CAIRO: A severe dollar shortage caused by the Russia-Ukraine war has forced Egypt to impose a restriction on imports, particularly of non-essential items such as clothes, cars, home appliances, car tires and luxury food items, which has wreaked havoc on the retail and industry sectors.

Cernobbio: EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said Saturday that the European Union was “well prepared” in the event of a total halt in Russian gas deliveries, thanks to storage capacity and energy-saving measures.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, US: Fifteen years after its launch, a Google Maps feature that lets people explore faraway places as though standing right there is providing a glimpse of the metaverse being heralded as the future of the internet.

SAMMU KHAN BHANBRO, Pakistan: Pakistan’s farmers are still counting their losses from the devastating floods that have put a third of the country under water, but the long-term impact is already clear.

LONDON/NEW DELHI: India has overtaken the UK to become the world’s fifth-largest economy and is now behind only the US, China, Japan and Germany, according to IMF projections.

Kuwait: Kuwait crude oil plunged USD 5.92 during Wednesday’s trading sessions to reach USD 104.19 per barrrel (pb) compared with USD 110.11 pb the day before, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said Thursday.

London: UK household incomes are set to fall 10 percent in real terms in the next two years in the steepest such drop for a century, an influential think tank forecast Thursday.

WASHINGTON: Earth’s concentration of greenhouse gases and sea levels hit new highs in 2021, a US government report said Wednesday, showing that climate change keeps surging ahead despite renewed efforts to curb emissions.

COLOMBO: Bankrupt Sri Lanka will receive a conditional $2.9 billion bailout, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday, following a bruising economic crisis that saw the island nation’s president chased from the country.