skipper says "looking forward" to Pakistani hospitality, "a new country. A new environment. A new challenge." 


Faf du Plessis ends IPL stint, confirms debut in Pakistan’s PSL

CARACAS: US President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday he had recently spoken with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro amid soaring tensions between the two countries, while Caracas slammed what it called US preparations for an attack. The United States is piling the pressure on Venezuela, with a major military buildup in the Caribbean, the designation of an alleged drug cartel run by Maduro as a terrorist group, and an ominous warning from Trump that Venezuelan airspace is &quot;closed.&quot; Washington says the aim of the military deployment launched in September is to curb drug trafficking in the region, but Caracas insists regime change is the ultimate goal. &quot;I wouldn&#39;t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call,&quot; Trump told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One. The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump and Maduro had discussed a possible meeting, while The Wall Street Journal said on Saturday that the conversation also included conditions of amnesty if Maduro were to step down. Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin said Sunday on CNN&#39;s &quot;State of the Union&quot; talk show that the United States has offered Maduro the chance to leave his country for Russia or elsewhere. The United States accuses Maduro, the political heir to Venezuela&#39;s late leftist leader Hugo Chavez, of heading the &quot;Cartel of the Suns&quot; and has issued a $50 million reward for his capture. But Venezuela and countries that support it insist no such organization even exists. Several Venezuela experts say what Washington calls the Cartel of the Suns refers to the corruption of senior officials by criminal gangs. The United States also does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate winner of last year&#39;s presidential election. Though Trump has not publicly threatened to use force against Maduro, he said in recent days that efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking &quot;by land&quot; would begin &quot;very soon.&quot; Aid from OPEC? Venezuela says it has requested assistance from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it is a member, to help &quot;stop this (American) aggression, which is being readied with more and more force.&quot; The request came in a letter from Maduro to the group, read by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who is also Venezuela&#39;s oil minister, during a virtual meeting of OPEC ministers. Washington &quot;is trying to seize Venezuela&#39;s vast oil reserves, the biggest in the world, by using military force,&quot; Maduro wrote in the letter. Since September, US air strikes have targeted alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 83 people. Trump&#39;s administration has offered no concrete evidence to back up the allegations behind its campaign, and numerous experts have questioned the legality of the operations. US media reported on Friday that in one strike in September, the US military conducted a follow-up strike that killed survivors of an initial attack. The Washington Post and CNN said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had issued a directive to &quot;kill everybody,&quot; but Trump said Sunday that Hegseth had denied giving such an order. &quot;We&#39;ll look into it, but no, I wouldn&#39;t have wanted that &mdash; not a second strike,&quot; Trump told reporters. &quot;Pete said he did not order the death of those two men.&quot; &#39;Extrajudicial executions&#39;The head of Venezuela&#39;s legislature, Jorge Rodriguez, said he met on Sunday with relatives of Venezuelans killed in the strikes. He would not comment on a possible Trump-Maduro call. But when asked about the report about the Hegseth order, he said: &quot;If a war had been declared and led to such killings, we would be talking about war crimes.&quot; &quot;Given that no war has been declared, what happened...can only be characterized as murder or extrajudicial executions,&quot; he added. The steady US military buildup has seen the world&#39;s largest aircraft carrier deployed to Caribbean waters, while American fighter jets and bombers have repeatedly flown off the Venezuelan coast in recent days. Six airlines have canceled services to Venezuela, but on Sunday, the airport in Caracas was functioning as usual.

Americas

The US is piling the pressure on Venezuela, with a major military buildup in the Caribbean, the designation of an alleged drug cartel run by Maduro as a terrorist group, and an ominous warning from Trump that Venezuelan airspace is "closed."


