International

13-07-2021 TEHRAN: Iran on Monday introduced a Muslim dating application aimed at facilitating “lasting and informed marriage” for its youth, state television reported. Called Hamdam — Farsi for “companion” — the service allows users to “search for and choose their spouse,” the broadcaster said. It is the only state-sanctioned platform …

13-07-2021 BAGHDAD: As many as 52 people have been killed in a fire at the coronavirus isolation ward of a hospital in Iraq, the second such deadly blaze in a COVID-19 unit in three months. The fire broke out at the Al-Hussein hospital in the southern city of Nasiriya late …

12-07-2021 Canada has announced new measures aimed at preventing wildfires during periods of extreme heat, after a historic heatwave last month spurred dozens of large blazes on the country’s west coast including one that burned an entire village to the ground. In a statement on Sunday, the federal transport department said railway …

12-07-2021 VOORTHUIZEN, HOLLAND: While most restaurants across the world struggled to maintain their businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, a food outlet in the Netherlands came up with a novel business idea and created ‘The Golden Boy’ the ‘world’s most expensive burger’. According to a report …

12-07-2021 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ MELBOURNE: An Australian vaccine advertisement has sparked a backlash, with many criticizing its graphic depiction of a young woman suffering from COVID. The government advert shows the woman in a hospital bed gasping for air while hooked up to a ventilator. The text reads: “Covid-19 can …

12-07-2021 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Indians are celebrating Sirisha Bandla’s flight to the edge of space on billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic rocket plane. Bandla is the second woman born in India to go to space after Kalpana Chawla who died when the Columbia Space Shuttle crashed at re-entry …

12-07-2021 LONDON: Italy won the European Championship for the first time since 1968 as goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved two England penalties en route to a 3-2 shoot-out win. Both sides had fought out a 1-1 extra-time draw at a raucous Wembley on Sunday. The giant keeper saved from Jadon Sancho …

11-07-2021 Bureau Report + Geo News NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: As Taliban fighters continue to gain control amid the withdrawal of international forces, India said Sunday it had temporarily brought back officials from its consulate in Kandahar, a major city in southern Afghanistan. “Due to intense fighting near Kandahar …

11-07-2021 Bureau Report SYDNEY: Australia’s defence minister on Sunday confirmed the end of his country’s involvement in the 20-year Afghanistan war, saying the troops’ withdrawal had taken place “in recent weeks”. Australia announced in April that it would remove its remaining troops by September in line with the US decision …

11-07-2021 LONDON: The Queen and Boris Johnson have led messages of support to the England team ahead of the Euro 2020 final. The monarch recalled presenting the World Cup trophy to Bobby Moore in 1966 as she praised the current team’s “spirit, commitment and pride with which you have conducted …