BAGHDAD: Garbage clogs the banks of Iraq’s Tigris River in Baghdad but an army of young volunteers is cleaning it, a rare environmental project in the war-battered country. With boots and gloves, they pick up soggy trash, water bottles, aluminum cans and muddy styrofoam boxes, part of a green activist campaign called the Cleanup Ambassadors.

SHANGHAI: Tesla has recalled nearly 128,000 cars in China due to a fault that could “increase the risk of vehicle collision”, the country’s state market regulator said.

SHANGHAI: Shanghai’s grinding coronavirus lockdown is slowly clogging China’s supply chains, as delays hit the world’s busiest container port where staff are tangled in a morass of COVID controls. 

COLOMBO: Cash-strapped Sri Lanka’s central bank hiked interest rates by a record 700 basis points Friday as police fired tear gas at hundreds of students protesting over the economic crisis. 

KUWAIT: As part of its ongoing commitment toward social sustainability, and its keenness to enhance financial literacy and education, Gulf Bank is keen to direct its customers to proper channels of saving and investment and educate the general public about the risks of unsafe investments.

SAN FRANCISCO: Electric car lovers are flocking to Austin for an enormous party Thursday celebrating a new Tesla “gigafactory” in Texas the size of 100 professional soccer fields.

BEIJING:  Shares in the Chinese pharmaceutical group Kintor rocketed on Wednesday after it reported that trials had shown its COVID-19 drug to be highly effective, making it potentially China’s first homegrown antiviral treatment. 

KARACHI: The Pakistan rupee dropped to a historic low of 191 rupees to the dollar Thursday as an ongoing political crisis rocked confidence in the currency. 

PARIS: Ukraine’s car parts industry, which supplies many vehicle manufacturers in western European, has taken a battering since the Russian invasion one month ago.