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Spinner Sajid Khan took five wickets and Abrar Ahmed another four to guide Pakistan to a 127-run win on the third day of the first Test against West Indies in Multan on Sunday.Sajid took 5-50 for match figures of 9-115, while leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed snared 4-27 as West Indies were dismissed for 123, falling well short of their victory target of 251.Pakistan’s spinners took all the wickets in West Indies’ second innings, with Noman Ali chipping in with 1-42, as the home side took an early advantage in the two-Test series. Left-handed batter Alick Athanaze hit 55, the only half-century of the match for the tourists, and added 41 runs for the sixth wicket with Tevin Imlach.Sajid removed the dangerous Athanaze, while Abrar’s haul included the final wicket of Jomel Warrican.Left-armer Warrican had led the spin attack for the tourists with a career-best 7-32 as Pakistan were bowled out for 157 in their second innings.They were the best figures by a West Indian bowler in Pakistan, topping fast bowler Malcolm Marshall’s 5-33 at Lahore in 1986.Pakistan captain Shan Masood praised his spinners but said he wanted to see an improvement in the side’s batting.”The spinners were clinical and Abrar along with Noman and Sajid was great,” Masood said. “Batting was tough on this pitch but we still need to add more runs with the last few wickets and there are improvements to be made.”His beaten counterpart Kraigg Brathwaite wanted West Indies’ batters to believe in their abilities.”The batters didn’t play as well as they should have,” Brathwaite said. “We saw how Alick played so we just have to be brave. We have got one more Test and we have to believe in ourselves.”The Test lasted fewer than eight sessions, with the start delayed on the first day by poor visibility.The Multan pitch provided sharp turn, with Sajid taking the wickets of Brathwaite (12), Keacy Carty (six), Kavem Hodge (0) and Mikyle Louis (13).Noman then trapped Justin Greaves leg before wicket for nine in the last over before lunch, leaving the tourists tottering on 54-5.Noman took 5-39 in the first innings. He and Sajid took 39 of the 40 wickets in the last two Tests against England in Pakistan’s 2-1 series win last year.Pakistan had resumed earlier on 109-3 but managed to add just 48 runs.Warrican’s nagging line and length earned him match figures of 10-101, his first 10-wicket match haul.He dismissed overnight batter Saud Shakeel for two with the first ball of the day and then had Mohammad Rizwan for the same score in his next over.Warrican continued the demolition with the wickets of Kamran Ghulam (27), Noman (nine) and Sajid (five).The second match starts on January 25, also in Multan.

Five Bangladeshi health workers have been arrested on murder charges after a social media post accused them of failing to provide aid to a man who died during last year’s revolution, a prosecutor said Sunday.The case, which has generated widespread attention after the Facebook post resulted in criticism online of the medics, concerns the death of a rickshaw puller, Mohammed Ismail.Hospital workers say the five are innocent and that they risked their lives repeatedly to help wounded protesters.More than 800 people died in the student-led demonstrations that culminated in the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5, according to the interim authorities who subsequently took power.Ismail was shot in the head on July 19, 2024 during a police crackdown in the Rampura suburb of the capital Dhaka, local media reported at the time.A Facebook post showed his bloodied body on the entrance steps of the Delta Health Care Hospital.”We saw a post on social media,” chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, from Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told AFP.The five — doctor Sadi Bin Shams and four others including nurses — were arrested late on Friday.”These individuals allegedly denied Ismail access to treatment, leaving him unattended for four hours,” Islam said.But hospital director Saiful Islam Selim described how the medics had repeatedly defied police orders not to help wounded protesters.The area around the hospital was “a battleground” during the revolution, he said, and police and members of the then-ruling party, the Awami League, “ordered us not to treat any protesters”, he said.”Despite these orders, we defied them multiple times and helped as much as we could,” Selim told AFP.He said hospital staff had tried to drag Ismail’s body inside the hospital, but retreated after police fired shots.”We had no choice but to leave the body there,” he said, accusing the court of misdirected investigations.”The ICT failed to identify the police officer who shot Mohammed Ismail,” he said.AFP could not independently confirm who shot Ismail.”Instead, they arrested a doctor and other hospital staff who had tried to save lives.” Ismail’s widow, Lucky Begum, said she wanted “justice”, but added: “I don’t want innocent people to go to prison”.

