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Shaheen Afridi and Shan Masood have replaced Babar as T20 and Test captains, respectively.

Babar Azam has stepped down as Pakistan’s cricket captain days after his team’s group-stage exit from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, the star batter announced in a statement.

Babar captained Pakistan in all three formats starting October 2019, and led them to number one in ICC one-day international (ODI) rankings for the first time in May.

Opening batter Shan Masood has been announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board ( as the new test captain, while pacer Shaheen Afridi will be the Twenty20 (T20) captain.

Pakistan slid from the spot after finishing fourth in the Asia Cup and fifth in the World Cup.

“It’s a difficult decision but I feel it is a right time for this call,” the 29-year-old wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“I will continue to represent Pakistan as a player in all three formats. I am here to support the new captain and the team with my experience and dedication.”

pic.twitter.com/8hZqS9JH0M

— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) November 15, 2023

His resignation comes two days after Pakistan bowling coach Morne Morkel stepped down.

The PCB accepted his resignation.

“After consultation with his family, Babar decided to step down and PCB stands behind his decision,” it said in a statement.

Azam is ranked by ICC as a top-five batsman in all three formats, and is Pakistan’s most successful captain in T20 Internationals, with 42 wins.

Pakistan have a tough tour of Australia coming up where they play three Tests, starting in Perth from December 12.

They have lost all of their last 14 Tests in the country, with their most recent victory coming back in 1995.

US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping spent some four hours together on Wednesday in their first face-to-face meeting in a year.

As they convened at the Filoli Estate in northern California, the two leaders were aiming to make some headway in rebuilding ties strained over a whole host of issues – from trade to Taiwan, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic.

Biden talked of “real progress” after the meeting, where talks continued over a lunch of ravioli, chicken and broccolini, and during a stroll around the estate’s manicured gardens.

China’s state media described a “candid and in-depth exchange of views”.

Here are five takeaways from the talks:

Military and personal communication

In probably the most substantive outcome of the talks, the two leaders agreed to resume military contacts that China severed after the then Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.

According to the Pentagon’s most recent report on China’s military power, Beijing had “denied, cancelled or ignored” military-to-military communications and meetings with the Pentagon, which raised “the risk of an operational incident or miscalculation spiralling into crisis or conflict”.

The Biden-Xi agreement means that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be able to speak to his Chinese counterpart once someone is named to the job, a senior US official told reporters, and that similar engagements would be possible up and down the military chain of command.

The Pentagon welcomed the move and said it was key to avoiding inadvertent conflict.

“Maintaining open lines of communication between our two militaries is essential to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations that could lead to crisis or conflict,” a Pentagon spokesperson said.

The US president also emphasised the importance of open communications between the two presidents.

“He and I agreed that each one of us can pick up the phone call directly, and we’ll be heard immediately,” Biden told reporters after the meeting.

Biden and Xi have had a long working relationship, dating from when they were both vice presidents.

“It was 12 years ago,” Xi said in brief public remarks. “I still remember our interactions very vividly, and it always gives me a lot of thoughts.”

Biden also emphasised the length of their relationship and the value of those interactions.

“We haven’t always agreed, which was not a surprise to anyone, but our meetings have always been candid, straightforward and useful,” Biden said.

Taiwan

According to China’s state broadcaster, the island of Taiwan was a key area of discussion for Xi.

Beijing claims the self-ruled democracy as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island.

The United States, on the other hand, while maintaining formal diplomatic relations with Beijing, follows a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan and is the island’s main source of weapons.

A US official described the talks as “clear-headed” and “not heated” with Biden chiding China over its massive military build-up around the island and declaring the US was committed to continuing to help Taiwan defend itself.

For his part, Xi insisted that the island was part of China.

“The US side should … stop arming Taiwan, and support China’s peaceful reunification,” Xi told Biden, according to China’s Foreign Ministry. “China will realise reunification, and this is unstoppable.”

Taiwan is one of China’s so-called “red lines” in discussions and it has reacted angrily to visits by US and other Western politicians, as well as to overseas engagements by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and her deputy William Lai.

Lai is currently the frontrunner in elections due in January, and during Wednesday’s talks, Biden urged China to respect Taiwan’s electoral process.

Economic issues

The economy – both at home and abroad – was the other main priority for Xi, according to state media.

As they began their talks, Xi noted that a lot had happened since the two men last met in Bali.

