International

CAPE CANAVERAL: A billionaire e-commerce executive and three less-wealthy private citizens chosen to join him blasted off from Florida on Wednesday aboard a SpaceX rocket ship and soared into orbit, the first all-civilian crew ever to circle the Earth from space. The quartet of amateur astronauts, led by the American founder and chief executive of financial services firm Shift4 Payments …

Chinese astronauts returned to earth on Friday after completing the country’s longest-ever crewed mission, the latest landmark in Beijing’s drive to become a major space power. The capsule carrying the three astronauts was suspended on a parachute and landed in the Gobi desert at 1:35pm local time (05:35 GMT). The crew of the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft were in “good health” after …

GENEVA: A new climate change report out on Thursday shows that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will be impossible without immediate, large-scale emissions cuts, the UN chief said. The United in Science 2021 report, published by a range of UN agencies and scientific partners just weeks before the COP26 climate summit, said climate change and its impacts were …

MANILA: The United Nations children’s agency Unicef has urged education authorities to reopen schools as soon as possible in countries where millions of students are still not allowed to return to classrooms 18 months into the Covid-19 pandemic. Schools in around 17 countries remain fully closed, while those in 39 countries remain partially closed, according to a report released by …

JAKARTA: An Indonesian court ordered on Thursday President Joko Widodo and other senior government officials to improve the hazardous air quality of the capital Jakarta after finding them guilty of environmental negligence in a civil lawsuit. The citizen lawsuit was filed in 2019 against the president, the ministers of health, environment and home affairs, as well as other prominent local …

AMSTERDAM: A newly discovered Vincent van Gogh drawing that has been hidden in a private collection for more than a century went on display for the first time at an Amsterdam museum on Thursday. “Study for Worn Out”, which depicts an old man sitting in a chair, was sketched by van Gogh in November 1882 when he was just starting …

TEHRAN: An Iranian official has suggested that cryptocurrencies could be used to overcome problems related to international sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic. “We cannot remain indifferent to the phenomenon” of cryptocurrencies, Gholamreza Marhaba, spokesman of the economic commission at Iran’s parliament, said. “The transfer of money through cryptocurrencies could be a means to circumvent sanctions and ease their effects” …

PARIS: Thousands of health workers across France have been suspended without pay for failing to get vaccinated against Covid-19 ahead of a deadline this week, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday. France’s national public health agency estimated last week that roughly 12 per cent of hospital staff and around six per cent of doctors in private practices have yet …

SYDNEY: The United States announced a new alliance on Wednesday with Australia and Britain to strengthen military capabilities in the face of a rising China, with Canberra to get a nuclear submarine fleet and American cruise missiles. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his British counterpart Boris Johnson did not mention China in unveiling their alliance, dubbed …

ISLAMABAD: The opposition parties on Thursday rejected the increase in prices of petroleum products. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said in a statement that Prime Minister Imran Khan had robbed people by raising the petrol price to the highest level in the country’s history. “Khan Sahib petrol price has risen by Rs5 per litre; will the nation witness …