KUWAIT: Kuwait reported 13 deaths from COVID-19 in the past two days, while the number of patients in intensive care units rose by 14 in the past 24 hours. The spike in deaths comes as speculation continues to grow whether the government will reintroduce lockdowns or other measures to curb the spread of the deadly disease.

NEW YORK: Kuwait affirmed the need for further cooperation to fight the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and prepare for post-pandemic phase to protect and achieve the sustainable development goals. 

NEW DELHI: Millions of people in South Asia are being pushed into extreme poverty as the region where a quarter of humanity lives suffers its worst-ever recession due to the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank said yesterday.

GENEVA: The World Trade Organization is set to have its first female leader after Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee made it through yesterday to the final run-off, a WTO spokesman announced. 

NEW YORK: US authorities fined Citibank $400 million over deficiencies in risk management practices and required an overhaul of internal controls at the global financial powerhouse, officials announced Wednesday. 

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 698 to 109,441, while three patients died in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 642, the health ministry said yesterday. 

LONDON: The new boss of Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer by sales, backed the strategy of his predecessor yesterday, despite a drop in first-half core profit as COVID-19 costs and losses at Tesco bank outweighed a surge in sales. Ken Murphy, formerly at healthcare group Walgreens Boots Alliance, succeeded Dave Lewis on Oct. 1.A

BERLIN: German industrial output edged down in August following three months of relatively strong increases, suggesting the recovery in Europe’s largest economy from the coronavirus shock is starting to lose steam. 

DUBAI/RIYADH: The slump in demand for crude during the coronavirus pandemic has forced oil companies to contemplate the possibility that the fossil fuel market has peaked and the time for a global energy transition has come.