Daniil Medvedev (Image credit: AFP)

Former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev has indicated that he is among what the ATP Tour described as “a small number of players and team members” it is helping to leave Dubai, as the war in the Middle East has triggered widespread travel disruptions.Medvedev’s Instagram account reposted a report on Monday from Russian-language tennis outlet Bolshe, which stated that he was safe and staying at a friend’s apartment in Dubai. The update came amid flight cancellations following his victory at the ATP event there last week.

“The health, safety and wellbeing of our players, staff and tournament personnel is our priority. We can confirm that a small number of players and team members remain in Dubai following the conclusion of the recent ATP 500 event,” the ATP Tour said in a statement on Monday.“They and their teams are being accommodated in the tournament’s official hotels, where their immediate needs are being fully supported.”Medvedev and several others are scheduled to compete at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, where main-draw matches begin on Wednesday.“We are in direct communication with those affected, as well as with tournament organizers and security advisors,” the ATP said. “At this stage, travel assessments remain subject to ongoing assessment in line with airline operations and official guidance. We will continue to provide appropriate support to ensure players and their teams can depart safely when conditions allow.”The travel disruption has also affected other sports. Cricketers from England and Pakistan’s men’s developmental teams were in the United Arab Emirates over the weekend ahead of a match that was cancelled on Sunday.Youth basketball players likewise encountered difficulties after a EuroLeague tournament in the region was called off.Several sporting events across the region have been suspended, including Asian Champions League football matches and fixtures in the Qatari league. Formula 1’s governing body said on Monday it would focus on “safety and wellbeing” while reviewing upcoming races in the region.

Dhanush’s highly anticipated film ‘Kara’ is set for a worldwide theatrical release on April 30, exciting fans with a striking new poster. Directed by Vignesh Raja, the movie features Dhanush as a cotton farmer entangled in a revenge-driven, suspenseful thriller with a strong ensemble cast. This release marks a significant point in Dhanush’s upcoming projects.

Dhanush officially announced that his much-awaited film Kara will hit theatres worldwide on April 30, putting an end to the long wait for fans. The actor shared a striking new poster on social media, keeping the message short and powerful while confirming the date and triggering instant excitement online. The announcement has turned the film into one of the most anticipated summer releases, with trade circles already expecting a strong opening.A rooted and intense characterDirected by Vignesh Raja of Por Thozhil fame, the film presents Dhanush in a raw and earthy role. He plays Karasaami, a cotton farmer — a man who walks into violence while taking on powerful enemies. The glimpse of the story suggests a protagonist haunted by past demons, ready to pay the price for his transgressions. The intense emotions, rural backdrop, and revenge theme promise a nail-biting, suspenseful thriller.

Strong cast and familiar teamKara boasts a strong ensemble cast, including Mamitha Baiju, K. S. Ravikumar, Jayaram, Suraj Venjaramoodu, M. S. Bhaskar, Karunas, Sreeja Ravi, and Prithvi Pandiarajan. The music is composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, continuing his successful collaboration with Dhanush, while Theni Eswar handles the cinematography and Sreejith Sarang takes care of the editing. The film is written by Vignesh Raja along with Alfred Prakash.What’s next for DhanushAlongside Kara, the actor has already begun work on his next big project, tentatively titled D55. The film recently commenced with a traditional launch and has created significant buzz as it brings Dhanush together with Mammootty for the first time. With the April 30 release now confirmed, Kara becomes the immediate focus and a crucial film in Dhanush’s upcoming line-up.

Oil prices surged sharply on Monday as disruptions to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz heightened concerns over global energy supply amid US and Israeli attacks on Iran. US crude jumped 7.6 per cent to $72.12 per barrel, while Brent crude rose 8.6 per cent to $79.11 per barrel. European natural gas futures also spiked more than 40 per cent after Qatar, a major supplier, halted liquefied natural gas (LNG) production in response to the conflict.The disruptions have raised the prospect of higher gasoline prices for US drivers, as well as rising costs for other goods globally, at a time when many consumers are already feeling the effects of inflation.

