MONTREAL: Widely blamed for ravaging Earth’s ecosystems, big businesses are nevertheless being turned to as key players in a deal to save nature at the COP15 biodiversity conference.

London: The Bank of England on Thursday hiked its interest rate by half a point to 3.5 percent, the highest level in 14 years, in a bid to cool sky-high inflation.

BRUSSELS: The EU vowed billions of dollars of investment in southeast Asia Wednesday, as leaders looked to bolster ties at a summit in the face of the Ukraine war and challenges from China.

FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank is expected to follow the US Federal Reserve’s lead on Thursday and opt for a smaller interest rate hike, analysts said, on signs that red-hot inflation is finally easing.

LONDON: UK nurses on Thursday staged an unprecedented one-day strike as a “last resort” in their fight for better wages and working conditions, despite warnings it could put patients at risk.

London: British inflation slowed in November but sat near the highest level in more than 40 years, data showed Wednesday, as a cost-of-living crisis sparks fresh strikes.

Kuwait: Zain, Kuwait’s leading digital service provider, sponsored the Kuwait Sustainability Conference held at Shaheed Park under the title Biodiversity to Build a Sustainable Future.

A lower growth forecast is “very likely” for China this year and next, with easing COVID-19 restrictions expected to bring a surge in infections and temporary difficulties, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva told AFP Tuesday.

HANOI: Phan Thi Nhieu has spent a decade assembling shoes for worldwide brands such as Timberland and K-Swiss, but she is now among tens of thousands of Vietnamese factory workers laid off as Western consumers cut spending.