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Pakistan will not travel to India for upcoming hockey tournaments over “security” concerns, government sources told AFP on Saturday, potentially jeopardising their place in next year’s World Cup.The nuclear-armed neighbours traded the worst violence in decades during a four-day conflict in May that killed 70 people. Pakistan was due to participate in the Men’s Asia Cup for field hockey to be hosted by India in August and September, for which the federation had sought the government’s clearance.”After the recent war the security and safety of our hockey players will be at risk,” said a sports ministry source, who asked not to be identified.Pakistan will also not participate in the Junior World Cup in India in November, the source said.Once a force in international hockey, with three Olympic gold medals and four world titles, Pakistan has slumped to 15th in the rankings. Not featuring in the Asia Cup will likely cost Pakistan a place in next year’s senior World Cup to be held in the Netherlands and Belgium.A second government source also confirmed the decision to AFP.Pakistan’s foreign office has not responded to AFP’s request for comment.India stalled all bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which it blamed on militants based across the border.Cricket has been the most affected sport, with the two countries only meeting each other in multinational events abroad.India refused to visit Pakistan this year when it hosted the Champions Trophy, forcing the final to be staged on neutral ground in Dubai.In a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan will also not send its women’s cricket team to India for the 50-over World Cup later this year and the T20 World Cup in 2026.They agreed instead to play their matches in Sri Lanka.Pakistan’s hockey team last toured India for the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy, finishing fifth amongst six teams.

England fast bowler Jofra Archer struck an early blow as he made a thrilling return to Test cricket at Lord’s on Friday before in-form India captain Shubman Gill fell cheaply.Archer removed Yashasvi Jaiswal with just his third ball after more than four years of injury-induced exile from Test cricket.Gill, who had previously made a mammoth 585 runs in four innings this series, including three hundreds, was later caught behind for a mere 16.India were 145-3 in reply to England’s first-innings 387 at stumps on the second day of the third Test, a deficit of 242 runs.KL Rahul was 53 not out alongside Rishabh Pant, unbeaten on 19. Express quick Archer shone at Lord’s during England’s 2019 50-over World Cup final win and also made his Test debut that season at the ground, where his bouncer concussed Australia’s Steve Smith.With just his third ball Friday, the 30-year-old unleashed a 90 mph full-length delivery that had a squared-up Jaiswal edging to Harry Brook at second slip.Archer roared in celebration, with the often restrained crowd at a sun-drenched Lord’s joining in.- ‘X-factor’ Archer -England’s backing for Archer, in the hope he can star in the 2025/26 Ashes in Australia, has often been questioned during his lengthy absence.But the way he several times topped 90 mph during a miserly return of 1-22 in 10 overs was a reminder of Archer’s quality.”The noise, the pure joy everyone has seeing him (Archer) back in whites, everyone’s genuine excitement to see him playing Test cricket again, it created a great atmosphere,” England’s Joe Root told Sky Sports after stumps.”He’s X-factor,” added Root, who completed a hundred on Friday before setting a new Test record of 211 catches by an outfielder.England captain Ben Stokes’s career has been blighted by injuries and there were fresh concerns when he suffered a groin strain batting on Thursday.But the lively seamer, in no obvious discomfort, reduced India to 74-2 when Karun Nair (40) edged him low to first slip where Root held a brilliant left-handed catch to take outright possession of a record he had shared with India great Rahul Dravid. Veteran all-rounder Chris Woakes’ three previous wickets this series had come at a hugely expensive average of nearly 97 apiece.But the 36-year-old still had Gill edging defensively to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, who held a good catch standing up to the stumps, with India now 107-3.Earlier, Jasprit Bumrah gained a coveted place on the Lord’s honours boards with a five-wicket haul before England paceman Brydon Carse’s maiden Test fifty frustrated India.  Bumrah, the world’s top-ranked Test bowler, took 5-74 in 27 overs as England were dismissed after lunch.Bumrah’s haul included a sensational spell of 3-1 in seven balls Friday, with the fast bowler dismissing Stokes, century-maker Root and Woakes.”It’s really special,” the 31-year-old Bumrah told the BBC. “We don’t come here (to Lord’s) very often, maybe every four years… Being on the honours board feels good.”But Carse made 56 after he shared an eighth-wicket stand of 84 with Smith, out for 51 after Rahul dropped him in the slips on five.That followed Smith’s excellent 184 not out and 88 during India’s crushing 336-run win in the second Test at Edgbaston last week, where the tourists levelled this five-match series at 1-1 despite resting Bumrah.Root, 99 not out overnight, went to a hundred Friday with a first-ball boundary off Bumrah.His 37th Test century took Root into fifth place on an all-time list headed by India’s Sachin Tendulkar with 51 hundreds.”I don’t think I’ve been 99 not out overnight before,” said Root. “I woke up in the night and couldn’t get back to sleep.”Stokes had added just five runs to his overnight 39 when he was bowled by a Bumrah delivery that jagged back. Next ball, Woakes fell for a golden duck following a thin edge to reserve wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, deputising for the injured Pant. Carse survived the hat-trick delivery but Bumrah later bowled Archer to complete his five-wicket haul.Carse was dropped either side of completing a 77-ball fifty in style by driving Mohammed Siraj for six before the paceman bowled him to end England’s innings.