A key focus for markets is the Strait of Hormuz, at the southern end of the Persian Gulf, through which around 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply passes. Tanker traffic in the area dropped sharply amid reports of disrupted satellite navigation systems. The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre reported attacks on multiple vessels on either side of the strait and warned of increased electronic interference affecting tracking systems.In the Gulf of Oman, a bomb-carrying drone struck a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker, killing one mariner, according to Omani authorities. Iran has issued threats against vessels approaching the strait and is believed to have carried out multiple attacks in the region.Saudi authorities also reported intercepting Iranian drones targeting the Ras Tanura oil refinery near Dammam, leading to a temporary shutdown of some units as a precaution, according to Saudi state media. Analysts are closely watching whether the conflict could spread to other major oil-producing countries in the Gulf.For most Middle Eastern oil exporters, the Strait of Hormuz is a critical route. While pipelines exist to bypass the strait, their capacity is limited and cannot handle the bulk of oil shipments from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the UAE. Meanwhile, QatarEnergy announced that it had stopped LNG production, citing the ongoing US-Israeli military operations in Iran. Europe relies heavily on Qatari LNG to offset reduced Russian pipeline gas supplies following the Ukraine conflict. In the aftermath, European April futures contracts surged to 45.46 euros ($53.26) per megawatt-hourThe spike in oil prices comes as US gasoline prices were already climbing ahead of the summer driving season. The national average for a gallon of regular fuel rose more than five cents last week to $2.98, according to AAA. Crude price fluctuations typically reflect at the pump within about 20 days, with a $10 increase in crude adding roughly 25 cents per gallon.In Europe, taxes make up the majority of fuel costs, but higher energy prices can still feed through the broader economy. Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, estimated that a sustained $15 per barrel increase could add 0.5 percentage points to consumer inflation in Europe.

Amazon’s Cloud Unit shut down temporarily after ‘Objects Hit’ UAE data centre facility. Amazon Web Service (AWS) confirmed that at approximately 4:30 AM PST on March 1, “objects struck” the facility in availability zone mec1-az2, creating sparks and igniting a fire. The UAE fire department cut power to the building. The zone went dark. In its statement AWS added that other zones remain operational and restoration will take several hours. AWS Health Dashboard currently shows the services at the Datacenter ‘Disrupted’. It says that the following AWS services have been affected by this issue: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud and Amazon Relational Database Service. The UAE is reeling from Iran’s missile and drone strikes following US and Israeli strikes on Iran. The Iranian strikes reportedly hit airports, ports, and residential areas across the country and the wider Gulf. When news agency Reuters asked AWS whether the incident at the data center was connected to the strikes, the company did not confirm or deny. The company said in its statement will take several hours to restore connectivity in the affected zone, the data center operator said, adding that other zones in the UAE are operating normally.

