DUBAI: Karachi Kings sealed the last available play-off place in the 2017 HBL Pakistan Super League here on Sunday night by virtue of a pulsating victory against holders Islamabad United by six wickets.

Kieron Pollard, Saturday’s mastermind behind the win over Lahore Qalandars with successive sixes on the last two balls of the match, appropriately struck the winning boundary on the penultimate delivery to set up another meeting with Islamabad in the second playoff, between teams finishing third and fourth, in Sharjah on Wednesday night.

Table-toppers Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators kick off the playoff round in Sharjah on Tuesday, with the winners qualifying straight into the March 5 and the losers awaiting winners of the Karachi-Islamabad match in Friday’s third playoff in Dubai.

After torrential rain had drenched the city for hours earlier in the day, the authorities worked feverishly to get the ground playable enough to get in a 15-over game, which finally began after a delay of 90 minutes.

Kumar Sangakkara won a crucial toss to give his side decisive advantage as Islamabad just couldn’t find the momentum going before they finished their truncated innings at 123-7 against disciplined bowling, chiefly from the three Karachi seamers who equally shared all six wickets falling to the bowlers.

Dwayne Smith reached 49 off 36 balls (seven fours and one six), but it took him ages to find the big shots. He finally perished attempting to smack Usman Khan Shinwari but found his West Indian colleague Kieron Pollard pouching a sensational catch on the run inches inside the boundary.

The magic figure for Karachi to eliminate Lahore out of the tournament was 111 in case they lost the match. But they were in much of a hurry to get the job done properly.

Chris Gayle, returning to the side after being left out on Saturday, led the onslaught with a blistering 44 from just 17 balls. The big left-hander bludgeoned two consecutive sixes of Mohammad Irfan and then smashed another three on the trot off Saeed Ajmal, besides striking two fours.

Emerging all-rounder Shadab Khan, however, was the standout performer in this last league fixture with superb return of 3-13, including wickets off his final two deliveries.

Final standings

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, no-result, points, net run-rate):

Peshawar Zalmi 8 4 3 1 9 +0.309

Quetta Gladiators 8 4 3 1 9 +0.166

Karachi Kings 8 4 4 0 8 -0.098

Islamabad United 8 4 4 0 8 -0.139

Lahore Qalandars 8 3 5 0 6 -0.223

Scoreboard

ISLAMABAD UNITED:

D.R. Smith c Pollard b Usman 49

B.M. Duckett c Pollard b Sohail 16

Hussain Talat run out 11

S.R. Watson c Pollard b Sohail 2

B.J. Haddin c Pollard b Usman 20

Shadab Khan c Malik b Amir 9

Misbah-ul-Haq c Gayle b Amir 12

Mohammad Sami not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-1, NB-1) 4

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 15 overs) 123

FALL OF WKTS: 1-37, 2-57, 3-61, 4-101, 5-101, 6-121, 7-123.

DID NOT BAT: Rumman Raees Khan, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan.

BOWLING: Imad Wasim 3-0-20-0; Mohammad Amir 3-0-25-2; Sohail Khan 3-0-23-2; Usman Khan Shinwari 3-0-25-2 (1nb); Usama Mir 3-0-28-0 (1w).

KARACHI KINGS:

Babar Azam b Shadab 27

C.H. Gayle c Irfan b Ajmal 44

K.C. Sangakkara c Rumman b Shadab 10

Shoaib Malik c Haddin b Shadab 7

K.A. Pollard not out 20

R.S. Bopara not out 11

EXTRAS (LB-8, W-6) 8

TOTAL (for four wkts, 14.5 overs) 127

FALL OF WKTS: 1-64, 2-80, 3-92, 4-92.

DID NOT BAT: Imad Wasim, Sohail Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Amir, Usman Khan Shinwari.

