South Africa’s first coronavirus vaccine doses arrived by airplane on Monday, offering some relief for health workers who have been stretched during the second wave of infections and are first in line for the shots. President Cyril Ramaphosa and other top officials were at the OR Tambo international airport to receive the 1 million shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Some …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday launched Pakistan’s anti-Covid vaccination drive, with the first jab administered to a doctor at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad. The first vaccine was administered under the supervision of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Frontline health worker Dr Rana Imran became the first person in Pakistan to receive the Chinese Sinopharm Covid-19 …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has recorded 63 more coronavirus-related deaths in past 24 hours, surging the overall death toll to 11,746. According to the latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the COVID-19 has claimed 63 more lives and 1,220 fresh infections were reported. In the past 24 hours, as many as 1,285 patients have recovered from the virus …

MELBOURNE: Serena Williams found a silver lining in the delayed start to the Australian Open, the season-opening Grand Slam tournament that is starting three weeks later than usual because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Time. Time to recover from an Achilles injury that ended her run at last year’s French Open before her second-round match. Extra time with her daughter, albeit …

Silver dropped more than 4% on Tuesday and GameStop Corp sank 33% in early European deals, raising questions about how long a social media-fueled trading frenzy in stocks and other assets would last. The populist trading rally, organized in online forums such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets, has helped attract a flood of retail cash into stocks such as GameStop, burned hedge …

tea CHENNAI: England’s Jack Leach said on Monday it would be a “dream” to make his mark on India’s spin-friendly matches in his maiden tour of the South Asian giant. Joe Root’s England will begin their four-Test tour against India — which tops the world Test championship rankings — in Chennai on Friday. Leach claimed 10 wickets with his left-arm …

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq doesn’t want his team to get complacent ahead of this week’s second Test match against South Africa. The home side fought back from a precarious 27-4 in their first innings at the National Stadium, Karachi to beat the Proteas by seven wickets and take a 1-0 lead the two-match series. The second Test starts at …

Increasing the number of referrals would not decrease the authority of the umpire, but taking out the ridiculous “Umpire’s call’’ perhaps would. On the other hand, it would make the game infinitely more fair and that should be the desire of lawmakers in any sport. Quite simply, a ball hitting the stumps is out and should be given out, irrespective …

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday issued a circular to banks following the government’s decision to replace life certificates with biometric verification of pensioners twice a year, with immediate effect. “Pensioner will be req­u­ir­ed to undergo biometric verification from any bra­nch of a bank maintaining his or her pension account, every year in March and September,” said …