Trump confirms call with Maduro, Caracas slams US maneuvers

LOS ANGELES: Four people, including three children, were killed and 11 more were wounded in a shooting at a birthday party in the US state of California late Saturday, authorities said, calling it a &quot;targeted incident.&quot; The shooting took place inside a banquet hall in Stockton, a city northeast of San Francisco, just before 6 pm (0200 GMT Sunday), San Joaquin County Sheriff&#39;s Office spokesperson Heather Brent told reporters at a news briefing. The four slain victims were aged eight, nine, 14, and 21, Brent told AFP on Sunday. The 11 wounded victims were taken to the hospital, Brent said, without giving more detailed information about their injuries. Between 100 and 150 people were attending the party at the time of the shooting, she said. &quot;Early indications suggest that this may be a targeted incident,&quot; Brent noted. When asked whether this could have been a gang-involved shooting, Brent said that investigators were looking into all possibilities. The sheriff&#39;s office urged anyone with information or video footage to come forward. No suspect has been identified or arrested so far, Brent said, adding that the possibility of multiple shooters has not been ruled out. California Governor Gavin Newsom was briefed on the shooting, his office said on social media. There have been 504 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, including the Stockton incident, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.

There have been 504 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, including the Stockton incident; four slain victims are aged eight, nine, 14, and 21.


Three minors among four dead in California party shooting: authorities

HALLANDALE BEACH: The United States and Ukraine on Sunday hailed &quot;productive&quot; talks on Washington&#39;s plan to halt Russia&#39;s war with its neighbor, but both sides also cautioned that the high-stakes negotiations were far from over. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that more work was required, and a source in Kyiv&#39;s delegation characterized the discussions as &quot;not easy.&quot; The talks in Florida come as Kyiv faces mounting military and political pressure, along with the fallout from a domestic corruption scandal. Washington has put forward a plan to end the nearly four-year conflict and is seeking to finalize it with Moscow and Kyiv&#39;s approval. The negotiations, which follow talks in Geneva, could set the stage for an upcoming visit to Moscow by President Donald Trump&#39;s envoy Steve Witkoff, who is expected to discuss Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin. &quot;We had another very productive session, building off Geneva, building off the events of this week,&quot; Rubio told reporters. &quot;But there&#39;s more work to be done. This is delicate. It&#39;s complicated,&quot; he added. &quot;There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there&#39;s another party involved here that will have to be a part of the equation, and that will continue later this week when Mr Witkoff travels to Moscow.&quot; Witkoff and Trump&#39;s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attended the meeting in Hallandale Beach, north of Miami. Ukraine&#39;s security council secretary Rustem Umerov led Kyiv&#39;s delegation, which also included Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Ukraine&#39;s armed forces, and presidential adviser Oleksandr Bevz. Umerov described the Florida talks as &quot;productive and successful.&quot; A source close to the Kyiv delegation, however, told AFP that &quot;the process is not easy because the search for formulations and solutions continues.&quot; Another source briefed on the developments told AFP that &quot;the Americans really want the final points to be agreed upon&quot; ahead of the US talks in Moscow. &quot;The wording is complicated, especially with regard to territories, because they see themselves exclusively as mediators, not as a party&quot; supporting Ukraine, the source added. The US talks come amid turbulence for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government. A blockbuster corruption probe forced him to sack his chief of staff and top negotiator, Andriy Yermak, on Friday. Rubio had met with Yermak only a week ago in Geneva. Flurry of diplomacy&nbsp;An initial 28-point US proposal &mdash; drafted without input from Ukraine&#39;s European allies &mdash; would have required Kyiv to withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region, and the United States then would de facto recognize the Donetsk, Crimea, and Lugansk regions as Russian. The United States pared back the original draft following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but the current contents remain unclear. After the Florida negotiations, French President Emmanuel Macron is set to host Zelensky for talks in Paris on Monday. Rubio is set to skip a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels, despite allies&#39; concerns about the US plan for Ukraine. But Witkoff is expected in Moscow for talks with Putin. The flurry of diplomacy comes as the war &mdash; which has killed tens of thousands of civilians and military personnel and displaced millio0ns of Ukrainians &mdash; shows no sign of easing. Russian oil terminal hit&nbsp;Ahead of the Florida talks, Russia&#39;s forces targeted Ukraine&#39;s capital and the region for two nights in a row as they advanced on the front line. A drone attack on the outskirts of Kyiv killed one person and wounded 11 late Saturday, the regional governor said. Hours earlier, a Ukrainian security source said Kyiv was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers in the Black Sea that it believed were covertly transporting sanctioned Russian oil. One of Russia&#39;s largest oil terminals halted operations on Saturday following a drone attack. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), a group that includes US oil majors Chevron and ExxonMobil and which owns the terminal, called the strike a &quot;terrorist attack.&quot; Ukraine, which did not comment on the incident, regularly targets Russian energy facilities in a bid to sap the country&#39;s war chest.