BOWLING: Mohammad Irfan 3-0-35-0 (2w); Mohammad Sami 3-0-25-0 (1w); Rumman Raees Khan 2.5-0-18-0 (1w); Saeed Ajmal 2-0-29-1; Shadab Khan 3-0-13-3 (1w); Watson 1-0-5-0.

RESULT: Karachi Kings won by six wickets.

UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and R.E.J. Martinesz (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Chris Gayle.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2017

Nokia's newly revitalised phone business went back to the future on Sunday, re-introducing a brightly coloured version of the best-selling phone of 2000.

The new version of the classic 3310 talk and text phone has bigger screens and is priced at just $52.

Nokia also reentered the global smartphone market with four moderately priced models ranging from 139 to 299 euros.

Once the world's dominant phonemaker, Nokia in 2014 sold its by-then ailing handset operations to Microsoft for $7 billion.

HMD, a new company led by ex-Nokia executives and backed by Chinese electronics giant Foxconn, in December took over the Nokia feature phones business and struck a licensing deal that gave it sole use of the Nokia brand on all phones and tablets for the next decade.

“The love for the brand is immense. It gets a lot of affection from millions and millions of people,” Nokia Chief Executive Rajeev Suri told a news conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the telecom industry's largest annual trade fair.

Nokia is betting that the revived devices business can help it make a fresh start in the smartphone market.

Courtesy: Dawn News

Samsung Electronics launched two new tablets on Sunday, marking its first major announcement since being forced to withdraw the flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after some of the devices caught fire.

The Galaxy Tab S3 and the Galaxy Book were presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, in past years the scene of major Samsung launches.

This year, Samsung has postponed the presentation of the Galaxy S8, its next key device.

Instead, it took the wraps off the Galaxy Tab S3 and the Galaxy Book, which comes in a 10.6-inch and a 12-inch version.

The Galaxy Book will run on Microsoft Windows 10.

The Tab S3 will have speakers by Harman-owned AKG, Samsung's first use of the brand since agreeing to buy Harman for $8 billion last year.

Samsung withdrew the Galaxy Note 7 last October after faulty batteries led some devices to catch fire, leading to a loss of consumer trust, wiping out $5.3bn of operating profit, and allowing Apple's iPhone to overtake it in sales.

Samsung's smartphone market share dropped to 17.7 per cent in the fourth quarter, while Apple's rose to 17.8pc, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.

Samsung is expected to launch the S8 in April. In the meantime, dozens of device makers are launching new phones at Mobile World Congress, hoping to exploit the gap Samsung has left.

Courtesy: Dawn News

President Donald Trump was on people's minds if not on everyone's lips at the Oscars on Sunday night.

He was the subject of a protest non-appearance by an Academy Award-winning director, an oblique introduction by last year's supporting actor winner and several of host Jimmy Kimmel's jokes. But the president's name was kept out of most of references.

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, winner of the Oscar for best foreign film, boycotted Sunday's ceremony, citing Trump's travel ban of several predominantly Muslim countries, including his own. He sent Iranian astronaut Anousheh Ansari to read a statement for him.

“Dividing the world into the 'us and our enemies' categories creates fear,” Ansari said, adding it's “a deceitful justification for aggression and war.” All six directors nominated in the category issued a statement two days before the ceremony criticizing the “climate of fascism” in the U.S.

Kimmel referred to Trump specifically in a joke that brought in the Academy Awards' past controversy over a lack of diversity in nominees. “Remember last year when people were saying the Oscars were racist?” he said.

He made an elaborate show of talking about the “overrated” Meryl Streep, who was given that tag by the president in a tweet after she criticized him in a speech at the Golden Globes last month. Kimmel joked about her dress, saying “by the way, is that an Ivanka?”

And Kimmel also alluded to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's banning of some reporters from a briefing on Friday, saying that reporters from CNN, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and others needed to leave.

“We have no tolerance for fake news,” he said.

As he introduced the nominees for the best supporting actress award, last year's supporting actor winner Mark Rylance said there should be an award for people who can oppose things without hatred. Trump wasn't named, but the context seemed clear.

