LONDON: Coffee prices surged this week to multi-year peaks, extending stellar gains this year after frost damaged crops in the world’s biggest producer Brazil. The futures price for arabica coffee, one of the South American nation’s top commodity exports, soared Friday to just over $2 a pound, the highest level since 2014.

WASHINGTON: As rising prices and the spread of new COVID-19 variants increase risks to the US economy, Federal Reserve officials are expected to maintain their easy money policies intended to help American companies and workers survive the pandemic damage. 

EVERETT: The aviation industry appears to finally be past the worst of the coronavirus downturn, but Boeing’s to-do list remains extensive following a messy start to 2021. 

OAKLAND: Uber driver Mae Cee scoffs at the notion, touted by the global ride-share service, that she and her peers are self-employed contractors-and that most of them are happy with the arrangement. 

MUMBAI: Shares of Indian food delivery giant Zomato soared on its market debut Friday, following a 93.75 billion rupee ($1.3 billion) IPO, the country’s biggest this year. Around 30 Indian companies have announced plans to list shares this year, with start-ups attracting billions of dollars in investment even though many are yet to make a profit.

LONDON: From watering the plants and setting up tables to arranging bottles on the shelves, Italian restaurant owner Giuseppe Gullo’s hands are as full as his customers’ bellies, with Britain’s “pingdemic” decimating his staff. 

BANGKOK: Tuk-tuks and garishly colored taxis that once weaved through chaotic Bangkok traffic are sitting idle in storage as a fresh coronavirus surge scuttles hopes of relief for Thailand’s tourism-dependent economy.

FRANKFURT: European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde warned of growing economic “uncertainty” caused by the fast-spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus, as the bank kept its vast stimulus for the eurozone firmly in place. 

NEW YORK: New applications for US unemployment benefit saw a surprise uptick last week, the government said Thursday, data analysts said may be evidence of the rising threat posed by the Delta variant of COVID-19.