LONDON: A single-patient study conducted by British scientists has found that Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir could be highly effective against COVID-19, raising questions about previous studies that found it had no impact on death rates from the disease. Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study describes how doctors who gave the drug to a patient with both COVID-19 and …

DORTMUND: Borussia Dortmund have sacked manager Lucien Favre following Saturday’s 5-1 loss at home to promoted VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga, the German club said on Sunday. “We are all grateful to Lucien Favre for his excellent work over the past 2-1/2 years, in which he and his team won two runner-up championships. As a professional and as a person, …

ABU DHABI: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in dominant style on Sunday for his second victory of the season and 10th of his career. He finished 16 seconds ahead of Valtteri Bottas and 18.4 clear of world champion Lewis Hamilton as Red Bull enjoyed a rare and significant success over both Mercedes cars. …

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane scored his ninth Premier League goal of the season but Jeffrey Schlupp’s late equaliser left the leaders frustrated in a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace on Sunday. Kane struck in the 23rd minute with a low long-range shot that decei­ved Palace keeper Vicente Guaita as Tottenham began in confident fashion in the Selhurst Park drizzle. …

KARACHI: Former Pakis­tan Test cricketer Shahid Mahmood expired in New Jersey on Sunday, according to a report. He was 81. Shahid — who was born in the Indian city of Lucknow on March 17, 1939 — toured England in 1962 with the Pakistan side led by Javed Burki and played in the Nottingham Test but went wicketless in six overs …

WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s bowlers again ripped through West Indies’ batting lineup to push them to the brink of a comprehensive victory in the second and final Test as they reduced the tourists to 244-6 in their second innings at the end of the third day on Sunday. Bad light forced the players off the Basin Reserve about an hour before …

Pakistan’s textile exports seem to have largely recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic shocks and are still growing. The recent monthly data published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics for the first four months of the current financial year confirms that the textile and clothing export shipments are back on growth trajectory both in terms of their quantity and dollar value. …

Most indicators of national indebtedness are worrisome. Lowering the national indebtedness markedly in the remaining two and a half years of the PTI government seems difficult in the wake of Covid-19–triggered global economic slowdown, domestic political instability and compounding geopolitical challenges. This means the economy, which is already struggling to recover from the last year’s 0.4 per cent contraction, may …

Pakistan’s branchless banking (BB) industry has been bustling with activity, thanks to aggressive efforts by the regulator. In fact, our policies and performance have often been cited as a model case. But instead of the usual self-congratulations that the stakeholders partake in, let’s see how well we have been doing on this front. The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) latest …

ISLAMABAD: After more than two years in office, the federal cabinet would be starting on Tuesday the process for appointment of regular/fulltime chief executive officers (CEOs) of power distribution companies (Discos) and approve selection of managing directors of two gas utilities. This comes on the heels of over Rs2.3 trillion circular debt in the power sector as of Sept 30, …