PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted African leaders and global financial institutions for a summit seeking to provide Africa with critical financing after the COVID-19 pandemic depleted the continent’s coffers. 

WASHINGTON: Bill Gates’s tenure at Microsoft has come under fresh scrutiny amid revelations that the tech giant probed the billionaire founder’s intimate relationship with a staffer before he left the board of directors. 

FARO, Portugal: British holidaymakers returned to Portugal yesterday as the country seeks to revive its battered tourism industry after lifting travel restrictions that had been imposed to curb COVID-19. 

WASHINGTON: AT&T said yesterday it was spinning off its WarnerMedia unit and combining it with Discovery, creating a new standalone media giant and ending the telecom group’s ambition to become a content and delivery powerhouse. 

BEIJING: Chinese retail sales grew at a slower pace than expected last month, data showed yesterday, raising concerns about the recovery in the world’s number two economy. 

PARIS: The French government promised yesterday to lend $1.5 billion to Sudan to help it pay off its massive foreign debt, kicking off an international summit aimed at helping the aspiring democracy emerge from decades of authoritarian rule. 

WASHINGTON: US retail giant Walmart on Friday said customers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer have to wear masks in their stores, and staff can do the same starting next week. 

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron this week hosts African leaders and chiefs of global financial institutions for twin summit meetings that will seek to help Sudan into a new democratic era and provide Africa with critical financing swept away by the COVID-19 pandemic.

WASHINGTON: As the value of bitcoin soars and concerns rise about the energy-intensive process needed to obtain it, cryptocurrency entrepreneurs in the United States believe they have found a solution in flared natural gas.