BEIJING: Growth in China’s retail sales and industrial production slowed in July, official data showed yesterday, with a rebound of COVID-19 dragging on demand while recent floods disrupted businesses. 

KUWAIT: As steps to open up the country are being accelerated after bringing the third wave of the coronavirus under control, the team inspecting the certificates of those vaccinated abroad at the health ministry has intensified its efforts. 

TRIPOLI: A decade after Libya descended into chaos, a host of countries are eyeing potential multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects in the oil-rich nation if stability is assured. 

WASHINGTON: When Romain Daubec and his wife Monica left San Francisco last summer for Denver, Colorado, they thought their telework hundreds of miles from their offices would last no more than a half-year. 

SAN FRANCISCO: Pressure is rising on Big Tech firms, signaling tougher regulation in Washington and elsewhere that could lead to the breakup of the largest platforms. 

NEW YORK: US and European stock markets made modest gains on Friday after days of records as concerns about the pandemic sparked a surprise collapse in US consumer confidence. 

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s army yesterday raided gas stations and seized petrol to curb hoarding as the central bank chief stood firm on his decision to halt fuel subsidies. 

CUPERTINO: Apple on Friday defended new child protection features that would check images uploaded to its cloud storage and on its messaging platform, rejecting concerns the updates pose threats to privacy. 

KUWAIT: The number of people who have received one or both doses of the vaccination against COVID-19 amounted to 2,668,082 as of yesterday, Health Ministry’s Spokesman Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad announced. In a statement to KUNA, Dr Sanad confirmed that the national campaign to vaccinate people will continue until it reaches its goal.