“The world has emerged from the COVID pandemic but is still under its tremendous impacts. The global economy is recovering, but its momentum remains sluggish,” he said.

Describing the US-China relationship as “the most important bilateral relationship in the world”, Xi said he and Biden “shoulder heavy responsibilities” and that they could not turn their backs on each other.

China’s recovery from the pandemic has been hampered by its growing debt and an ageing population, but it has also been affected by sanctions and US export controls for sensitive equipment.

“Stifling China’s technological progress is nothing but a move to contain China’s high-quality development and deprive the Chinese people of their right to development,” a readout from the Chinese side quoted Xi as saying. “China’s development and growth, driven by its own inherent logic, will not be stopped by external forces.”

The two leaders also spoke about developments in artificial intelligence (AI).

Here, the senior US official said both sides were “very much focused” on practices regarding AI that could be dangerous or destabilising, but not ready for any mutual declaration.

Fentanyl

There was progress in efforts to tackle the production of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that is the leading cause of drug overdoses in the US.

Xi agreed to help stem the export of chemicals related to the production of illicit fentanyl and go after specific chemical companies.

“It’s going to save lives, and I appreciated President Xi’s commitment on this issue,” Biden said at a press conference after his meeting.

Biden added he would “trust but verify” Chinese actions on the drug.

Middle East

Xi and Biden touched on the ongoing war in Gaza as the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for extended humanitarian “pauses” in the besieged enclave.

More than 11,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the territory since October 7 when the armed group Hamas led a surprise assault on Israel killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 200 others captive.

Amid concerns about the potential for a regional escalation, Biden asked China to weigh in with Iran, which backs Hamas, and urge it to avoid steps that could be seen as provocative, according to the US official.

Violent protests by opposition parties have demanded premier’s resignation, transfer of power to caretaker government.

Bangladesh will hold parliamentary elections on January 7, its Election Commission has announced, as deadly protests by opposition parties demanding the prime minister’s resignation have rocked the country.

“The 12th parliamentary election will be held on January 7 in 300 seats,” Chief Election Commissioner Habibul Awal said on Wednesday in a live television broadcast, urging parties to hold talks to resolve the political crisis.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose top leaders are either jailed or in exile, has already said it will boycott the polls if Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina does not resign and transfer power to a non-partisan caretaker government to oversee the general election.

Hasina has led Bangladesh for the past 15 years and has been accused of ruling with an iron fist. She is seen as almost certain to return to power for a fourth time if the opposition boycott goes ahead.

Hasina’s main rival and two-time premier, BNP leader Khaleda Zia, is effectively under house arrest for what her party calls trumped-up corruption charges.

The BNP boycotted the 2014 elections, but participated in 2018. Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party in the Muslim-majority country, and the Islami Andolon Bangladesh (IAB) party also said they would spurn the polls.

Thousands of IAB supporters marched to the Election Commission’s offices to protest the announcement on Wednesday, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported.

Mass antigovernment demonstrations and a widening crackdown on the opposition have been simmering for months and intensified over recent weeks.

“We sincerely wish the government would shun this path of violence and coercion of the opposition, so that an appropriate congenial environment is created, … ensuring peaceful coexistence where people can freely exercise their democratic rights,” Abdul Moyeen Khan, a former minister and member of the BNP’s highest policy-making body, told the Reuters news agency.

Hasina has been accused of authoritarianism, human rights violations, a crackdown on free speech and suppression of dissent while jailing her critics.

The government is under pressure from Western countries to hold “free and fair” elections.

The United States, the top buyer of Bangladeshi garments, said in May it was implementing a policy allowing for the restriction of visas to Bangladeshis who undermine the democratic election process in the country of nearly 170 million people.

Low wages have helped Bangladesh build its garment industry. About 4,000 factories employ four million workers, supplying brands such as H&M, Zara, Levi’s and Gap. Ready-made garments are a mainstay of the economy, accounting for almost 16 percent of gross domestic product, or about 85 percent of its $55bn in annual exports.

Last week, up to 25,000 garment workers clashed with police as protests rejecting a government-offered pay rise forced the closure of at least 100 factories outside the capital, Dhaka.

A government-appointed panel raised garment factory workers’ wages by 56.25 percent to 12,500 taka ($114) a month from December 1. But conditions are dire for many of the workers, the vast majority of whom are women whose monthly pay starts at 8,300 taka ($75).