Kimmel said about audience members, “some of you will get to come up on stage here and give a speech that the president of the United States will tweet about in all caps during his 5 a.m. bowel movement.”

Marlon Brando's decision to send American Indian Sacheen Littlefeather to accept his best actor award in 1973 essentially began the modern marriage of Oscar and politics. But it was still so unusual that when documentary producer Bert Schneider talked about the Vietnam War two years later, Frank Sinatra later read an apology on-air.

Since then an Oscars podium has been used several times for political causes: Vanessa Redgrave on behalf of Palestinians in 1978, Michael Moore to denounce President George W. Bush in 2003, Sean Penn to boost gay marriage in 2009, Patricia Arquette to advocate for equal pay for women in 2015 and Leonardo DiCaprio to talk about climate change last year.

If Trump is watching, only Twitter may tell. Asked last week whether the president plans to tune in, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said he didn't know. But since there's a governor's ball on Sunday, “I have a feeling that's where the president and the first lady are going to be focused on on Sunday night,” he said.

Something that did draw Trump's attention was the announcement that The New York Times would run an advertisement during the ceremony. The president tweeted Sunday that the Times was trying to “save its failing reputation.”

He encouraged the Times to “try reporting accurately & fairly” in a tweet that had its own inaccuracy: it's not the first time, as Trump had tweeted, that the Times has advertised its wares.

Courtesy: Dawn News

KUALA LUMPUR: Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud arrived in Malaysia on Sunday to kick off a multi-nation tour aimed at boosting his country’s economic ties with Asia.

The visit is the first by a Saudi king to Malaysia in more than a decade, as the Arab nation courts Asian investors for the sale of a 5 per cent stake in state firm Aramco in 2018, expected to be the world’s biggest IPO.

Malaysian state television on Sunday showed live footage of the octogenarian king descending from his plane on an escalator flown in with his delegation. He was received by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak before being whisked away in a heavily guarded convoy for a state ceremony at Malaysia’s parliament grounds.

The leader was greeted in parliament with a 21-gun salute, local media reported.

King Salman also plans to visit Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China, the Maldives and Jordan “to meet with the leaders of those countries to discuss bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concern,” a royal court statement carried on Saudi Arabia’s state media SPA reported.

Government sources with knowledge of the visit said a 600-strong delegation will accompany the king on his four-day visit to Malaysia, where cooperation on energy developments will be on the agenda.

State oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Saudi Aramco will sign an agreement on Tuesday to collaborate in Malaysia’s Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project, a boost for the Southeast Asian economy which has been reeling under weak global oil prices.

Relations between the two countries have been in the spotlight over the last two years after Saudi Arabia was dragged into a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal at Malaysian state fund 1MDB, founded by Mr Razak.

The Malaysian prime minister has denied any wrongdoing in the money-laundering case which is now being investigated by several countries, including the United Sates, Switzerland and Singapore.

A Malaysian government inquiry found that nearly $700 million transferred to the prime minister’s bank account in 2013 was a donation from the Saudi royal family and most of it was returned.

The last time a Saudi king visited Malaysia was in 2006, when King Abdullah, King Salman’s half-brother and predecessor, flew in with a 300-member delegation.

“Saudi Arabian investment in Malaysia is expected to create thousands of jobs and we are proud that Malaysian firms have been chosen to undertake projects at some of the most prestigious locations in Saudi Arabia,” Mr Razak said in a statement on Friday.

The Malaysian prime minister said the Saudi king’s visit would strengthen ties between the two countries in fighting terrorism based on a strong belief in tolerance, moderation and comprehensive security of Islam, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Besides travelling with his own private escalator, King Salman has also flown in two personal cars. His entourage has also completely booked out three luxury hotels in Kuala Lumpur for the duration of the visit.

After Malaysia, the king is expected to travel to Jakarta and Bali in Indonesia from March 1-9 with an even larger entourage of 1,500 people, followed by a trip to Japan from March 12 to 14, officials in those countries said.