AWS Health Dashboard Status update

AWS Health dashboard for UAE shows ‘Increased Error Rates’. It also shows multiple services impacted. Here’s the update on the dashboard:Mar 02 6:22 AM PST: We continue to work towards recovery of the two impaired Availability Zones (mec1-az2 and mec1-az3) in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region. We are expecting recovery to take at least a day, as it requires repair of facilities, cooling and power systems, coordination with local authorities, and careful assessment to ensure the safety of our operators. EC2, Amazon DynamoDB and other AWS Services continue to experience significant error rates and elevated latencies. We recommend customers enact their disaster recovery plans and recover from remote backups into alternate AWS Regions, ideally in Europe. Further, we strongly advise customers to update their applications to ingest S3 data to an alternate AWS Region. We will provide an update by 11:00 AM PST on March 2, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 02 2:53 AM PST: We wanted to provide more information on Amazon S3 given that there are two impaired Availability Zones (mec1-az2 and mec1-az3) in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region. Amazon S3 is a regional service and designed to withstand the total loss of a single Availability Zone while maintaining S3’s durability and availability. When the mec1-az2 AZ was powered off at approximately 4:00 AM PST on Sunday, March 1, S3 continued to operate normally. As the second AZ became impaired, S3 error rates increased. With two Availability Zones significantly impacted, customers are seeing high failure rates for data ingest and egress. We strongly advise customers to update their applications to ingest S3 data to an alternate AWS Region. As soon as practically possible, we will begin the restoration of our two Availability Zones which will include a careful assessment of data health and any repair of storage if necessary.In addition, we can confirm that the AWS Management Console and command line interface (CLI) are disrupted by the failure of two Availability Zones. We continue to work towards recovery across all services, and we will provide an update by 6:00 AM PST on March 2, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 02 12:52 AM PST: We continue to work on a localized power issue affecting multiple Availability Zones in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region (mec1-az3 and mec1-az1). Customers are experiencing increased EC2 API errors and instance launch failures across the region, and it is not currently possible to launch new instances; existing instances in mec1-az1 should not be affected. Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon S3 are also experiencing significant error rates and elevated latencies. We are actively working to restore power and connectivity, after which we will begin recovery of affected resources; full recovery is still expected to be many hours away. We recommend that affected customers failover, and backup any critical data, to another AWS Region. We will provide an update by 2:00 AM PST, or sooner if the situation changes.Mar 01 10:46 PM PST: We can confirm that a localized power issue has affected another Availability Zone in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region (mec1-az3). Customers are also experiencing increased EC2 APIs and instance launch errors for the remaining zone (mec1-az1). At this point it is not possible to launch new instances in the region, although existing instances should not be affected in mec1-az1. Other AWS Services, such as DynamoDB and S3 are also experiencing significant error rates and latencies. We are actively working to restore power and connectivity, at which time we will begin to work to recover affected resources. As of this time, we expect recovery is multiple hours away. For customers that can, we recommend failing away to another AWS Region at this time. We will provide an update by 12:00 AM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 9:59 PM PST: We are investigating additional connectivity issues and error rates in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region.Mar 01 6:01 PM PST: We confirm the recovery of the AssociateAddress API requests. We have also applied a change that enables customers to disassociate Elastic IP addresses from resources that are impacted by the underlying power issue. With these mitigations, customers can now successfully create and associate new network addresses in the unaffected AZs as well as re-associate Elastic IPs from resources in the affected zone to resources in the unaffected zones. We still do not have an ETA for power restoration at this time. For customers that can, we recommend using alternate Availability Zones or other AWS Regions where applicable. We will provide another update by 10:00 PM, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 4:26 PM PST: We are seeing significant signs of recovery for AssociateAddress requests, and continue to work toward fully mitigating this issue. This combined with the earlier recovery of the AllocateAddress API means customers can now successfully create and associate new network addresses in the unaffected AZs. Other AWS Services are also now observing sustained improvement as a result of the EC2 Networking APIs recovery. We are now focusing on implementing a change that will allow customers to Disassociate Elastic IP addresses from resources that are impacted by the underlying power issue. We expect this specific mitigation to take another hour to complete. We do not have an ETA for power restoration at this time. For customers that can, we recommend using alternate Availability Zones or other AWS Regions where applicable. We will provide another update by 6:30 PM, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 2:28 PM PST: We are seeing positive signs of recovery for many of the EC2 APIs, such as Describes and AllocateAddress. We recognize that customers are still experiencing errors when attempting to call the