Noman Ali and Sajid Khan guided Pakistan to a strong position against the West Indies after another spin-dominated second day’s play in the opening Test in Multan on Saturday.The spin duo shared nine wickets between them to dismiss the West Indies for 137 in reply to the home team’s 230 all out.By the close, Pakistan stretched their lead to 202 by scoring 109-3 in their second innings, with Kamran Ghulam and Saud Shakeel batting on nine and two respectively when bad light ended play 25 minutes early.Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican (2-17) dismissed Muhammad Hurraira for 29 after an opening stand of 67 and Babar Azam for a second failure, trapped leg-before for five.Skipper Shan Masood looked solid for his 52, hitting two sixes and two fours, before Warrican ran him out after attempting a quick single.”The weather is foggy so if we have continuous play and take our lead over 300 then we can win this Test,” said Sajid.”It’s great to bowl with Noman, who always guides me.”Warrican wants the target to be under 250.”Obviously we don’t want to get the lead go over 250 because it’s a spin-favouring surface,” said Warrican. “We need a good comeback in batting the second time around on this pitch.”The dry and grassless Multan pitch has already produced 23 wickets in six sessions — 19 on day two — even though two-and-a-half hours were lost on day one and another 30 minutes on Saturday because of poor visibility.Noman grabbed 5-39 for his seventh five-wicket haul in Tests while Sajid finished with 4-65 to dismiss the West Indies after lunch in a first innings that lasted just 25.2 overs.Noman and Sajid, who shared 39 of the 40 wickets in the last two Tests against England in Pakistan’s 2-1 series win last year, were once again unplayable.Sajid opened the bowling and removed Mikyle Louis (one), Keacy Carty (0), Kraigg Brathwaite (11) and Kavem Hodge (four) in his first three overs.Noman then further jolted the tourists with another four wickets to leave them tottering on 66-8.The tailenders showed more resistance, with number 10 batsman Warrican unbeaten on 31 and Gudakesh Motie adding 19.Jayden Seales was the last wicket to fall for 22.Seales hit three sixes before holing out off spinner Abrar Ahmed.Earlier, Warrican took 3-69 as Pakistan lost their last six wickets for 43 runs after resuming at 143-4.Shakeel top-scored for Pakistan with 84 off 157 deliveries, including six boundaries, while keeper Mohammad Rizwan added 71.Shakeel added an invaluable 141 for the fifth wicket with Rizwan, lifting Pakistan from a precarious 46-4 on day one.

Spin pair Noman Ali and Sajid Khan shared nine wickets between them to give Pakistan a 93-run lead on the second day of the opening Test against West Indies in Multan on Saturday.Noman grabbed 5-39 for his seventh five-wicket haul in Tests, while Sajid finished with 4-65 to dismiss the West Indies for 137 after lunch in a first innings that lasted just 25.2 overs.Pakistan earlier lost their last six wickets for 43 runs after resuming at 143-4 and were bowled out for 230 in their first innings.The dry and grassless Multan pitch has already produced 20 wickets in five sessions even though two-and-a-half hours were lost on day one, and another 30 minutes on Saturday, because of poor visibility.Noman and Sajid, who shared 39 of the 40 wickets in the last two Tests against England in Pakistan’s 2-1 series win last year, were once again unplayable.Sajid opened the bowling and removed Mikyle Louis (one), Keacy Carty (0), Kraigg Brathwaite (11) and Kavem Hodge (four) in his first three overs.Noman then further jolted the tourists with another four wickets to leave them on 66-8.The tail-enders showed more resistance, with number 10 batsman Jomel Warrican unbeaten on 31, with Gudakesh Motie adding 19 and Jayden Seales the last wicket to fall for 22.Seales hit three sixes before holing out off spinner Abrar Ahmed.Warrican also took 3-69 in Pakistan’s innings.Saud Shakeel top-scored for Pakistan with 84 off 157 deliveries, including six boundaries, while keeper Mohammad Rizwan added 71.Shakeel added an invaluable 141 for the fifth wicket with Rizwan, lifting Pakistan from a precarious 46-4 on day one.Kevin Sinclair sparked the Pakistan batting collapse by taking Shakeel’s wicket with the first ball after drinks.He then trapped Rizwan leg-before off a missed reverse sweep, the original decision of not out overturned on review.Rizwan’s 133-ball stay included nine boundaries.Sajid hit a boundary and a six in a rapid-fire 18 before he was bowled by Warrican on the stroke of lunch to end Pakistan’s innings.

