A gene that helps the coronavirus reproduce itself might contribute to life-threatening COVID-19 in young, otherwise healthy people, new findings suggest. French researchers studied 72 hospitalized COVID-19 patients under age 50, including 47 who were critically ill and 25 with non-critical illness, plus 22 healthy volunteers. None of the patients had any of the chronic conditions known to increase the …

BEIJING: With 100 days until the start of the Winter Olympics, Beijing is promising a “simple and safe” 2022 Games — although preparations are anything but simple as China readies to host thousands of athletes and personnel as it battles flare-ups of Covid-19. Beijing will be the first city to stage both the Summer and Winter Games, but the 2022 …

SHARJAH: Vice-captain Shadab Khan and fast bowler Haris Rauf said Pakistan’s two wins in as many matches as ‘much needed’ at the start of the Twenty20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. Haris set up Pakistan’s five-wicket win with career-best figures of 4-22 against New Zealand in Sharjah on Tuesday, as the 2009 champions followed Sunday’s crushing 10-wicket demolition of arch-rivals India. Player-of-the-match …

SHARJAH: New Zealand may be forced to face India in their crunch Twenty20 clash on Sunday without Martin Guptill after the ‘Black Caps’ opening batter injured his toe in their opening loss to Pakistan. Guptill, New Zealand’s most experienced short format international, took a blow to the big toe from a Haris Rauf delivery just before he was dismissed for …

DUBAI: Spinner Maheesh Theekshana has recovered from injury in time for Thursday’s ICC Twenty20 World Cup clash against Australia, Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur said, hopeful that the youngster can exploit the opposition’s weakness against the turning ball. Theekshana, 21, who missed the win against Bangladesh due to a side strain, made his international debut only last month but …

ABU DHABI: England raced to a second successive victory at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup with a ruthless eight-wicket drubbing of Bangladesh on Wednesday in the two nations’ first ever meeting in the format. Opening batter Jason Roy marked his 50th T20 appearance by smashing 61 off 38 balls as England romped to their victory target of 125 in 14.1 …

KABUL: Officials from Turkmenistan will visit Kabul this week to discuss continuing work on the TAPI pipeline linking the energy-rich Central Asian country through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India, the Taliban government said on Wednesday. The pipeline is expected to carry 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas each year along a route stretching 1,800 km (1,125 miles) from …

KARACHI: The benchmark index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) registered an increase of 564.12 points or 1.25 per cent on Wednesday in spite of technical issues marring trading activity. According to Topline Securities, the KSE-100 index rallied to 45,791.92 points owing to an improvement in investors’ sentiments. Market participants rejoiced at the news of Saudi Arabia deciding to deposit …

KARACHI: Chaos reigned in the shares market on Wednesday as “technical issues” caused by the newly adopted Chinese trading and surveillance platform forced the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to suspend trading at noon for two and a half hours. The PSX management first announced a halt in trading for a couple of hours to “conduct a detailed review of the …

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday firmed up charging an additional Rs2.51 per unit fuel cost to consumers for electricity they consumed in September so that of ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) could mop up additional revenue of Rs34 billion in November. This was concluded at a public hearing presided over by Nepra Chairman Tauseef H Farooqui …