King Salman is expected to spend the last two weeks of March on holiday in the Maldives, according to a Maldives diplomat. Local newspaper Mihaaru reported that three resorts have been reserved for his stay.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2017

In a response to British-Pakistani Boxing star Amir Khan's ongoing call to action for anyone to take him on with #TheStingChallenge, top Pakistani MMA star Bashir Ahmad has today publicly challenged Amir Khan to fight. 

Sonam Kapoor is currently in Dubai at the Kalyan jewellers store launch looking her fashionable best (as always). Even though she was meant to dress in a sari she notched her Indian wear with fringes similar to what Emilio Pucci showcased at his recent show.

Both these designs look pretty similar, don’t they? Seems like both designers used the same mood board to create these looks.

Check her look out:

Wearing this mint green and white sari detailed with fringes all over, she looked absolutely stunning. She accessorised this look with a necklace, a pair of earrings and a ring – all from Kalyan Jewellers. With her hair neatly tied in a bun, celebrity makeup artist Namrata Soni opted for pink lips and a winged eyeliner with accents of gold.

Stunning, indeed. Tell us what you think by commenting below

Is it Kangana Ranaut‘s princess-ssy gown or her gorgeous blonde curls, that’s making her look like a porcelain doll? What ever the case maybe, this look brings all kinds of fairy tale feels to our day. Celebrity stylist Ami Patel picks out this powder pink gown featuring a tulle bottom. A statement making necklace and earrings from Nakshatra jewellers complement the outfit really well.

Her beauty game was on top with soft pink lips and stark lined kohl eyes. Check out more pictures in the gallery bellow:

If this is not a fairy tale gown, we don’t know what is!

Check out a similar gown with the enchanting feels here.

BEIJING: China on Friday extended its support for military operation Raddul Fasaad launched to eliminate the threat of terrorism and extremism across the country besides ensuring security of borders.

“China understands and supports necessary measures taken by Pakistan to consolidate its position in counterterrorism operations, maintain domestic security and stability and safety of its people,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said during a press briefing.

In recent years, Pakistan rigorously made efforts and progressed in fighting terrorism, he added.

Mr Geng expressed his condolences over the loss of innocent lives in the recent terror wave. Referring to the military operation, he said: “We believe with joint efforts of the government, army and people, Pakistan will surely claim victory in its fight against terrorism.”

The Pakistan Army on Feb 22 launched Operation Raddul Fasaad following a wave of terrorism that hit the four provinces, leaving over 100 dead and hundreds of others wounded.

The announcement in this regard was made by the ISPR after Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Bajwa chaired a high-level security meeting in Lahore.

The elimination of residual terrorist threats, the consolidation of gains made during previous counterterrorism operations and tightening security on the borders have been des­cribed as the main objectives of the new operation, which would be joined by the PAF and Navy and paramilitary organisations, civilian law enforcement agencies and intelligence outfits.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2017

We were one of the first ones to tell you that popular comedian Bharti Singh was dating the writer of Comedy Nights Bachao, Haarsh Limbhachiyaa. Though they maintained that they were ‘just friends’ for a while, they later opened up about their relationship. A while ago, the duo got engaged and are all set to tie the knot this year. Talking about her wedding, Bharti told the news agency, PTI: 

“I am very excited for the wedding but more so for all the ceremonies, like ‘mehandi’ and ‘sangeet’. I want to do it all because all throughout the year we work hard and don’t get to do these things… Haarsh is so simple that he doesn’t like all this ‘shor-sharaba’ but I am opposite, I like all these things. He had to agree with me because I am his would be wife… By November-December we will get married. We haven’t decided a date yet because there are a lot of shows we are working on. When I want to get married, I wouldn’t like to do anything for one month before that… I want to just get busy with pre-wedding preparations. Shootings will keep happening but marriage happens only once.”