AssociateAddress API, and are unable to disassociate addresses from resources that are affected by the underlying power issue. We continue to work on multiple parallel paths to mitigate both of these issues. We recommend continuing to retry requests wherever possible. We expect our current mitigation efforts for these specific issues to complete within the the two to three hours. As we progress with these mitigation efforts, customers will observe higher success rates for these operations. Additionally, we are investigating ways to speed up these specific mitigation efforts, but are ensuring we do so safely. As of this time, power restoration is still several hours away. We will provide another update by 5:30 PM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 12:14 PM PST: We are aware that some customers are experiencing errors when calling EC2 APIs, specifically networking related APIs (AllocateAddress, AssociateAddress, DescribeRouteTable, DescribeNetworkInterfaces). We are actively working on multiple paths to mitigate these issues. For customers experiencing throttling errors on the AllocateAddress APIs, we recommend retrying any failed API requests. We are deploying a configuration change to mitigate the AssociateAddress API errors and expect recovery in the next few hours. DescribeRouteTable and DescribeNetworkInterfaces API calls without specifying zone, Interface or Instance IDs are expected to fail until we restore the impacted zone. We recommend customers to pass these IDs explicitly in these API requests. For customers that can, we recommend considering using alternate AWS Regions. We will provide another update by 3:30 PM PST, or sooner if we have more to share.Mar 01 9:41 AM PST: We want to provide some additional information on the power issue in a single Availability Zone in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region. At around 4:30 AM PST, one of our Availability Zones (mec1-az2) was impacted by objects that struck the data center, creating sparks and fire. The fire department shut off power to the facility and generators as they worked to put out the fire. We are still awaiting permission to turn the power back on, and once we have, we will ensure we restore power and connectivity safely. It will take several hours to restore connectivity to the impacted AZ. The other AZs in the region are functioning normally. Customers who were running their applications redundantly across the AZs are not impacted by this event. EC2 Instance launches will continue to be impaired in the impacted AZ. We recommend that customers continue to retry any failed API requests. If immediate recovery of an affected resource (EC2 Instance, EBS Volume, RDS DB Instance, etc.) is required, we recommend restoring from your most recent backup, by launching replacement resources in one of the unaffected zones, or an alternate AWS Region. We will provide an update by 12:30 PM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 8:59 AM PST: We continue to work toward restoring power in the affected Availability Zone in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region (mec1-az2). In parallel, we are actively working on improving error rates and latencies that some customers are observing for EC2 Networking and EC2 Describe APIs. Due to increased demand in the unaffected Availability Zones, customers may experience longer than usual provisioning times or may need to retry requests for certain instance types, or pick an alternative instance type. We will provide an update by 10:30 AM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 7:09 AM PST: We wanted to provide some additional information on the isolated power issue. At this time, most AWS Services have weighted away from the affected Availability Zone (mec1-az2) and are seeing recovery for their affected operations and workflows. For EC2 Instances, EBS Volumes, and other resources that are impacted in the affected Zone, we will have a longer tail of recovery. At this time, power has not yet been restored to the affected AZ. For now, we recommend continuing to retry any failed API requests. If immediate recovery is required, we recommend customers restore from EBS Snapshots and/or replace affected resources by launching replacement resources in one of the unaffected zones, or an alternate region. As of this time, recovery is still several hours away. We will provide an update by 8:30 AM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 6:09 AM PST: We can confirm that a localized power issue has affected a single Availability Zone in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region (mec1-az2). EC2 Instances, DB Instances, EBS Volumes, and others resources are currently unavailable and will experience connectivity issues at this time. Other AWS Services are also experiencing error rates and latencies for some workflows. We have weighed away traffic for most services at this time. We recommend customers utilize one of the other Availability Zones in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region at this time, as existing instances in other AZ’s remain unaffected by this issue. We are actively working to restore power and connectivity, at which time we will begin to work to recover affected resources. As of this time, we expect recovery is multiple hours away. We will provide an update by 7:15 AM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 5:19 AM PST: We are investigating connectivity and power issues affecting APIs and instances in a single Availability Zone (mec1-az2) in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region due to a localized power issue. Existing instances in this zone will also be affected. Other AWS Services may also be experiencing increased errors and latencies for their workflows, and we are working to route requests away from this affected Availability Zone. We recommend customers make use of other Availability Zones at this time. Targeting new launches using RunInstances in the remaining AZs should succeed. Existing instances in the other AZs are not affected.

