Lahore: Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam Thursday shared his pictures on social media after receiving the International Cricket Council (ICC) award and captioned it as: “You are your own magic”.

The national team captain conducted a special photo shoot at home with his trophies and caps he received in 2021 and 2022.

The photos include ICC Test, One Day International (ODI) and T20 Team of the Year caps and all three trophies.

You are your own magic 🪄 pic.twitter.com/2VO1c4YZLn

— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) February 2, 2023

Soon after sharing the images, Babar's friends, colleagues and fans starting congratulating him for the success. 

It is pertinent to note that Babar Azam was included in the ICC Test and ODI Team of the Year in 2021. He also received the ODI Player of the Year award in 2021.

Kerala: Indian journalist Siddique Kappan has been released from prison more than two years after his arrest while travelling to report on an alleged rape.

He was arrested in October 2020 in Uttar Pradesh state, where a young Dalit woman had died after she was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men.

The case had sparked protests in India.

Police accused Mr. Kappan of conspiring to create law and order trouble and incite violence, which he denied.

Three men who were in the car with him that day were accused of similar offences.

Mr. Kappan, who had two cases against him, was given bail in one by India's Supreme Court in September. The Allahabad high court granted him bail in the second case in December.

But it took more than a month after that for him to be released due to procedural delays.

On Thursday, after Mr. Kappan walked out of the prison in Lucknow city, he said he would continue to fight the charges against him.

"I will also continue to do journalism. I will not sit idle, After all, I am a journalist - where can I run?" he told BBC Hindi's Anant Zanane.

Mr. Kappan, who is from Kerala state, was working at Malayalam-language news portal Azhimukham when he was arrested on his way to Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh.

After his arrest, he accused the police of physically and mentally torturing him. His family also alleged that authorities did not give him access to his medicines for diabetes.

The police denied the allegations.

They have claimed that Mr. Kappan and his companions were members of the Popular Front of India (PFI), a Kerala-based radical Muslim group that was banned last year for alleged links with terror groups. The PFI, Mr. Kappan's lawyer and a Kerala-based journalist union he belonged to have denied this.

Mr. Kappan's lawyer told the BBC in 2021 that his client was initially charged with "minor bailable offences".

But two days later, the police added other charges including sedition and provisions under a stringent anti-terror law which critics say makes it almost impossible to get bail.

In February 2021, the Enforcement Directorate, which investigates financial crimes, filed another case against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The central agency said that Mr. Kappan received money from PFI to "incite riots", a charge he denied.

SOURCE: BBC

Islamabad: China's top leadership has assured its support to Pakistan in countering terrorism, promoting national action plan, ensuring security of its people and stability of the country.

The assurance was given by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in a condolence message addressed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in which they condemned the terrorist attack in a mosque in Peshawar.

Both leaders expressed condolences on behalf of Chinese government and people to the families of those martyred in the incident and conveyed best wishes for speedy recovery of the injured.

President Xi said China is ready to deepen counter-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan for peace and security in the region and the world.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked the Chinese President and the Premier for their expression of solidarity.