An Indian court on Saturday found a 33-year-old man guilty for the rape and murder of a doctor, a crime that sparked nationwide protests and hospital strikes last year.The discovery of the victim’s bloodied body at a government hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata last August once again highlighted the chronic issue of violence against women in the world’s most populous country.It led to demands by doctors at government hospitals for additional security, with thousands of citizens in Kolkata and elsewhere in India joining the doctors’ protests in solidarity.The trial of defendant Sanjoy Roy was fast-tracked through India’s normally glacial legal system and arguments in the case concluded a little over a week ago. “The sentence will be delivered on Monday,” presiding judge Anirban Das said after finding Roy, a civic volunteer in the hospital, guilty of rape and murder. Roy has consistently maintained his innocence and again told the court that he was not guilty.”I have been framed,” he said. Roy was brought to court by a prison van and greeted by a crowd of protesters, held at bay by police officers, demanding he be given the death penalty. “Hang him, hang him,” they chanted. The sentiment was echoed by the victim’s family, none of whom have been identified in keeping with Indian law around the reporting of sexual violence cases. “The common man will lose faith in the judiciary if he is not handed down the death penalty,” the victim’s mother, seated just a few metres from Roy when the verdict was read out, told AFP.Her father added: “He brutally snuffed out the life of our daughter. He deserves the same fate.”The trainee doctor was found raped and murdered in a seminar room of the hospital last year.The crime led to nationwide outrage and prolonged protests by doctors across the state, demanding justice for the victim and stronger security measures in government hospitals.Roy was arrested a day after the victim’s body was discovered. India’s Supreme Court set up a national task force after the protests that suggested ways to enhance safety measures in the government hospitals.The victim’s father at one of the protest marches in October told AFP that his family was “devastated”.  “My daughter’s soul will not rest in peace until she gets justice,” he said.The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.

Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan hit unbeaten half-centuries to lead a Pakistan fightback in the first Test against the West Indies on Friday as the hosts reached 143-4 at the close of a fog-hit opening day.When bad light in Multan ended play with just 41.3 overs bowled, Shakeel was on 56 for his ninth half- century and Rizwan was 51 not out for his 11th.The pair added 97 after coming together with Pakistan in real trouble at 46-4.The left-right combination of Shakeel and Rizwan negotiated the three-spinner West Indies attack with aplomb after fast bowler Jayden Seales initially left the home team struggling.”This pitch is tough to bat on,” said Rizwan.”We batted with caution and just took advantage of loose balls. It’s tough to judge what should be a good total, but we will target 300 plus.”Sensing the dry and grassless Multan Stadium pitch will be tricky for batting on the last two days — and with spin set to play a major role — the home team opted to bat after winning the toss.But play was delayed because of early morning fog compounded by poor air quality, resulting in limited visibility and wiping out the first session.Shakeel has so far cracked four boundaries while Rizwan has seven hits to the fence.Seales finished with 3-21 off 10 overs.”My aim was to build pressure and get wickets,” he said. “I sense spin will play a major role on this pitch going forward.”Both teams started with three spinners and just one frontline fast bowler, and the tourists opened the bowling with left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie alongside Seales.It was Seales who provided the breakthrough, forcing an edge off debutant Muhammad Hurraira to wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach in the sixth over. Hurraira scored six.Three overs later, Motie dismissed skipper Shan Masood off a faint edge to the wicketkeeper for 11, before Seales trapped Kamran Ghulam leg-before with a sharp incoming delivery for five.It became 46-4 when Babar Azam edged Seales behind the wicket for eight, continuing a poor run of scores at home for Pakistan’s premier batter.The two-match series is part of the World Test Championship. Pakistan currently rank eighth and the West Indies ninth and last.

A Pakistan court convicted former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in a graft case on Friday, sentencing Khan to 14 years in prison.Khan, 72, has been held in custody since August 2023 charged in around 200 cases but his party claims the latest conviction was being used to pressure him into stepping back from politics.The conviction came a day after PTI leaders again met the government for talks aimed at easing political tensions. The PTI’s chairman also met the chief of the armed forces.”I will neither make any deal nor seek any relief,” Khan told reporters inside the courtroom after his conviction.The anti-graft court convened in the jail where Khan is being held near the capital Islamabad and convicted the couple for graft linked to the Al-Qadir Trust, a welfare foundation they established.”The prosecution has proven its case. Khan is convicted,” said Judge Nasir Javed Rana, announcing a 14-year sentence for Khan and seven years for Bibi.Faith healer Bibi, who was recently released on bail, was arrested at the court after the conviction, her spokeswoman Mashal Yousafzai said.Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said it would challenge the verdict.Ousted from power by a no-confidence vote in 2022, the former cricket star has since launched an unprecedented campaign in which he has openly criticised Pakistan’s powerful generals.Analysts say the military’s leaders are Pakistan’s kingmakers, although the generals deny interfering in politics.”The decision against Imran Khan was not made by any judicial judge but by a general,” PTI activist Qadir Nawaz said at a protest in Peshawar in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Khan’s powerbase.”Such decisions cannot scare Imran Khan or his workers,” the 54-year-old told AFP at the rally of around 150 people.  – Defiant Khan -Khan maintains all cases against him are politically motivated and designed to keep him from returning to power.He had been convicted four times since his arrest, with two convictions overturned and the sentences in the other two cases suspended.He remained in prison over the Al-Qadir Trust case, the longest running against him, and other charges related to inciting protests.The court’s announcement had been postponed three times, with analysts saying back-room negotiations were being held.Khan said in a statement posted by his team on social media this month that he was “indirectly approached” about the possibility of house arrest at his sprawling home on Islamabad’s outskirts.But he has remained defiant, firing off statements railing against the government and promising to fight his battles through the courts.”Imran Khan challenged the system that has been entrenched in this country,” 43-year-old PTI activist Ayesha Bano said at the Peshawar protest.”He was fighting a genuine battle for this country,” she said. “We will oppose Imran Khan’s sentencing on every front, no matter the cost.”Khan’s popularity continues to undermine a shaky coalition government that kept PTI from power in elections last year.A UN panel of experts found last year that Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office”.Khan was barred from standing in February’s election and his PTI party was hamstrung by a widespread crackdown.PTI won more seats than any other party but a coalition of parties considered more pliable to the military’s influence shut them out of power.