Europe

US secretary of state says more work is required, a source in Kyiv's delegation characterized the discussions as "not easy."


Rubio says 'more work' required after US-Ukraine talks in Florida

ISLAMABAD: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday claimed that the corruption cases against him were &ldquo;tearing the country apart,&rdquo; hours after he submitted a formal request for a pardon in the years-long proceedings.&nbsp;&ldquo;The continuation of the trial is tearing us apart from within, arousing fierce divisions, intensifying rifts,&rdquo; Netanyahu said in a video statement, insisting that &ldquo;an immediate end to the trial will greatly help to lower the flames and promote the broad reconciliation that our country so desperately needs.&rdquo;&nbsp;Netanyahu&rsquo;s critics, however, say the embattled premier is attempting to shield himself from accountability after years of corruption allegations, including fraud, bribery and breach of trust, rather than seeking national unity.&nbsp;The pardon request also lands at a moment of mounting international scrutiny.&nbsp;The United Nations has noted that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.&nbsp;&nbsp;The political reverberations have even reached the United States.&nbsp;During an interview to ABC News, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani stated that he would order Netanyahu&rsquo;s arrest if the Israeli leader attends the UN General Assembly in the city next year, citing the ICC warrants.&nbsp;&nbsp;Mamdani was unequivocal: &ldquo;New York enforces international law, and that means international law must be respected, including the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court, regardless of whether they target Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, or anyone else.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;It does not matter if they are against Benjamin Netanyahu or Vladimir Putin,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;We are required to show our values.&rdquo;&nbsp;Netanyahu&rsquo;s effort to secure a pardon, while still in office and without a conviction, has drawn sharp criticism at home and abroad, with opponents arguing that the attempt undermines Israel&rsquo;s judiciary and deepens the political rifts the prime minister claims to lament

Middle East

Netanyahu seeks a pardon to halt corruption trial, while critics accuse him of avoiding accountability. ICC warrants add pressure, and NYC’s Zohran Mamdani says Netanyahu would face arrest if he visits the UN General Assembly.

Netanyahu seeks pardon as critics decry bid to evade accountability

JERICHO: Three Italians and a Canadian were treated at a Jericho hospital on Sunday after being attacked by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, one of the group told AFP.&nbsp;The Palestinian official news agency Wafa described them as &quot;international activists&quot;.&nbsp;In Rome, the foreign ministry said in a statement that &quot;three Italian international volunteers were attacked last night by Israeli settlers&quot;, adding that they were &quot;still in shock from the incident&quot;.&nbsp;Riyad Eid, director of the Jericho government hospital, told AFP: &quot;Four foreigners arrived at the hospital this morning after being beaten by settlers, according to what they reported.&nbsp;&quot;They were suffering from bruises on the face for some of them, and on the chest, and one of them was beaten in a sensitive area.&nbsp;&quot;They were examined, given X-rays and ultrasound scans, provided with the necessary treatment and then discharged.&quot;&nbsp;More than 500,000 Israelis currently live in settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, as do around three million Palestinians.&nbsp;Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023.&nbsp;The United Nations said that October had been the worst month for settler violence since it began recording incidents in 2006, with 264 attacks that caused casualties or property damage.&nbsp;One of the four, who had visible bruising and did not wish to be identified, told AFP that they were three people from Italy and one from Canada, staying in the Duyuk area on the western edge of Jericho in the central West Bank.&nbsp;&quot;We were asleep at night... 10 masked settlers came; two of them had guns, some of them had sticks,&quot; they said.&nbsp;&quot;They kicked me multiple times in the face, in the ribs, in the hip.&nbsp;&quot;It lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. And then they took all of our things. They stole my passport, my phone, my wallet, my bank cards, and then they left.&nbsp;&quot;We had to have X-rays, painkillers. Our friend was beaten more severely than we were.&quot;&nbsp;Italy&#39;s foreign ministry also said in its statement that &quot;the settlers reportedly entered their home, attacked the volunteers, and stole all their personal belongings&quot;.&nbsp;Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani &quot;is following the incident&quot;, in close contact with Italy&#39;s consul general in Jerusalem, the statement said.&nbsp;

