LIMA: Countries in coronavirus epicenter Latin America reported troubling new statistics on Friday, with Mexico and Peru both surpassing half a million confirmed infections. Mexico has 505,293 cases overall after registering 7,371 new infections in 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said. There have been 55,293 deaths, making it the hardest-hit country in the region after Brazil in terms of …

KARACHI: A seven-day anti-polio campaign kicked-off in 41 districts of Sindh and 31 districts of Punjab here on Saturday. According to the Sindh Provincial Health Department, more than nine million children below the age of five will be administered anti-polio drops during the campaign. Meanwhile in Punjab, more than 17 million children below the age of five will be administered …

MOSCOW: Russia has started manufacturing its new vaccine for COVID-19, the Interfax news agency reported on Saturday, citing the health ministry. Russia has said the vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and the first for the coronavirus to go into production, will be rolled out by the end of this month. Some scientists said they fear Moscow may be putting …

MELBOURNE: Australia’s limited-overs tour of England will go ahead this month at bio-secure venues, officials said on Friday, after its players were given government clearance to travel. The confirmation ensures Australians will pad up for their first internationals in nearly six months, with Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Lyon and Marcus Stoinis recalled to the squad, while Usman Khawaja and Travis Head …

NEW YORK: Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google removed popular video game “Fortnite” from their app stores on Thursday for violating the in-app payment guidelines, prompting developer Epic Games to file federal anti-trust lawsuits challenging their rules. Apple and Google cited a direct payment feature rolled out on the Fortnite app earlier in the day as the violation. Epic sued …

Mohammad Rizwan frustrated England as he marked Pakistan’s Independence Day with a fine unbeaten fifty in the second Test at Southampton on Friday. Pakistan were 223-9 when bad light — despite the Ageas Bowl floodlights being on full beam — led to an early close of the second day. Rizwan was 60 not out after more than three hours at …

LEXINGTON: Serena Williams survived another scare to beat older sister Venus 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday in the latest battle of their reluctant on-court sibling rivalry to reach the quarter-finals of the inaugural Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky. Serena, who in her first-round match of the spectator-free tournament was five points from defeat against world number 60 Bernarda Pera, …

PRAGUE: Reigning Wim­b­­ledon champion Simona Halep reached the quarter-finals of the WTA Prague Open after grinding out a three-set win against Czech doubles specialist Barbora Krejcikova on Thursday. The lacklustre Romanian world No.2 overpowered the 118th-ranked Krejcikova 3-6, 7-5 and 6-2 in two hours and five minutes in her second post-lockdown match. On a scorching hot afternoon and behind closed …

ISLAMABAD: Evaluating the Export Finance Scheme (EFS) and Long-Term Finance Facility (LTFF) for plant and machinery offered by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the World Bank on Friday said that despite delivering net benefits, the schemes entail a substantial financial cost to the central bank. Based on cost-benefit analysis, a study carried out by the World Bank advised the …