India’s cricket board has capped the amount of time players can spend with their families on tour after a string of Test defeats including a 3-1 drubbing in Australia this month.The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) issued new policies Thursday for the senior men’s team detailing guidelines to “promote discipline, unity and a positive team environment”.As part of the new guidelines, families will be allowed to stay with the players for a maximum of two weeks during overseas tours of 45 days or more.The guidelines, seen by AFP on Friday, also makes participation in domestic cricket “mandatory to be eligible for selection in the national team”.Non-compliance could result in disciplinary action including fines and a ban on participating in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL), Indian broadcaster NDTV reported.The new rules come on the heels of sharp criticism of the board, which critics have accused of allowing a “star culture” to thrive. “The cricket board needs to stop acting like admirers and put their foot down,” retired Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar told news channel India Today earlier this month after the Australia tour.Top players, including captain Rohit Sharma and star batsman Virat Kohli, have not played in the domestic circuit in years. Both have come under fire for failing to deliver wins in recent bilateral series.Rohit, who missed the only India win in Australia because of the birth of his second child, managed 31 runs in three matches.Kohli scored one century but managed only 90 runs across his eight other innings. The new BCCI rules prohibit players from travelling separately to and from matches and practice sessions. “Separate travel arrangements are discouraged to maintain discipline and team cohesion,” the board said, adding that all team members were “required to stay for the entire duration of the scheduled practices”.”This rule ensures commitment and fosters a strong work ethic within the team,” said the board. India’s next Test tour is slated for June in England, where they will play five matches.

Former prime minister Imran Khan, who was sentenced to 14 years for graft on Friday, may be locked away in jail but he remains Pakistan’s dominant political personality.The former cricket star enjoyed popular support when he became premier in 2018 but fell out with the king-making military establishment and was booted from power in a 2022 no-confidence vote.He then waged a risky and unprecedented campaign of defiance against the top brass before swiftly becoming embroiled in a legal saga in which he has been accused of wrongdoing in around 200 cases.Khan says the charges have been trumped up to prevent his comeback and his battle in the courts has become the nation’s defining political drama, spurring mass protests and unrest.The 72-year-old’s sentencing on Friday is among his biggest setbacks since he was first jailed in August 2023. His wife and spiritual guide Bushra Bibi was convicted alongside him.However, Pakistan’s politics frequently see leaders return to high office after serving time in jail and, as a former national cricket captain, Khan has delivered victory in the face of seemingly impossible odds before.”A cricket captain, to be leader, has to lead by example — he has to show courage if he wants his team to fight,” Khan wrote in his 2011 memoir.”In times of crisis, he must have the ability to take the pressure.”- All-rounder -Khan was voted in by millions of Pakistanis who grew up watching him play cricket, where he excelled as an all-rounder and led the nation to a World Cup victory in 1992.He ended decades of political dominance by dynastic parties and envisioned a national welfare state modelled on the Islamic golden age of the seventh to 14th centuries, a flourishing period in the Muslim world.But his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party made little headway improving the country’s finances, with galloping inflation, crippling debt and a feeble rupee undermining economic reform.Many prominent opposition figures were jailed during his tenure and rights groups decried a crackdown on media freedoms, with TV channels unofficially barred from airing his opponents’ views.With the tables now turned, he faces many of those same curbs alongside his wife Bibi — a reclusive faith healer who married Khan shortly before he was elected.Khan was shot and wounded in a November 2022 assassination bid he accused top military officers of plotting, crossing what analysts say was a red line in a country ruled by generals for decades.His first short-lived arrest the following May sparked nationwide unrest, some of which targeted military facilities and which sparked a widespread crackdown against PTI.Khan was barred from standing in February 2024 elections and was hit by a trio of fresh convictions just days before a poll marred by rigging allegations.Bibi was also convicted in two of the cases, found guilty of graft and of marrying too soon after her divorce in breach of an Islamic law intended to leave no doubt about paternity in case of a pregnancy.The convictions have been overturned or the sentences suspended in all those cases.While Khan has languished in jail, his wife walked free in October and into the limelight in her attempts to have her husband released.She appeared atop a convoy during protests in November, shattering her behind-the-scenes image. – ‘Till the last ball’ -Khan, the Oxford-educated son of a wealthy Lahore family, had a reputation as a playboy until he retired from international cricket.He has developed a more pious image as a politician, regularly clutching a string of prayer beads as he makes public remarks.Khan also busied himself for years with charity projects, raising millions to build a cancer hospital to honour his mother.He tiptoed into politics and for years held the PTI’s only parliamentary seat.The party grew during the military-led government of General Pervez Musharraf and the civilian government that followed, becoming a force in 2013 elections before winning a majority five years later.Often described as impulsive and brash, Khan still trades on the charismatic persona he crafted on the pitch.”I fight till the very last ball,” he said in one TV interview.