Affected AWS services

The following AWS services have been affected by this issue. Services disrupted include:

The atmosphere at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata was nothing short of electric on Sunday as India faced the West Indies in a high-stakes encounter. This 52nd match of the T20 World Cup 2026, a crucial Super Eights Group 1 fixture, was effectively a virtual quarter-final. While the pressure was palpable, it was Sanju Samson who rose to the occasion, delivering a masterclass that not only secured India’s spot in the semi-finals but also triggered an emotional wave across social media, led by his biggest supporter—his wife, Charulatha Remesh.

Sanju Samson’s masterclass draw heartfelt reaction from wife Charulatha Remesh

As Samson played the innings of his life, his wife Charulatha took to social media to express her pride and joy. Known for being a steady pillar of support through Samson’s turbulent international career, Charulatha’s posts resonated deeply with fans who have witnessed the batter’s journey of patience and perseverance.

On her Instagram story, Charulatha shared a rare, candid selfie with Sanju, capturing a quiet moment of togetherness amidst the World Cup frenzy. She captioned the story with a touch of wit and deep affection: “Day so special that a selfie was granted,” followed by the poignant declaration, “My Number 1 from Day 1.”

The celebration didn’t stop there. Charulatha also shared a dedicated post featuring the star batter, choosing words that reflected the magnitude of the achievement and the grace with which Sanju handles both criticism and success. Her caption read:

“Because some moments have to be accepted not explained. Blessed & forever grateful to call this MAN, ‘Mine.”

These heartfelt tributes quickly went viral, with fans flooding the comments to celebrate the “Samson era” and the couple’s enduring bond.

Also READ: Sanju Samson reflects on his batting performance that powered India into the T20 World Cup 2026 semifinals

India march into the T20 World Cup 2026 semi-finals riding on Samson’s batting heroics

The match itself was a testament to Samson’s tactical brilliance and big-match temperament. Chasing a formidable target of 196, India found themselves in a precarious position after losing early wickets. However, Samson, who was promoted to the top of the order to counter the West Indies spin threat, anchored the chase with surgical precision.

He played a breathtaking, unbeaten knock of 97 off just 50 deliveries, peppered with 12 boundaries and 4 towering sixes. His ability to navigate the dew factor and maintain a high strike rate under immense scoreboard pressure was the difference-maker. When India needed 7 runs in the final over, Samson finished the game with a flourish, hitting a six and a boundary to seal a five-wicket victory with four balls to spare.

This win ensures India will face England in the semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. For Samson, this wasn’t just about the runs; it was about silencing the critics and proving his mettle on the grandest stage of all. As he dropped to his knees in gratitude at the final whistle, it was clear that this ‘Samson Special’ had finally etched his name into Indian cricketing folklore.

Also READ: Fans raise questions over Shimron Hetmyer’s controversial dismissal in IND vs WI Super 8 clash at T20 World Cup 2026