Three million Afghans could return to their country this year, a UN refugee official said Friday, warning that the repatriation flow is placing intense pressure on an already major humanitarian crisis.Iran and Pakistan have introduced new policies affecting displaced Afghans, with Tehran already having given four million “illegal” Afghans until July 6 to leave Iranian territory.”What we are seeing is the undignified, disorganized and massive exodus of Afghans from both countries, which is generating enormous pressures on the homeland that is willing to receive them and yet utterly unprepared to do so,” the UNHCR representative in Afghanistan, Arafat Jamal, said during a video press conference from Kabul.”Of concern to us is this scale, the intensity and the manner in which returns are occurring.”Over 1.6 million Afghans have already returned from Pakistan and Iran this year, the large majority from Iran, Jamal added. The figure already exceeds the UNHCR’s initial forecasts of 1.4 million for 2025.The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees now estimates three million coming into Afghanistan this year, Jamal said.The UN agency said over 30,000 people per day have streamed across the Islam Qala border into Afghanistan, with 50,000 crossing on July 4 alone.”Many of these returnees are arriving having been abruptly uprooted and having undergone an arduous, exhausting and degrading journey. They arrive tired, disoriented, brutalized and often in despair,” Jamal said.The United Nations has taken emergency measures to reinforce water and sanitation systems intended to serve 7,000 to 10,000 people per day, as well as vaccinations and nutrition services.Many who have crossed the border have reported pressure from Iranian authorities, including arrests and expulsions.

Joe Root’s unbeaten 99 checked India’s progress on Thursday’s opening day of the third Test against England at Lord’s.England were 251-4 at stumps, with Root coming in when they were faltering at 44-2 after paceman Nitish Kumar Reddy struck twice in his first over to remove openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley.But not for the first time in his 156 Test-career, the 34-year-old Root bailed England out of trouble.England captain Ben Stokes, who won the toss at a sun-drenched Lord’s, was 39 not out after helping Root, his predecessor as skipper, add an unbroken 79 for the fifth wicket.Root also shared a grinding partnership of 109 in 35 overs with Ollie Pope, who made 44 after almost being out for a golden duck.Much of the pre-match talk had focused on the return of Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s top-ranked Test bowler, after he was rested for India’s 336-run thrashing of England at Edgbaston last week that levelled the five-match series at 1-1.But it was Reddy, the fourth seamer deployed by India captain Shubman Gill on Thursday, who struck twice in four balls on the way to figures of 2-46 in 14 overs.With his third ball, the 22-year-old had left-hander Duckett (23) well caught down the legside by diving wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant off a gloved pull.Next ball, the often skittish Pope almost fell for a duck when he threw his bat at an outswinger, with Gill just unable to hold a tough chance low to his right in the gully.But with the last ball of the over, Reddy produced a superb full-length delivery that swung late and straightened off the pitch before taking Crawley’s outside edge to give Pant a simple catch as the Kent batsman fell for 18.- Root masterclass -Pope, following his first-ball reprieve, had several more nervy moments, chasing a wide delivery from Bumrah he could have left alone before a loose shot off Reddy fell just short of third slip.Root, second behind England team-mate Harry Brook in the Test batting rankings, was far more assured as he went to fifty with a glance through fine leg off Reddy — his seventh four in 102 balls faced. England were 153-2 at tea with Root unbeaten on 54 and Pope 44 not out.But the very first ball after the interval saw Pope drive loosely at left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, with reserve wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, on the field after Pant suffered a finger injury in the second session, holding an excellent shoulder-high catch off a fast-travelling edge.New batsman Brook only managed 11 before he was bowled between bat and pad by Bumrah after failing to get forward to a nip-back ball. Bumrah ended the day with a miserly return of 1-35 in 18 overs.England were now 172-4 as Stokes, without a Test hundred since an Ashes century against Australia at Lord’s two years ago, walked out to bat.The left-hander had made 27 when Reddy had a tight lbw review turned down on umpire’s call. He then called for the England physio after suffering what appeared to be a groin injury. Root, however, continued to bat with his customary class, an on-driven four off Reddy taking the former England captain to 80. But with play held up by a swarm of flying ants, and Stokes unable to get off strike as he defended Akash Deep’s final two balls of the day, Root was left one run shy of what would be his 37th Test hundred and a record-extending eighth century at Lord’s.

