Pakistan sends 14th consignment of relief items for Palestine 

BANGKOK: Thai and Cambodian police raided a building in a border town and freed 215 foreigners, a senior Thai official said on Sunday, in an expansion of a regional crackdown against cyber scam centers.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked by criminal gangs and forced to work in scam centers and illegal online operations across Southeast Asia, according to the United Nations. A UN report in 2023 estimated that the fast-growing operations generate billions of dollars annually.
The Sunday raid targeted a three-story building in the Cambodian border town of Poipet in Banteay Meanchey province. The rescued foreigners included 109 Thais, 50 Pakistanis, 48 Indians, five Taiwanese and three Indonesians, Thai government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub said on Sunday.
“This is the largest number of Thais freed from a building suspected of cyber fraud for the two countries,” Jirayu said.
The raid was the result of a joint effort by Thailand and Cambodia to tackle scam centers, he said.
Scam centers have been operating for years. But they now face new scrutiny after the rescue of Chinese actor, Wang Xing, who was lured to Thailand with the promise of a job, and then abducted and taken to a scam center in Myanmar.
Southeast Asian countries have stepped up efforts to tackle scam centers with recent actions along the Thai-Myanmar border. Earlier this month, Thailand cut power, fuel and Internet supply to areas linked with scam centers.
China also repatriated 621 of its nationals rescued from scam centers in those areas over the past few days, the Thai army said on Saturday. 
 

DUBAI: Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan admitted Sunday that his team’s Champions Trophy dreams had “ended” after a shattering loss to bitter rivals India.

Hosts Pakistan went down by six wickets in Dubai for their second defeat in the 50-over tournament to all but bow out of the semifinal race.

If New Zealand beat Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Monday, then Pakistan’s fate will be sealed.

“Yes, I would say it has ended, that’s the truth,” Rizwan told reporters when asked if his side had reached the end of the road.

“The next match, what Bangladesh does with New Zealand and what New Zealand does with India. What we do? It’s a long journey. Our Champions Trophy depends on others and I as a captain I don’t like this.”

“If we could have done something on our own then it would have been different. We admit to our losses against New Zealand and India but don’t want to sit eyeing other results.”

Pakistan is hosting an ICC tournament for the first time in nearly three decades since the 1996 ODI World Cup, which they co-hosted with India and Sri Lanka.

India, however, refused to tour Pakistan due to political reasons and are playing all their matches at the Dubai International Stadium.

Pakistan elected to bat first in the crunch game but were bowled out for 241 in 49.4 overs despite a 104-run partnership between Saud Shakeel and Rizwan.

India rode on Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 100 to chase down the target with 45 balls to spare on a sluggish pitch where stroke-making was difficult.

Pakistan leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed returned figures of 1-28 from his 10 overs but other bowlers leaked runs.

“We are disappointed, yes, because a defeat brings a tough day, facing difficult things and lots of questions,” said Rizwan. “Abrar Ahmed’s bowling was a positive but we made mistakes in all three departments.”

After Saud, who hit 62, and Rizwan, who made 46, departed the middle-order stuttered with only Khushdil Shah hitting a late cameo with his 38.

“Our middle-order has performed before and 270-280 would have been good on this pitch,” said Rizwan.

“I tried to build a partnership and took some time as well, we lost wickets and our shot selection was poor. In turn our middle-order crumbled.”

Pakistan lost the tournament opener to New Zealand and Rizwan said mistakes are being repeated.

“Honestly we made the same mistakes that we have been doing since the last three-four matches,” the wicketkeeper-batsman said.

“We are working on them but we are mortals and falling short. India probably worked harder than us and were brave. We lacked being brave and fell short in the field.”

Pakistan, who won the last edition of the Champions Trophy in 2017 after beating India in the final, next play Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Thursday.