The UK government announced Thursday a “rapid” national review of the extent of sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs, recently the subject of a row between US billionaire Elon Musk and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.Interior minister Yvette Cooper also said several new local inquiries into cases of abuse would be launched, bowing to political pressure for further action but stopping short of demands for a new nationwide inquiry. The issue was at the centre of a political firestorm earlier this month when the Tesla boss posted a series of incendiary comments about Starmer on his X platform.The Labour leader then hit out at those spreading “lies and misinformation” online, in a thinly veiled rebuke of Musk.The row relates to sex offences going back decades against primarily white British girls by men of mostly South Asian origin in various northern English towns.The issue has long been seized upon by far-right UK figures, including notorious agitator Tommy Robinson, but has been adopted by the Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK party.They and other more centrist critics, including whistleblowers, have argued child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs remains ongoing. Cooper told MPs that she had ordered a three-month “rapid audit of the current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation across the country” to be led by Baroness Louise Casey.The review will look at “cultural and societal drivers” of child sex abuse and “properly examine ethnicity data and the demographics of the gangs involved and their victims”, she added.Previous inquiries have found that the authorities and the police shied away from taking victims’ claims seriously, in part to avoid seeming racist and for fear of raising community tensions.Cooper announced that several new local reviews would also be launched.”As we have seen, effective local inquiries can delve into far more local detail and deliver more locally relevant answers, and change, than a lengthy nationwide inquiry can provide,” she added.Thousands of girls and young women are believed to have been abused over several decades in towns across England, although the toral number of victims is unknown.Gangs of men, often from Pakistani backgrounds, targeted mostly white girls from disadvantaged backgrounds, some of whom lived in children’s homes. The gangs operated in several English towns and cities, notably in Rotherham and Rochdale in the north, but also in Oxford and Bristol, for almost four decades.- Shocking abuse –  In Rotherham, a town of 265,000 inhabitants, a gang drugged, raped and sexually exploited at least 1,400 girls over a 16-year period from 1997, a public inquiry concluded in 2014.  The Jay Report from the inquiry severely criticised police and local authorities over the scandal, which shocked the country. It has also prompted some, particularly on the political right, to argue there is a “two-tier” justice system that treats ethnic minority communities differently.Other local inquiries were held in Rochdale and Oldham, near Manchester, as well as Telford, northwest of Birmingham.The National Crime Agency launched Operation Stovewood, the largest of its kind in the UK, to probe the Rotherham gangs and has so far secured long prison terms for around 30 individuals.Musk and opponents of Labour see the issue as a way of trying to weaken Starmer, who was chief state prosecutor between 2008 and 2013, which coincided with the scandals.Starmer says he dealt with the problem “head-on” as a prosecutor and oversaw “the highest number of child sexual abuse cases being prosecuted on record”.The Conservative Party have called for a new national inquiry with the power to compel witnesses to testify.Labour, which ousted the Tories from power last July, says a new inquiry would be costly and time-consuming and its focus is on implementing the almost two dozen recommendations made by the Jay report a decade ago.Last week, Cooper announced new curbs to crack down on child abuse including prosecuting professionals who fail to report claims of sexual abuse against children.