Sri Lanka drew first blood in the three-match T20I series with a comprehensive seven-wicket win over Bangladesh at Pallekele on Thursday, coasting home with an over to spare.Chasing a modest target of 155, skipper Charith Asalanka fittingly put the seal on the game by launching Tanzim Hasan straight down the ground for six, much to the delight of a holiday crowd that turned up in numbers.The foundations for the win were laid early, with openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis cutting loose from the word go.The pair added a blistering 78 runs in just 28 deliveries, making full use of the powerplay as Sri Lanka raced to 83 for one, their highest ever score in the first six overs of a T20 International, eclipsing the previous best of 75 against India in 2018.Nissanka set the tone by dispatching the first ball of the innings to the fence, and he never looked back. The right-hander smashed five fours and three sixes in a whirlwind 42 off just 16 balls before perishing, but the damage had been done.Mendis, fresh off a match-winning hundred in the ODI series decider at the same venue, picked up where he left off. His 73 came off 51 deliveries and featured five boundaries and three sixes. The wicketkeeper played the anchor role to perfection, ensuring the chase stayed firmly on track without resorting to high-risk strokes.Kusal Perera added to the fireworks, reverse-sweeping Shamim Hossain into the stands and sharing a brisk 42-run stand with Mendis as Sri Lanka maintained the upper hand throughout.Earlier, Bangladesh flattered to deceive. After being sent into bat, openers Parvez Hossain and Tanzid Hasan gave the visitors a flying start, adding 46 runs off 30 balls. But once the first wicket fell, the wheels came off with the middle order struggling to shift gears and playing into Sri Lanka’s hands.Dasun Shanaka, recalled to side after almost a year, marked his return with a tidy spell of four overs for just 22 runs and a wicket, helping choke the flow of runs in the middle overs. Leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay, drafted in for the injured Wanindu Hasaranga, also made his presence felt with a disciplined four-over spell that cost just 25 runs and included a wicket.On a flat deck that offered little for the bowlers, Bangladesh’s total of 155 always looked under par. Despite a few tidy spells, the visitors lacked the firepower to contain a rampant Sri Lankan batting line-up on a flat deck.The teams now move to Dambulla for the second game of the series on Sunday. 

Broken air conditioning? Afghan taxi drivers have cobbled together a creative solution to spare them and their passengers from the sweltering heat. In Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan where temperatures easily exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), blue taxis can be spotted with an air conditioning unit strapped to the roof with an exhaust hose delivering the cool air through the passenger window.”It started getting extremely hot three or four years ago. These cars’ AC systems didn’t work, and repairs were too expensive. So I went to a technician, (and) had a custom cooler made,” said driver Gul Mohammad.The 32-year-old spent 3,000 Afghanis ($43) for the system, which he connects to his taxi’s battery and regularly refills with water. “This works better than (built-in) AC. ACs only cool the front — this cooler spreads air throughout,” said fellow driver Abdul Bari.Other devices are connected to solar panels, also mounted on the taxi’s roof. Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, is also one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. It is particularly affected by heat waves and is suffering from increased drought. Murtaza, a 21-year-old technician, said that demand from taxi drivers has been growing over the past two or three years. “Many cars weren’t equipped with air conditioning anyway, which is why we’re installing these,” he told AFP in his small shop in central Kandahar. Afghan cities are often saturated with ageing vehicles, which are enjoying a last-ditch life after being transferred from neighbouring countries. “When there’s no cooler, it becomes very difficult,” said Norullah, a 19-year-old passenger who did not provide a last name, his face inches from the blast of cold air.”These drivers are helping solve the problem, and that’s great.”

