Category World News

Fakhar Zaman confident of returning for Pakistan at ICC Champions Trophy

Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan’s top-order batter, is optimistic that his nation will play for the ICC Champions Trophy in February and March while playing for his country in other international cricket after eight months.

Fakhar hasn’t played international cricket since Pakistan’s exit from the T20 World Cup in June, and for the first time in eight years, he hasn’t received a central contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

“The plan was to get fully fit and play in the Champions Trophy”, Fakhar said. “It’s fortunate that I’m currently in good health. I started with the 2017 Champions Trophy, which was a great experience. I’m anticipating the upcoming edition also very much.

In the 2017 edition of the World Cup, Fakhar scored the match-winning century in the final match against India.

As he prepared to play for Desert Vipers in the United Arab Emirates in the International League T20 (ILT20), Fakhar explained to the Vipers Voices podcast, “People don’t know that I got sick after the T20 World Cup.” “I was not part of the team because of my medical condition, but now I’m 100 percent sure I will play for Pakistan”.

Just before Babar Azam was controversially rested for the final two home Test matches against England in late 2013, the veteran batter made headlines for his inconsistent red-ball game play. Fakhar received a show-cause notice for his favorable Babar post on social media from the PCB.

The post did not go down well with PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also expressed concerns over Fakhar’s fitness.

“It cannot happen like that. Naqvi told reporters at the time that if the selection committee is not playing just one player, then other players would start tweeting their disappointments.

“We will never allow that, and players are not allowed to function like this.” The main issue with]Fakhar] is his fitness test that he was not able to clear”.

In the absence of Fakhar, Pakistan won three away one-day international (ODI) series over the last two months, beating Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa under the captaincy of new white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan.

Fakhar was the third highest-scorer in 10 games with a strike rate of 132.31 when he made his domestic Champions Cup T20 debut back home last month.

Pakistan’s latest white-ball sensation, Saim Ayub, made two ODI centuries in South Africa before he fractured his right ankle during the second Test at Cape Town last week.

Ayub’s participation in competitive cricket is in doubt for the Champions Trophy because he has been ruled out for at least six weeks.

Ayub was taken to London on Monday for treatment by the PCB, and Fakhar expressed his hope that the country’s first significant ICC tournament in 29 years would be held there.

Iran releases Italian journalist Cecilia Sala from jail

According to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office, Iran has released journalist Cecilia Sala following her three-week jail term.

More than three weeks after Sala’s arrest on December 19 was announced in a statement released by Meloni’s office on Wednesday. Tehran has refuted any claims that her arrest was connected to Rome’s arrest of an Iranian businessman, who the United States claims had been a part of an attack on its military.

The announcement was met with cheers in Italy, where her plight had dominated headlines. The successful negotiations to bring her home were praised by legislators, demonstrating how significant a political gain was Meloni’s.

On behalf of Cecilia, Meloni wrote on X, “I want to express my gratitude to all those who made Cecilia’s return possible, allowing her to embrace her family and colleagues once more.”

She continued, adding that Sala’s parents had been informed of her release by her.

Held in solitary confinement in the Iranian capital’s notorious Evin prison, Sala, a reporter for the Il Foglio newspaper, had been working on a regular journalistic visa.

Three days prior to the arrest of Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini on a US warrant in Milan’s Malpensa airport, she was detained.

Three American soldiers were killed in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost in Jordan when Abedini and another Iranian were accused of providing drone technology to Iran.

Italian observers have speculated that Sala was being bargained with by Iran. Iran has frequently been accused of using Western-linked prisoners for these purposes.

Five Iranians and $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets were exchanged for in exchange for five Americans released in September 2023.

In the past, Western journalists have also been detained. Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran in 2009 for almost 100 days before being released.

However, Tehran has flatly denied any link between the two cases. Abedini&nbsp, remains in detention in Italy.

According to Meloni, Sala was freed “thanks to intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels.” However, it made no mention of the Abedini case.

Apparently, the Italian prime minister spoke with Donald Trump, the president-elect, over the weekend.

Why I’m not giving up on Syria’s disappeared | Close Up

Bassam Ezzedine, a former Syrian detainee, is assisting in the finding of their families as a prisoner of the fallen regime.

Bassam Ezzedine knows all too well about the cruelty of Syria’s ousted government. He fled the country as a refugee after spending time in detention and witnessing the disappearance of members of his family. However, Ezzedine rushed back home to assist others in finding relatives who had vanished as suspected victims of the brutal prison system after President Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow.

We follow Bassam as he fights for Syrians whose lives the Assad dynasty overturned. In order to bring justice to Syrians, his mission includes gathering proof of the regime’s crimes.

Credits:

Can Syria’s new leaders fix the broken economy?

After almost 14 years of civil war, Syria’s economy is in ruins.

After almost 14 years of civil war, Syria’s economy has been decimated.

Most of its oil and gas wells, roads, electricity grids, farmland and infrastructure are damaged.

A wide range of Western sanctions have been imposed on the country and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main organization that overthrew Bashar al-Assad and is now leading Syria’s transition, which have further weakened the economy.

The new administration claims that removing those sanctions is essential for assisting with country reconstruction. But will they be removed?

Plus, Ukraine has halted Russia’s gas flows to Europe.

Strong winds drive wildfires, evacuations across California’s Los Angeles

As tens of thousands of people fled as a result of wind-whipped wildfires that have torn through the Los Angeles area, using resources to fend off the situation as it gets worse.

A senior living facility staff had to shove dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a car park as the fire that started on Tuesday evening in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles spread so quickly.

Before ambulances, buses, and even construction vans arrived, the residents waited in their bedclothes as embers fell around them.

The Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside neighborhood along the coast lined with famous homes and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin’ USA,” was destroyed by a fire that had already started hours earlier.

In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways became impassable, as scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.

Emergency vehicles couldn’t pass through traffic jams. After that, a bulldozer was used to create a path and push abandoned cars to the side. Homes and businesses along the famed Pacific Coast Highway were frequently destroyed, according to video along the highway.

A third wildfire started at about 10: 30pm (06: 30 GMT, Wednesday) and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, the northernmost neighbourhood in Los Angeles. The causes of all three fires were under investigation.

Flames were being pushed by winds topping 60mph (about 100km/h) in some places. In mountains and foothills, including those areas where there hasn’t been much rain in months, gusts a top 100 mph (160 km/h) were predicted overnight as the wind speeds increased.

The Los Angeles Fire Department took the unusual step of announcing a call for assistance for on-duty firefighters in response to the situation. The fight was further hampered by the wind because the firefighting aircraft couldn’t fly.

Although the Pacific Palisades wildfire had caused about 30 000 people to be evacuated and more than 13 000 structures to be in danger, officials did not provide an estimate of the damage or destruction that had occurred. Gavin Newsom, the governor, said many homes had burned when he arrived on the scene.

By evening, the flames had spread to neighboring Malibu, and several residents were receiving burn injuries there. According to Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Erik Scott, a firefighter suffered a serious head injury and was taken to the hospital.

As of Tuesday evening, nearly 167, 000 people were without power in Los Angeles County, according to the tracking website PowerOutage. us.