Four foreign volunteers, three Italians and a Canadian were beaten and robbed by masked Israeli settlers near Jericho. They sustained bruises, received treatment, and were discharged as officials condemned rising West Bank settler violence since 2023.

Four foreigners hurt in 'settler attack' in West Bank

DOHA: Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday to set up a final race title showdown with McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.&nbsp;The Red Bull driver kept the wheels on his quest for a fifth successive crown after pole-sitter Piastri finished second and standings leader Norris came only fourth.&nbsp;Verstappen&#39;s remarkable late season surge has lifted him past Piastri and into second in the championship.&nbsp;The Dutchman now goes into the season-closer next weekend only 12 points behind Norris with Piastri 16 points behind his teammate.&nbsp;Verstappen has fond memories of the last time the title went down to the wire when he beat Lewis Hamilton on the last lap of the last race in Abu Dhabi in 2021.&nbsp;This was a race McLaren should have won, with Piastri heading the grid and Norris alongside him on the front row, only to be overtaken by Verstappen at the start.&nbsp;Red Bull pitted Verstappen under a safety car, unlike McLaren who kept their two drivers out on the track.&nbsp;&quot;Clearly we did not get it right tonight,&quot; conceded Piastri.&nbsp;&quot;I drove as fast as I could but it wasn&#39;t to be. In hindsight it is pretty obvious what we should have done, but we&#39;ll discuss that as a team. (It&#39;s) a little bit tough to swallow at the moment,&quot; the Australian added.&nbsp;Verstappen said: &quot;An incredible race for us, we made the right call to box under that safety car. A strong race for us on a weekend that was tough.&quot;&nbsp;Carlos Sainz of Williams completed the podium under floodlights at the Lusail International Circuit in the Doha desert.

Racing

Max Verstappen won the Qatar GP, boosting his late-season comeback and setting up a final-race title fight with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. A strategic call under the safety car secured victory, while McLaren admitted tactical mistakes.

Verstappen wins Qatar GP to set up final race title showdown

PARIS: France&#39;s interior minister on Sunday said he opposed a proposal put before parliament to ban young girls wearing the Muslim headscarf, saying such a move risked being &quot;stigmatising&quot; for the minors.&nbsp;The issue of tightening legal limits on the wearing of the hijab in public is being raised with increasing insistence in France, where the far-right is growing in strength but which has one of Europe&#39;s biggest Muslim communities.&nbsp;Laurent Wauquiez, the head of the parliamentary faction of the traditional right-wing Republicans (LR) party, submitted a bill to the lower house National Assembly last week to ban the wearing of the veil by minors in public.&nbsp;This proposal &quot;is very stigmatising towards our Muslim compatriots who may feel hurt&quot;, Nunez, a former Paris police chief named as interior minister in October to succeed his hardline LR predecessor Bruno Retailleau, told BFMTV. &quot;I am not in favour of it in this way.&quot;&nbsp;A report by the LR in the upper house Senate has gone even further, suggesting banning Ramadan fasting for those under 16.&nbsp;Nunez said that authorities needed to be &quot;extremely careful&quot; and focus on targeting Islamists with an extreme interpretation of the religion who seek to impose &quot;religious law over the laws of the republic&quot;.&nbsp;But the issue is a subject of tension within President Emmanuel Macron&#39;s centre-right government, which is mindful that the far right has its best ever chance of winning the Elysee in the 2027 polls.&nbsp;Equality Minister Aurore Berge told CNews she backed a hijab ban for minors &quot;to protect children&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;I have no doubt that there is now a majority in the National Assembly and the Senate to vote for it,&quot; she said.&nbsp;Macron&#39;s centre-right Renaissance party, led by former prime minister Gabriel Attal, in May also proposed banning &quot;minors under 15 from wearing the veil in public spaces&quot;.&nbsp;Under current legislation in France, a secular state according to its constitution, civil servants, teachers and pupils cannot wear any obvious religious symbols such as a Christian cross, Jewish kippa, Sikh turban or Muslim hijab in government buildings, including public schools.