TV actress Aashka Goradia is also going to have a winter wedding in December. Just like the previous year, looks like 2017 winter is also going to be all about band baaja and baarat in our telly land.

London Fashion Week arrived and left with not as much of a bang as we expected. Of course, the shows, models and front rows were buzz-worthy, but the makeup looks left us with doubts. We saw quite a lot of neutrals, flushed dewy skin with hints of rosy cheeks. There were however stand out and over the top hair and makeup looks as well. Scroll down to see some of the styles:

Aqua touches for Mary Katrantzou

Mary Katrantzou at London Fashion Week AW17 | Image Source: voguerunway.com

Red lips for Topshop Unique

Topshop Unique at London Fashion Week AW17 | Image Source: voguerunway.com

Threaded buns for Asai Ta

Bold glitter for Versus Versace

Flushed & natural for Simone Rocha

Simone Rocha at London Fashion Week AW17 | Image Source: voguerunway.com

Grunge lines for London College of Fashion

Subtle pinks for Erdem

Erdem at London Fashion Week AW17 | Image Source: voguerunway.com

Bold brows & no makeup for Christopher Kane

Christopher Kane at London Fashion Week AW17 | Image Source: voguerunway.com

Chunky braids for Antonio Berardi

Glitter lids Sadie Williams

Smokey red eyes for J.JS LEE

Bold lids for Richard Malone

Floral headbands for Stephen Jones

We’re loving these muted and simple looks. But is runway fashion beauty taking a step back from the usual out-of-the-box looks? Comment below with your favourite look.

Lahore Qalandars or Peshawar Zalmi?

All it took was a Twitter exchange between Pakistani cricketer Wahab Riaz and his wife Zaynab to pique interest from cricket fans.

With the PSL in full swing this season, Pakistani's are rooting for teams from their respective cities and like the rest of the country Zaynab too is cheering for her hometown team, the Lahore Qalandars.

The match between Lahore Qalandars and Islamabad United on Feb 20 had supporters of the former in high spirits after it won by one wicket and Wahab's wife couldn't help but tweet in support of her team.

"What a nail biting end! Congratulations @lahoreqalandars now #HBLPSL is wide open for the teams to grab opportunity for the finals!" she wrote.

 Follow

Zaynab wahab @ZaynabWahabviki

What a nail bitting end!Congratulations @lahoreqalandars now #HBLPSL is wide open for the teams to grab opportunity for the finals! 

12:43 AM - 21 Feb 2017

 
•  197197 Retweets
 
•  792792 likes

However, her husband, the left-arm firebrand who's playing for Peshawar Zalmi, was of a different opinion.

And guess who was a good sport about it?

Speaking to DawnNews reporter Zeeshan Ahmed, Wahab Riaz said of the duo's Twitter exchange: "It was nothing, it was just a normal conversation. I'm from Lahore but obviously I want Peshawar to win because I'm representing it.

"My wife is obviously a Peshawar supporter, think of it this way, I'm thinking of my team and she has the right to say what she wants and she said what she thinks is right and I did the same."

Before anyone questions their marriage he added, "My wife and I have a really good understanding, we take things in good humour and we're really good friends. And I found out later that people really enjoyed the exchange."

If you've got chronic wanderlust, prepare to experience crippling envy.

Cassie De Pecol from Connecticut, U.S.A spent 18-something months ticking off nations at a rate of knots and has become the first documented person to step on all 196 countries on the planet.

From all the countries she visited, the travel enthusiast gave Telegraph Travel her list of top 10 places everyone must visit and guess what — Pakistan was #5 on her list.

Cassie shared that one must visit Pakistan "to get a true sense of raw, authentic Asian culture and for the food!"

She had to wait four months to get her visa approved but said she was not disappointed. revealing that her time in Pakistan was one of the "many wonderfully educational and culturally enriching experiences" of her travels.

Other names that appear on the list are Oman, Mongolia, Peru among others. Read the entire list here.