Uttar Pradesh is ramping up efforts to strengthen food security in the state while ensuring farmers are paid promptly for their produce. Government data shows a combination of technology-driven distribution, nutritional support, and direct procurement is being used to reach millions of beneficiaries across the state.The Public Distribution System (PDS) remains central to the state’s approach. About 150 million eligible beneficiaries receive 5 kg of free food grains each month, while the most vulnerable Antyodaya families are provided 35 kg. Antyodaya ration cardholders also receive 3 kg of sugar quarterly at Rs 18 per kg. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state expanded the distribution basket to include 1 kg of pulses, 1 litre of edible oil, and 1 kg of salt free of cost to all cardholders.To improve transparency and eliminate leakages and “ghost beneficiaries”, electronic Point of Sale (e-PoS) machines have been deployed at distribution centres. These use biometric verification to ensure that benefits reach the intended recipients and prevent leakages or duplication.The government has also moved towards nutritional security. Since 2023-24, all ration cardholders have received fortified rice enriched with iron, vitamin B-12, and folic acid to address malnutrition and anaemia. In addition, the state’s Ujjwala Yojana has provided over 18.6 million free LPG connections, with two free cylinders during Holi and Diwali, enabling cleaner cooking.Between 2017-18 and 2025-26, Uttar Pradesh procured 45.7 million metric tonnes of paddy, with payments exceeding Rs 88,951 crore, and 24.4 million metric tonnes of wheat, amounting to over Rs 45,935 crore. Smaller quantities of coarse grains were also procured: 0.47 million metric tonnes of Bajra, with payments over Rs 458 crore, and 0.13 million metric tonnes of Maize, totalling more than Rs 262 crore.The inclusion of coarse grains such as Bajra, Maize, and Jowar in procurement is part of the state’s effort to widen the range of crops sourced from farmers.The “One Nation One Ration Card” scheme, implemented in May 2020, allows beneficiaries to access food grains across states, helping over 6.7 million UP cardholders. To improve distribution infrastructure, the government is constructing modernised Fair Price Shops, called Annapurna Bhavans, with 7,439 completed and 1,772 under construction. A budget of Rs 200 crore has been allocated for the 2025-26 fiscal year for this purpose.

EPFO interest rate (AI image)

EPFO interest rate FY 2025-26: The central government has decided to keep the annual interest rate on Employees’ Provident Fund deposits unchanged at 8.25 per cent for the financial year 2025–26, the Ministry of Labour and Employment said. The move is expected to benefit crores of workers by reinforcing their retirement savings.The rate will be formally notified by the Government of India, after which the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation will credit the interest to subscribers’ accounts.The announcement followed the 239th meeting of the Central Board of Trustees of EPF, chaired in New Delhi by Union Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday.The ministry said that despite prevailing global uncertainties, EPFO has upheld sound financial management, enabling it to offer steady and competitive returns without placing undue pressure on its interest reserves. EPFO has managed to maintain an interest rate above 8 per cent in recent years, supported by healthy earnings from exchange-traded funds and other investments. As part of ongoing reforms, the Board also cleared a one-time Amnesty Scheme aimed at resolving compliance issues involving income tax-recognised trusts that have yet to obtain coverage or exemption under the EPF & MP Act, 1952, taking into account provisions of the Finance Act, 2026.The proposed scheme offers a six-month window for establishments and trusts to regularise their status. It is primarily designed to safeguard employees’ interests and includes waiver of damages, interest and penalties in cases where trusts have already provided benefits matching or exceeding statutory requirements. The scheme permits retrospective relaxation or exemption subject to specific conditions and ensures that eligible workers receive mandated benefits.The initiative is expected to settle more than 100 ongoing litigation matters, along with several additional cases, benefiting thousands of trust members. It will apply to exempted establishments that have complied with the provisions of the EPF & MP Act, 1952.The ministry also said the Board approved a new simplified standard operating procedure on EPF exemption. This framework merges four existing SOPs and the Exemption Manual into a single, comprehensive system aimed at easing compliance requirements. The revised SOP introduces a complete digital process for surrendering exemptions and transferring past accumulations. The technology-driven approach is intended to enhance transparency and efficiency in auditing exempted establishments. The unified system is expected to support ease of doing business, enable paperless operations, speed up processing of exemption-related cases and encourage compliance through risk-based online audits.EPFO functions as a social security institution tasked with providing provident fund, pension and insurance benefits to workers in the organised sector across the country.

Representative AI image

India on Saturday reviewed its crude oil and fuel supply position amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, with the government asserting that it is closely monitoring developments to safeguard domestic availability.“In view of ongoing geopolitical developments in the Middle East, the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas reviewed the supply situation for crude oil, LPG, and other petroleum products with senior officials from the Ministry and PSUs,” said the ministry in a statement on X.

