maintain

Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of harbouring the Pakistan Taliban, a charge Kabul denies.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to extend a ceasefire for at least another week during talks in Turkiye, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The sides plan to meet again at a higher-level gathering in Istanbul on November 6 to finalise how the ceasefire will be implemented, the ministry said in a statement released on behalf of Pakistan, Afghanistan and mediators Turkiye and Qatar.

“All parties have agreed to put in place a monitoring and verification mechanism that will ensure maintenance of peace and imposing penalty on the violating party,” the statement read.

The two neighbours engaged in a weeklong border conflict earlier this month following explosions in Afghanistan, which the Afghan government blamed on Pakistan.

In the subsequent cross-border strikes, Pakistan’s military claimed it killed more than 200 Afghan fighters, while Afghanistan says it killed 58 Pakistani soldiers.

It was the most serious fighting between the two countries since the Taliban regained control of Kabul in 2021.

After the skirmishes, mediation by Qatar and Turkiye led to a ceasefire signed by the defence ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan on October 19 in Doha.

The two nations — which share a 2,600-kilometre (1,600-mile) frontier — began a second round of talks in Istanbul on Saturday, which broke down Wednesday when both parties failed to reach a consensus on Islamabad’s central demand that Kabul crack down on Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an armed group often called the Pakistan Taliban or TTP, which has been long accused by Pakistan of carrying out deadly attacks inside its territory.

The Afghan government has consistently denied that it provides safe haven for the group.

Talks resumed on Thursday, leading to the agreement to maintain the ceasefire until a new round of talks on November 6.

Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid issued a statement confirming the conclusion of the talks and saying both sides had agreed to continue discussions in future meetings. Pakistan did not immediately comment.

While a ceasefire remains in place, the border between the two countries has been closed for more than two weeks, leading to mounting losses for traders in the region.

In Kandahar on the Afghan side, Nazir Ahmed, a cloth trader, told the newswire AFP both countries “will bear losses.”

“Our nation is tired and their nation is also tired,” the 35-year-old said Wednesday.

Abdul Jabbar, a vehicle spare parts trader in the Pakistani border town of Chaman, said “trade suffers greatly”.

“Both countries face losses — both are Islamic nations,” he told AFP.

Historians looking back at UCLA’s 2025 football season will peg the Penn State game as the Bruins’ first victory.

In ways both large and small, they will be wrong.

When Tim Skipper first took over the team a month ago, he placed a new opponent on the schedule: the locker room. The interim coach showed players pictures of how it should look, including the lockers and the surrounding floor.

They scrubbed the place and it’s been spotless ever since. Sort of like the Bruins’ play starting with that Penn State game.

“I think a clean locker room makes you a lot happier,” Skipper explained this week. “It shows team discipline and it shows you can win off the field, so now you can go ahead and get on the field.”

Skipper’s other primary motivational device — besides his highly transmissible energy — has been slogans. He started by telling his players to strain, to give everything they had in the pursuit of winning. After the Bruins beat Penn State, he asked players whether they were one-hit wonders. Now, his players having established they know what it takes to win following a smackdown of Michigan State, he’s asking them to maintain their approach.

At their Sunday meeting, the Bruins saw their new mantra — the standard is the standard — on a big screen.

“We have identified a style of play that we want to be, and it’s our job now to keep the standard the standard, you know, play with that fanatical effort, play with fundamentals, being smart, you know, all those things we just have to continue to do,” Skipper said. “But it’s not like something that’s just going to show up on Saturday. You have to practice about it. You have to work on it and not just talk about it.”

Can the Bruins keep it up after two consecutive victories? Here are five things to watch Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl when UCLA (2-4 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) faces Maryland (4-2, 1-2):

Allan: I am once again proved wrong. Asking why Ryan Christie is playing, then he puts in a man of the match performance. Scotland battled hard and deserved a point after a shaky start where they continually failed to keep the ball. Eventually, Scotland grew into the game and could have sneaked it. The last 15 minutes it was all hands to the pump in defence and holding out for the point.

G A Simpson: Same old conservative approach from Clarke. Dykes and Adams up front might seem adventurous, but there is no pace there. Dykes and Doak would have exposed the Danes to more risk and may have created more clear cut chances, given the fact that they seemed jittery at the back. Nevertheless a good defensive performance. A decent point taken.

Keith: Good point to start us off. Yes we didn’t play exciting attacking football but we played to our strengths against a top ranked team. Big difference with Hickey and Dykes in the team. Everyone played their part, just need three points against Belarus to make it an acceptable double header.

Martin: Seems to be with some folks that Clarke can’t do right, I for one was expecting a thrashing tonight but proved wrong, decent performance, good result.

Stuart: Same old stagnant line-up with a plethora of exciting and in form players on the bench that did not get a sniff, personally I am left frustrated with a point because I think with a fresh perspective we could have won that tonight. Although, credit is due to the back line tonight, they were solid.

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar consolidated his lead at the Criterium du Dauphine with a second consecutive stage victory in France.

The reigning Tour de France and road world champion went clear 12 kilometres from the finish on the final ascent of Saturday’s 132km ‘Queen Stage’ from Grand-Aigueblanche to Valmeinier.

Slovenia’s Pogacar eventually finished 14 seconds ahead of his closest rival, Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had taken the yellow jersey with a dominant victory in Friday’s stage six and the 26-year-old now holds a lead of one minute and one second over the Visma-Lease a Bike man going into Sunday’s final stage.

“I launched it and maintained a good pace to the top,” said Pogacar after securing his 98th career stage win, moving ahead of French sprinter Arnaud Demare for the most by an active rider.

“Today Jonas was really strong. I did not want to go too deep myself. It was a super hot and long climb. Luckily, I had enough time to ease up in the last kilometres and recovered.”

“Happy I could defend the jersey like this.”

Germany’s Florian Lipowitz was third in the stage but is two minutes and 21 seconds behind Pogacar while Remco Evenepoel lost more time and is now fourth overall, a further one minute and 50 seconds back.

The race, a traditional warm-up for the Tour de France, which begins on Saturday, 5 July, concludes with another mountainous stage covering 133.3km from Val-d’Arc to the Plateau du Mont-Cenis.