TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M: British billionaire Richard Branson on Sunday soared more than 50 miles above the New Mexico desert aboard his Virgin Galactic rocket plane and safely returned in the vehicle’s first fully crewed test flight to space, a symbolic milestone for a venture he started 17 years ago. Branson, one of six Virgin Galactic Holding Inc (SPCE.N) employees strapped in …

BRUSSELS: WhatsApp on Monday faced a barrage of complaints by the European Consumer Organisation and others over a privacy policy update, which has prompted a global outcry and led some users to switch to rival apps Telegram and Signal. WhatsApp in January introduced a privacy policy which allows it to share some data with Facebook and other group firms. It …

BERLIN: The Iranian government has expressed anger over the appearance of senior European and US politicians at a rally in support of an opposition group that has long sought to overthrow Iran’s rulers and which was once considered a terror organisation by the West. Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that the country’s foreign ministry on Sunday summoned Slovenia’s envoy in Tehran …

LONDON: Italy inflicted more penalty heartache on England to win Sunday’s Euro 2020 final 3-2 in a shootout, Bukayo Saka missing the decisive kick to deny the hosts after the game at Wembley had ended in a draining 1-1 draw through extra time. Saka’s kick was repelled by Gianluigi Donnarumma to give Italy the Henri Delaunay trophy for the second …

TOKYO: The Tokyo Olympics will provide a model for hosting the Games during a pandemic after rising COVID-19 infections forced organisers to ban spectators at most events, Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said on Sunday. “This will be the first Olympics held during a pandemic, and Tokyo will provide a model for how that is done,” Muto said on a …

KARACHI: After winning a championship battle that went down to the wire, down to the last hole and down to the last shot, Shabbir Iqbal celebrated it in his signature style: Breaking into a wide grin and tossing his putter in the air. And after his closest rival Ahmed Baig sank his putt moments later in a thrilling climax to …

KARACHI: Former champion Faizan Ahmed brushed aside experienced Sultan Mohammad 6-2 to win the Sindh Snooker Cup for the second time in his career here on Sunday. Having won the title in 2015, he ended a long wait of six years to bag honours in the 29th edition of the premier provincial contest. He won the best-of-11 frames duel 65-22, …

EVER since Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mickey Arthur were shown the door by the powers-that-be, the think-tank of Pakistan cricket thought it had made the right call to remove the captain and the head coach after they were unable to lead the national team beyond the league phase of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in the United Kingdom. While Arthur …

ISLAMABAD: While the highest number of new Covid-19 cases since June 2 has been reported and situation may worsen by Eidul Azha, head of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar has said that in Pakistan 27 million people, over the age of 50, are the most vulnerable to serious effects of the infection but only 20 per …

Thailand will use AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine as a second dose for those who received Sinovac’s shot as their first dose in a bid to increase protection, it said on Monday. The move is the first publicly announced mix-and-match of a Chinese vaccine and a Western-developed shot, as a new preliminary Thai study raised doubts about the longer-term protection of …