Further assuring measures to keep supply stable it added, “We are continuously monitoring the evolving situation and all steps will be taken in order to ensure availability and affordability of major petroleum products in the country.”India relies on imports for more than 85 per cent of its crude oil needs, with a substantial portion coming from West Asia. According to industry estimates, cited by ET, every $1 rise in global crude prices increases India’s annual import bill by about $2 billion, exerting pressure on inflation, widening the current account deficit and complicating domestic fuel pricing dynamics.Crude oil is a key raw material in a wide range of everyday consumer goods, including detergents, biscuits, toothpaste, paints and packaging materials. Petroleum-based derivatives are extensively used in products such as soaps, shampoos, creams, hair oils, plastic bottles and tubes. These inputs account for over 25 per cent of production costs for FMCG companies and nearly 40 per cent for paint manufacturers. As a result, any sustained rise in crude prices could translate into higher costs for these daily-use items.Oil supply troubles further escalted as Qatar’s state-run energy major halted liquefied natural gas (LNG) production following Iranian drone attacks on key industrial facilities, triggering a sharp spike in European gas prices. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, said it had temporarily shut down certain units at the Ras Tanura oil refinery in its eastern region after a fire broke out in the aftermath of a separate drone strike.In a statement issued on Monday, QatarEnergy said it had suspended LNG and related output due to military attacks on its operating facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City. The company, the world’s largest LNG producer, cited security concerns following the strikes. ““Due to military attacks on QatarEnergy’s operating facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City in the State of Qatar, QatarEnergy has ceased production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and associated products,” it said, as quoted by Al Jazeera.Earlier in the day, Qatar’s Defence Ministry said two drones launched from Iran had targeted infrastructure in the country. One drone struck a water tank linked to a power plant in Mesaieed, while the other hit an energy facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City operated by QatarEnergy. Authorities said there were no reported casualties.The disruption had an immediate impact on global markets. European natural gas prices surged by nearly 50 per cent shortly after the announcement, reflecting fears of prolonged supply constraints from one of the world’s most critical LNG exporters.

NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s early exit from the Super Eights at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup has reignited debate over the team’s leadership, with former captain Shahid Afridi offering a sharp assessment of all-rounder Shadab Khan amid speculation about a potential change at the top.Having failed to reach the semifinals of an ICC event for the fourth consecutive time, uncertainty now surrounds current T20I skipper Salman Ali Agha. Media reports have named Shadab and fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi as possible successors if the board decides to overhaul the leadership group.

Afridi, though, made it clear he does not view Shadab as the answer. “Looking at his performance, I wouldn’t even keep him in the team, let alone give him the captaincy,” the former Pakistan captain said in an interview with Samaa TV.Shadab’s returns in the tournament — 118 runs and five wickets in seven matches — have drawn criticism, with Afridi questioning the backing the all-rounder continues to receive.“If Mike Hesson stays on as the coach, he was also there at Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League. Mike Hesson became Pakistan’s coach after his stint in the PSL. From there, his association with Shadab started,” Afridi said. “The head coach is giving Shadab chance after chance. That’s why I said Shadab can become the next Pakistan captain. But looking at his recent performance, he doesn’t even deserve a place in the playing XI.”Pakistan’s campaign ended despite a late surge in their final Super 8 match against Sri Lanka at Pallekele. After posting 221 for 8, Pakistan needed to restrict Sri Lanka to 148 or fewer to remain in contention. Sri Lanka closed on 207 for 6, sealing a narrow five-run defeat and confirming Pakistan’s exit.Instability in leadership has further compounded the team’s struggles. When Agha was appointed captain last year, he became Pakistan’s fourth T20I skipper in 12 months. In his first World Cup as captain, he scored just 60 runs in seven innings at an average of 10.00.Afridi feels a more aggressive approach is required going forward and has backed opener Fakhar Zaman for the role. “Looking at the current situation, I would go with Fakhar Zaman. I want an aggressive captain. Right now, only one player fits the bill, and that is Fakhar,” he said.With another global tournament ending in disappointment, Pakistan now face crucial decisions over leadership and team composition.

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