CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s economic recovery-encumbered by the pandemic, riots, graft and high unemployment-will be difficult, the finance minister of the continent’s most industrialised economy warned on Wednesday. 

LONDON: As Prime Minister Boris Johnson moves to confront Moscow over its Ukraine invasion, he stands accused of leaving the financial back door wide open by ignoring a “sewer” of Russian money coursing through Britain.

ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates is ploughing money into drones, robots and other unmanned weaponry as autonomous warfare becomes more and more widespread – including in attacks on the Gulf country by Yemeni rebels. 

DOHA: Major gas exporting nations said yesterday they could not guarantee prices or supplies at a summit overshadowed by the worsening Ukraine crisis which has pushed costs to record highs in Europe. 

DUBAI: Passenger traffic at Dubai international airport, the world’s busiest, will not recover to pre-Covid levels before 2024, its CEO told AFP yesterday. Traffic remains “nowhere near pre-pandemic levels” despite rising to 29.1 million passengers last year, Dubai Airports chief Paul Griffiths said in an interview. 

KUWAIT: Kuwait Airways announced yesterday an expanded $6 billion deal with Airbus for 31 planes, restructuring an agreement reached in 2014. The deal comes after what the airline labelled occasionally “heated” negotiations following probes over allegations of kickbacks surrounding the initial order.

WASHINGTON: The two lifelong friends from Florida never sought the limelight, but then they built a multi-million-dollar empire selling digital art and people wanted to know who they were. 

PARIS: The pandemic and soaring inflation have done nothing to take the shine off luxury brands, from Louis Vuitton to Gucci and Cartier, as the sector hiked prices to notch up stellar profits. The world economy began to recover from the pandemic last year but the rebound has been accompanied by rising inflation, with prices for raw materials and energy soaring.

BEIRUT: Once the economy’s crown jewel, Lebanon’s banks are shutting branches and laying off employees in droves, resizing to the bleak reality of a crisis they are widely blamed for.