Trinidad and Tobago: Pakistan will play their first match of the tournament against Zimbabwe in the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup West Indies 2022 on Monday at the Diego Martin Sporting Complex in Trinidad and Tobago.

Pakistan will then meet Afghanistan on Thursday at the Brian Lara Cricket Ground, while their last Group C fixtures will be against Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Saturday at the Queens Park Oval.

Pakistan is the third most successful side after India and Australia in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup, which was launched in 1988 before becoming a biennial event in 1998.

Pakistan have won titles in 2004 and 2006, finished runners-up thrice in 1988, 2010 and 2014, and achieved third positions in 2000, 2008, 2018 and 2020.

Squad: Qasim Akram (captain, Central Punjab), Abdul Faseeh (Northern), Abbas Ali (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ahmed Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ali Asfand (Central Punjab), Arham Nawab (Central Punjab), Awais Ali (Central Punjab), Faisal Akram (Southern Punjab), Haseebullah (wicketkeeper, Balochistan), Irfan Khan Niazi (Central Punjab), Maaz Sadaqat (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mehran Mumtaz (Northern), Mohammad Shehzad (Southern Punjab), Rizwan Mehmood (Sindh) and Zeeshan Zameer (Sindh)

Traveling reserves: Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper, Sindh), Mohammad Zeeshan (Central Punjab).

Pakistan fixtures:

17 Jan - v Zimbabwe - Diego Martin Sporting Complex.

20 Jan - v Afghanistan - Brian Lara Cricket Ground.

22 Jan - v PNG - Queens Park Oval.

Bahawalpur: In an unfortunate incident, four students were killed while several others sustained injuries following a horrific collision between a troller and auto near Musafir Khana in District Bahawalpur. 

Police and rescue teams reached the spot after getting information and shifted the deceased and injured to Bahawal Victoria Hospital.

According to preliminary details, ill-fated auto was carrying school children.  

Police, however, started an investigation into the incident as the driver of troller fled from the scene. 

Abu Dhabi: Three people were killed in a suspected drone attack that set off a blast and a fire in Abu Dhabi on Monday, officials said, as Yemen's rebels announced military operations in the United Arab Emirates.

Two Indians and a Pakistani died as three petrol tanks exploded near the storage facility of oil giant ADNOC, while a fire ignited in a construction area at Abu Dhabi airport.

Police said "small flying objects" were found at both places, suggesting the sort of deliberate attack that is unheard of in the wealthy UAE, a renowned safe haven in the volatile Middle East.

"Preliminary investigations indicate the detection of small flying objects, possibly belonging to drones, that fell in the two areas and may have caused the explosion and fire," police said in a statement, adding that the incidents were under investigation.

Yemen's Huthi rebels did not claim the attacks. But the Huthis military spokesman announced a "military operation" in the UAE, a partner in Yemen's pro-government coalition, in what would be a major escalation in the seven-year war.

Yahya Saree tweeted that the rebels' armed forces had said they would "announce an important military operation in the UAE in the coming hours".

Drone attacks are a hallmark of the Huthis' assaults on Saudi Arabia, the UAE ally which is leading the coalition fighting for Yemen's government in a grinding civil war.

The rebels have previously threatened to target Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the gleaming crown jewels of the UAE which last year opened its first nuclear power plant.

The Huthis' latest statement comes two weeks after they seized a UAE-flagged ship, the Rwabee, off the Yemen coast, and released footage purporting to show military equipment on board.

The UAE said the Rwabee, whose 11 crew are now hostages, was a "civilian cargo vessel" and called the hijacking a "dangerous escalation" in the busy Red Sea shipping route.

The rebels later rejected a UN Security Council demand for the ship's immediate release, saying it was "not carrying... toys for children but weapons for extremists".

SOUCE: AFP