WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden’s new trade negotiator has said the United States is not yet ready to lift tariffs on Chinese imports, but could be open to talks with Beijing. 

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Ministry of Health (MoH) registered yesterday 1,251 additional COVID-19 cases over a 24-hour span, increasing the total number of infections to 229,550, while 12 fatalities were recorded, raising the death toll to 1,298. 

PARIS: An upsurge in new coronavirus cases is forcing governments across Europe into new, damaging lockdowns that threaten to delay a much hoped-for return to growth, economists say. 

NEW YORK: A revolt by junior Goldman Sachs’ bankers over work weeks that can stretch to as long as 105 hours has inspired both schadenfreude over discontent at the storied investment bank and wider debate about the future of work after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

BIRMINGHAM, US: Poor and conservative, the state of Alabama seemed like the perfect place for companies to do business without having to deal with labor unions.

KUWAIT: Head of the Coronavirus Higher Advisory Committee Dr Khaled Al-Jarallah said that COVID-19 transmission is still high in all governorates, while the curfew and social distancing are allegedly “not being observed.

TZANEEN, South Africa: Flashing green-and-white lights illuminated the night as the three private security vehicles rolled into the gated orchard, breaking the dark stillness enveloping the farm in northern South Africa.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama: Senator Bernie Sanders joined the drive Friday to unionize Amazon workers in Alabama as clashes intensified between lawmakers and the e-commerce giant ahead of a deadline for a vote that could lead to the first union on US soil at the massive tech company.

TEHRAN: Iran and China signed a 25-year “strategic cooperation pact” yesterday in the latest expansion of Beijing’s flagship trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative as the US rivals move closer together.