TOKYO: Persistently high levels of ozone pollution in Asia are costing China, Japan and South Korea an estimated $63 billion annually in lost rice, wheat and maize crops, a new study says. 

MUMBAI: Indian politicians are clamoring for Elon Musk’s attention on Twitter, chasing the coveted right to host a Tesla factory, after the billionaire said government “challenges” were delaying his electric car company’s local launch. 

PARIS: The world’s 10 wealthiest men doubled their fortunes during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic as poverty and inequality soared, a report said yesterday. 

KUWAIT: The VIV Terminal commenced its operations at Kuwait International Airport yesterday. VIV is the first private terminal experience to be launched in Kuwait and to offer privacy and exclusivity in a luxury setting when departing and arriving.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said about 8,000 of its 75,000 employees tested positive for Covid-19 over the last four weeks, absences that marred the company’s financial results during a busy holiday travel season.

In one of the priciest sales in New York real estate history, a four-bedroom penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park was purchased for $190 million, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. 

BEIJING: Inflation in China eased in December thanks to falling food and commodity costs, with analysts saying yesterday figures givecommodity costs, with analysts saying yesterday figures give policymakers room to unveil measures to kickstart the stuttering economy including interest rate cuts. Like most other countries, China has seen prices surge for much of the past year owing to pick-up in the cost of energy, putting pressure on an economy also being battered by a crisis in the key, growth-driving property sector.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka ruled out an IMF bailout yesterday and said it plans to seek another loan from China to address an economic crisis that has led to food and fuel shortages. The island’s tourism-dependent economy has been battered by the pandemic, with supermarkets rationing goods and rolling blackouts imposed by power utilities unable to fund oil imports.