France’s interior minister opposed a proposed ban on minors wearing hijabs, calling it stigmatizing, while some officials support it to “protect children,” highlighting tensions within Macron’s centre-right government amid far-right political pressure.

French interior minister opposes 'stigmatising' hijab ban for minors

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army has completed a Special Forces training program for Iraqi Army contingents to enhance counter terrorism capabilities, tactical drills, and integrated mission planning at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) on Saturday. According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), troops from both countries demonstrated professionalism and operational expertise throughout the exercise, which emphasized counterterrorism operations, tactical drills, and mission planning. &ldquo;All training objectives were successfully achieved, further strengthening the longstanding military-to-military ties,&rdquo; the statement added. Both countries reaffirmed commitment to regional security and collaborative defense preparedness. &ldquo;The graduation ceremony of the 3rd batch of 446 trainees was held on 29 November 2025, attended by senior Pakistani Army officials and military representatives from Iraq,&rdquo; the statement concluded.

Security

Pakistan Army completed Special Forces training for 446 Iraqi troops, improving counterterrorism skills and coordination as both countries reaffirmed their commitment to regional security and military cooperation.

Pakistan trains Iraqi forces to strengthen joint counterterrorism capabilities

TEHRAN: Iran and Turkiye have agreed to begin constructing a new joint rail link to serve as a strategic gateway between Asia and Europe, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday.&nbsp;The planned route, known in Iran as the Marand&ndash;Cheshmeh Soraya railway transit line and running towards Turkiye&#39;s Aralik border region, will cover around 200 kilometres (120 miles}.&nbsp;It will cost roughly $1.6 billion and is expected to take three to four years to complete, Iranian authorities have said.&nbsp;Earlier this month, Iran&#39;s transport minister Farzaneh Sadegh said the rail line would transform the southern section of what was once the Silk Road into an &quot;all-rail corridor ensuring the continuity of the network between China and Europe&quot;.&nbsp;It would also ensure &quot;fast and cheap transport of all types of cargo with minimal stops&quot;, she added.&nbsp;At a joint press conference on Saturday with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, Araghchi said &quot;emphasis was placed on the need to remove barriers to trade and investment between the two countries&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;The two countries also stressed the importance of the rail link ... in the region and expressed hope that the construction of this line can start as soon as possible,&quot; he added.&nbsp;The ancient Silk Road was a vast system of trade routes that for centuries linked East Asia to the Middle East and Europe, facilitating the flow of goods, culture and knowledge across continents.&nbsp;In 2013, China announced the construction of the &quot;Belt and Road Initiative&quot;, officially known as the &quot;New Silk Road&quot; a project that aims to build maritime, road, and rail infrastructure to boost global trade.&nbsp;Iran has been seeking to expand infrastructure and trade with neighbouring countries as part of efforts to revitalise an economy strained by decades of international sanctions.

Asia

Iran and Turkey agreed to build a $1.6 billion, 200-kilometre rail link connecting Marand to Aralik, enhancing Asia-Europe trade and promoting fast, cost-effective cargo transport within three to four years.

Faf du Plessis ends IPL stint, confirms debut in Pakistan’s PSL

Latest News

Trump confirms call with Maduro, Caracas slams US maneuvers

Faf du Plessis ends IPL stint, confirms debut in Pakistan’s PSL

Three minors among four dead in California party shooting: authorities

Rubio says 'more work' required after US-Ukraine talks in Florida

Netanyahu seeks pardon as critics decry bid to evade accountability