The halt to US foreign aid is a “ticking time bomb” that could reverse decades of hard-fought gains in the fight against AIDS, the United Nations warned Thursday.Around 31.6 million people were on antiretroviral drugs in 2024 and deaths from AIDS-related illnesses had more than halved since 2010 to 630,000 that year, the UNAIDS agency said in a new report.But now infections were likely to shoot up as funding cuts have shuttered prevention and treatment programmes, it said.The United States has been the world’s biggest donor of humanitarian assistance but President Donald Trump’s abrupt slashing of international aid in February sent the global humanitarian community scrambling to keep life-saving operations afloat.”We are proud of the achievements, but worried about this sudden disruption reversing the gains we have made,” UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima told AFP ahead of the report’s launch in Johannesburg.The agency in April warned that a permanent discontinuation of PEPFAR, the massive US effort to fight HIV/AIDS, would lead to more than six million new infections and an additional 4.2 million AIDS-related deaths in the next four years.This would bring the pandemic back to levels not seen since the early 2000s.”This is not just a funding gap – it’s a ticking time bomb” whose effects are already felt worldwide, Byanyima said in a press release.Over 60 percent of all women-led HIV organisations surveyed by UNAIDS had lost funding or had to suspend services, the report said.In a striking example, the number of people receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs to prevent transmission in Nigeria fell by over 85 percent in the first few months of 2025.The “story of how the world has come together” to fight HIV/AIDS is “one of the most important stories of progress in global health,” Byanyima told AFP.”But that great story has been disrupted massively” by Trump’s “unprecedented” and “cruel” move, she said.”Priorities can shift, but you do not take away life-saving support from people just like that,” she said. – Key medical research affected -Crucial medical research on prevention and treatment have also shut down, including many in South Africa which has one of the highest HIV rates in the world and has become a leader in global research.”Developing countries themselves contribute very much towards the research on HIV and AIDS, and that research serves the whole world,” Byaniyma said.In 25 out of 60 low- and middle-income countries surveyed by UNAIDS, governments had found ways to compensate part of the funding shortfall with domestic resources.”We have to move towards nationally-owned and financed responses,” Byaniyma said, calling for debt relief and the reform of international financial institutions to “free up the fiscal space for developing countries to pay for their own response”.Still, the global HIV response built from grassroots activism was “resilient by its very nature”, she told AFP.”We moved from people dying every single day to now a point where it is really like a chronic illness,” she said.”There is no question that the investment has been worth it, and continues to be worth it. It saves lives.”

Indian election officials have given voters in Bihar state just weeks to prove their citizenship, requiring documents few possess in a registration revamp set to be applied nationwide, triggering disenfranchisement fears.The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the revision of the voter rolls in June ahead of upcoming polls in the eastern state.It said the exercise will later be replicated across the nation of 1.4 billion people.According to the ECI, the “intensive revision” was needed in part to avoid the “inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants”.Members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have long claimed that large numbers of undocumented Muslim migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh have fraudulently entered India’s electoral rolls.Critics say the overhaul could render vast numbers of Indian citizens unable to vote.”You are being asked to produce documents that very few people have,” said Asaduddin Owaisi, a prominent Muslim lawmaker.”It will lead to mass disenfranchisement.”Opposition lawmakers say it will impact minorities the hardest, including Muslims and Dalit communities, those on the bottom rung of India’s rigid caste hierarchy.- ‘Engineered exclusions’ -All potential voters in Bihar will have to provide proof of citizenship by July 25.Those registered in 2003, the last time scrutiny of the voter list took place in Bihar, can submit a copy of that.The rest — around 30 million people, according to the ECI’s estimates — have to provide evidence of their place and date of birth.And those born after 1987 must also furnish proof of their parents’ Indian citizenship. The requirement affects more than a third of potential voters in Bihar, India’s third most populous state and its poorest. It is also a crucial election battleground as the only state in India’s northern Hindi-speaking belt where Modi’s BJP has only ever governed in a coalition.Bihar’s main opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, has challenged the election commission in the Supreme Court, along with other parties and activists.”It is being used to justify aggressive and opaque revisions of electoral rolls that disproportionately target Muslim, Dalit and poor (Indian) migrant communities,” the court petition read.”They are not random patterns but… engineered exclusions.”Unlike many other countries, India does not have a unique national identity card.The widely used biometric-linked “Aadhaar” identity card is not among the documents listed by the ECI as acceptable proof.Documents that can be used include birth certificates, passports and matriculation records.Of these, most people are likely to rely on their matriculation certificates.But even those are in short supply in Bihar, where literacy rates are among the lowest in India. According to an analysis published in The Indian Express newspaper, only 35 percent of people in the state hold such a document. “In Bihar, where literacy is not very high, many people are not likely to have the kind of documents the ECI has demanded,” said Jagdeep Chhokar from the New Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).”The poor, poorly educated, uneducated and minorities will be the most impacted.”- ‘Foreign infiltrators’ -Detractors say the drive is unprecedented because “documentary proof has never been demanded” of people to vote in India. “Only those who especially wanted their name inserted needed to fill a form,” said political activist and academic Yogendra Yadav. “For the rest, someone would come to their house and get their names registered.””The onus in India was never on the voter but on the ECI officials,” he added.In previous verification drives, modifications were made to the existing rolls, Yadav said.Now, a list is being drawn from scratch. Yadav said the drive was a “de facto” implementation of an earlier plan to put together a list of Indian citizens. The National Register of Citizens (NRC), which was compiled in the eastern state of Assam in 2019, left out almost two million people. Many of them were Muslims.The BJP had said the NRC would be replicated nationwide as it was necessary to detect “foreign infiltrators”, but was forced to backtrack after furious protests. “Everyone has to now prove that they are citizens of India,” said Yadav. “That is exactly what the NRC is… this is NRC by the backdoor.”