After unions rejected the government’s offer, Hasina rejected the demands of the protesting workers for a higher pay rise, insisting they accept what was on the table or “go back to their village”. Union leaders expressed concern that her words could provoke more violence from police and security forces.

Direct lines of communication between American and Chinese military forces are to be reopened for the first time in more than a year, Joe Biden has announced.

Speaking after a meeting with China’s premier Xi Jinping in California, the US president said the restoration of military-to-military communications would help to prevent accidents which could spiral into wider conflicts.

Beijing formally suspended direct military contact with the US in April 2022 in the wake of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island of Taiwan – which China views as a breakaway province.

The move to restart them was one of three agreements President Biden presented to the media following face-to-face conversations with President Xi on Wednesday – their first meeting in a year.

Mr Biden said the pair had agreed on a deal to curb the production of fentanyl – a drug which has led to a huge spike in deaths in US cities – and on the need to discuss the potential risks of artificial intelligence (AI).

He said they had also exchanged views on a number of world issues, including the Israel-Hamas conflict and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Biden said he had also raised American concerns about China’s ruling Communist Party, including allegations of human rights abuses and Beijing’s expansion of maritime operations in the South China Sea.

However, he said he remained committed to the US’s long-standing “One China” policy – the bedrock of Washington-Beijing relations – in which the US maintains formal ties with China and only informal ones with Taiwan.

The US president said both he and Mr Xi had agreed to open high-level communications following a period of increased tensions between the two countries.

“He and I agreed that each one of us can pick up the phone, call directly and we’ll be heard immediately,” he told
reporters after the meeting.

When asked by a reporter at the press conference about whether he “trusted” the Chinese president, Mr Biden replied: “Do I trust [him]?

“Trust but verify, as the saying goes.

“We are in a competitive relationship – China and the US – but my responsibility is to make this rational and manageable so it doesn’t result in conflict.

“To find a place where we come together and where we find mutual interest – and most importantly, from my perspective, for the American people.”

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He said he and and Chinese premier had “not always agreed” on issues, but that the Chinese president had been “straightforward” with him.

Mr Biden also ascribed the success of their meeting to “just talking, just being blunt with one another, so there’s no misunderstanding”.

The US president had earlier welcomed the Chinese leader at the Filoli estate, a country house and gardens about 30 miles (48 km) south of San Francisco, ahead of a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

The meeting came amid increasingly strained tensions between the two global powers.

Mr Biden had earlier billed the meeting as a chance for Washington and Beijing to get back “on a normal course” again, and that the two countries had to make sure that rivalry between them did “not veer into conflict”.

Since they last met in November 2022, fraught relations have been further strained by the US downing of a Chinese ‘spy’ balloon that flew over America and by differences on the self-ruled island of Taiwan, as well as China’s hacking of a Biden official’s emails.

Mr Xi said a lot had happened since their last meeting, telling the media: “The world has emerged from the COVID pandemic, but is still under its tremendous impacts. The global economy is recovering, but its momentum remains sluggish.”

He said prior to the meeting that he wanted assurances from Mr Biden that the US would not support Taiwan independence, start a new Cold War, or suppress China’s economic growth.

Mr Xi said he was also keen to show America that China is still a good place to invest.

After the meeting, Mr Biden wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “I value the conversation I had today with President Xi because I think it’s paramount that we understand each other clearly, leader to leader.

“There are critical global challenges that demand our joint leadership. And today, we made real progress.”

The White House later said in a readout of their conversation that the talks had been “candid and constructive” and that they had “made progress on a number of key issues”.

“The two leaders welcomed the resumption of high-level military-to-military communication, as well as the US-China Defence Policy Coordination Talks and the US-China Military Maritime Consultative Agreement meetings,” the White House said.

“Both sides are also resuming telephone conversations between theatre commanders.”

United States President Joe Biden is facing his biggest international crisis yet.

Israel’s war on Gaza is showing no signs of stopping.

Hospitals, schools, refugee camps – nowhere is safe for Palestinians, with the war now in its sixth week.

All eyes are on Biden to stop the carnage.

But he seems to be struggling to assert any influence on Israel.

Will the Biden administration yield to growing global pressure and help bring about a ceasefire in Gaza?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Nihad Awad – National executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations

Julie Norman – Associate professor in politics and international relations at University College London

Hassan Mneimneh – Scholar and political analyst at the Middle East Institute