WASHINGTON: Europe’s tiny Andorra formally joined the International Monetary Fund on Friday, becoming the crisis lender’s 190th member state as the tourism and trade-dependent principality struggles with the coronavirus pandemic. 

BEIJING: China’s economic recovery gathered pace in the third quarter, according to an AFP poll of analysts, with consumer spending gradually picking up as coronavirus fears eased, helping a wider rebound spurred by investment and exports. Growth in July-September is expected to come in at 5.2 percent when official data is released Monday, bringing the world’s second-largest economy closer to last year’s 6.1 percent annual expansion, even as countries around the world struggle to contain the deadly pandemic.

KUWAIT: Kuwait yesterday reported four deaths and 739 new cases due to COVID-19. The figures took the country’s death toll up to 694 and the caseload to 115,483, health ministry data showed. According to ministry spokesman Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad, the number of people hospitalized with the virus stands at 7,681; 139 of whom in intensive care units.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s budget carrier HK Express joined airlines offering “flight to nowhere” yesterday with an inaugural journey filled with media and influencers, sparking criticism from environmentalists.

BRUSSELS/BERLIN/WASHINGTON: Financial leaders from the Group of 20 major economies on Wednesday underscored the urgent need to bring the spread of the coronavirus pandemic under control, and vowed to “do whatever it takes” to support the global economy and financial stability. 

HONG KONG: Hong Kong and Singapore yesterday said they had agreed “in principle” to set up a bubble allowing residents to travel freely between the two financial hubs as long as they test negative for the coronavirus. 

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health announced yesterday 746 new novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in the past 24 hours, raising the total to 114,015. Meanwhile, deaths reached 684 with the addition of eight fatalities.

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Ministry of Health launched its seasonal vaccination campaign for winter against the seasonal flu and pneumococcal pneumonia. The vaccines will not protect against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) but can help reduce the severity of flu symptoms.

CAIRO: Egypt has witnessed throughout its history many challenges and conflicts that contributed to one degree or another in impeding the process of development and was keen to overcome them in order to keep pace with regional and international changes, investing in this its uniqueness in the most distinguished geographical location in the world, which played a vital role in the development process, and perhaps what Egypt went through.