International

ROME: Coronavirus cut average life expectancy in Italy by 1.2 years in 2020, and by more than four years in parts of the country hit hard by the pandemic, official statistics showed on Monday. Life expectancy at birth last year stood at 82 years, compared to 83.2 years in 2019, the Istat national statistics office said in a new release. …

El Salvador on Tuesday becomes the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender, despite widespread domestic scepticism and international warnings of risks for consumers. President Nayib Bukele’s government claims the move will give many Salvadorans access to bank services for the first time and save some $400 million in fees on remittances sent home from abroad …

DOHA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Doha on Monday for crisis talks with the Qataris after the Taliban claimed to have full control over Afghanistan. Shortly before landing, an official disclosed that four Americans had left Afghanistan with Taliban knowledge, in the first departures arranged by Washington since its chaotic military pullout. The four US citizens left by land …

US State Secretary Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin opened talks on Tuesday in key diplomatic hub Qatar as they try to speed up evacuations from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. The top officials from US President Joe Biden’s security team began a meeting at the foreign ministry with their counterparts after a dinner on arrival on Monday with …

Students across Afghanistan have started returning to university for the first time since the Taliban stormed to power, and in some cases females have been separated from their male peers by curtains or boards down the middle of the classroom. What happens in universities and schools across the country is being closely watched by foreign powers, who want the group …

Health authorities from multiple states (including Texas) want to inform residents about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). After all, many people don’t know about its symptoms or that the disease even exists. RMSF is a tick-borne disease caused by Rickettsia Rickettsii bacteria, and has a fatality rate up to 30% in patients who do not receive treatment. But even with prompt medical attention, hospitalization rates …

CONAKRY: Special forces soldiers appeared on Sunday to have ousted Guinea’s long-serving president, telling the nation they had dissolved its government and constitution and closed its land and air borders. As the United Nations condemned any takeover by force and the West African region’s economic bloc threatened reprisals, the elite army unit’s head, Mamady Doumbouya, said “poverty and endemic corruption” …

CAIRO: A court in Egypt on Sunday sentenced eight foreigners and two Egyptians to death on charges of smuggling in over two tonnes of heroin by sea, a judicial source said. Authorities seized the drugs brought in via the Red Sea, worth around 2.5 billion pounds ($159 million), in 2019. Seven Pakistanis, two Egyptians and an Iranian were convicted for …

The Taliban on Monday called for recognition of Afghanistan, saying the country “has the right” to be recognised while urging the international community to reopen their embassies in Kabul. “The war has ended, the country is getting out of the crisis. It is now time for peace and reconstruction. We need the people to support us,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told …

SRINAGAR: Police in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir opened a case on Saturday against family members of the late resistance leader Syed Ali Geelani under a harsh anti-terror law for allegedly raising anti-India slogans and wrapping his body in the Pakistan flag. Ali Geelani, who died on Wednesday at age 92, was the emblem of Kashmiris’ defiance against New Delhi and …