Indian forensic investigators have identified all 260 people killed in last month’s crash of a London-bound passenger plane, health authorities said Wednesday, ahead of a hugely anticipated preliminary report into what went wrong.India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is leading the probe into one of the deadliest air disasters in decades — with an initial report expected on Friday.All but one of the 242 people aboard the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner were killed when it crashed on June 12.It ploughed into housing just after takeoff in the western city of Ahmedabad, and authorities have also identified 19 people killed on the ground.No details have been released about the probe, in which British and US air accident investigation agencies have also taken part.But specialist website The Air Current, citing multiple sources familiar with the investigation, reported it had “narrowed its focus to the movement of the engine fuel switches”, while noting that full analysis will “take months — if not longer”.It added that “the focus of the investigators could change during that time”.But “at this point in the inquiry, the data available to investigators does not indicate a mechanical or design issue” with the 787 plane, or its engines.The site said its sources “indicated that post-accident analysis showed no sign of fuel contamination or improper retraction of the aircraft’s flaps”, over which there had been speculation.- Matched all DNA -Health officials in the Indian state of Gujarat initially said at least 279 people were killed, but forensic scientists reduced the figure after multiple scattered and badly burnt remains were identified.”The final death toll in the plane crash now stands at 260,” Rakesh Joshi, head of Ahmedabad’s main state hospital, told AFP on Wednesday. “All the human remains found so far from the crash site have been identified and handed over to their families,” Joshi added. “Our work is now over,” he added. “We have matched DNA of all the mortal remains that were collected from the crash site.”The UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) stipulates that states heading investigation must submit a preliminary report within 30 days of an accident.That report, however, does not have to be made public.According to the ICAO, preliminary reports “may be marked as confidential or remain public at the investigating state’s discretion”.Joshi said it was doubtful any further remains would be found in the wreckage. “The possibility is almost negligible, I believe,” he said.On Tuesday, health authorities handed over the remains of 26 victims to their relatives, or, for families who had already received parts of their dead kin’s bodies and held funerals, carried out ceremonies for them. “Seven families collected the remains of their kin… while 19 families gave consent to the hospital to carry out the rites,” Joshi said. There were 230 passengers — 169 Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian — along with 12 crew members.Dozens of people were injured, with two remaining in hospital. Only one passenger miraculously survived, a British citizen who was seen walking out of the wreckage of the crash, and who has since been discharged from hospital.

The Indian Premier League’s business value has been estimated at $18.5 billion with reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru its wealthiest franchise, according to a report by an investment bank.The world’s richest cricket tournament has been a top revenue earner for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and in 2020 was estimated to generate more than $11 billion a year for the Indian economy.According to US investment bank Houlihan Lokey, which has valued several sports franchises around the world, the brand value of the 10-team T20 franchise tournament has seen a sharp rise of 13.8 percent to $3.9 billion over the past year.Bengaluru, who along with star player Virat Kohli won their first IPL title this year, have overtaken five-time winners Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians to achieve a brand value of $269 million.Mumbai is second with $242 million, followed by Chennai at $235 million.The Houlihan Lokey report called the IPL “a global phenomenon” that has become more than just a cricket league.”The IPL continues to set benchmarks in sports business. Franchise valuations have soared, media rights deals have reached record highs, and brand partnerships have diversified across sectors,” Harsh Talikoti from Houlihan Lokey, said in a statement.”The league’s ability to attract global investors and sponsors reflects its status as a premier sports property with enduring appeal.”Bengaluru beat Punjab Kings for the title at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad in June to conclude the 18th edition of the league.The report said the 2025 final had more than 678 million views on the official streaming platform JioHotstar, surpassing the India-Pakistan clash during the Champions Trophy in February this year.The IPL, which is broadcast around the world and features top international stars such as Australia’s Pat Cummins and England’s Jos Buttler, mixes sport and showbusiness in a glitzy format, with a number of teams fronted by Bollywood movie superstars.Since it launched in 2008 it has inspired a range of other franchise-based leagues in India in sports as diverse as boxing, badminton, poker and kabaddi, and spawned copycat cricket tournaments elsewhere.