LONDON: Global sea freight was severely disrupted by the COVID crisis but is now recovering and prompting a boom in new container ship orders as the industry grapples with a shortage of vessels. Shipping companies, buoyed by soaring freight prices, are splashing out cash on expanding their fleets.

NEW DELHI: India’s economy expanded by a record 20.1 percent between April and June, official data showed, boosted by the manufacturing and construction sectors as growth rebounded from last year’s strict months-long pandemic lockdown. 

KUWAIT: Entertainment activities for children in Kuwait resumed yesterday after a year and a half of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka yesterday declared a state of emergency over food shortages as private banks ran out of foreign exchange to finance imports.

WASHINGTON: Fear of the fast spreading Delta variant of COVID-19 and rising prices undermined Americans’ confidence in August, according to a survey released yesterday. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell more than 10 points to 113.8, the lowest since February and the second consecutive monthly decline after the July index was revised down to 125.1.

PARIS: Spending by French consumers is falling while inflation is accelerating, data showed yesterday, adding to concerns about the strength of the economic recovery as the pandemic drags on. 

SADD AL FURAT, Syria: Syria’s longest river used to flow by his olive grove, but today Khaled al-Khamees says it has receded into the distance, parching his trees and leaving his family with hardly a drop to drink. 

KUWAIT: Aiming to enhance the banking environment in the country in line with ongoing development of payment systems, the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) launched the new Kuwait Automated Settlement System for Inter-participant Payments (KASSIP), the CBK Governor Dr Mohammad Y Al-Hashel stated. 

PATIA: In the mountains and jungles of southwestern Colombia, peasants, migrants and women carrying babies toil doggedly in the coca fields despite the dangers posed by guerrillas and drug traffickers-and despite the government’s anti-drug campaign.