MANILA: In the middle of a coronavirus lockdown in the Philippine capital, Grace Lagaday was struggling to breastfeed her newborn without milk storage bottles and nursing pads.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s king on Friday issued an order exempting real estate deals from a 15 percent value-added tax (VAT) and imposed a new 5 percent tax on transactions as the Gulf state moves to revitalize an economy hit by low oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.

LONDON: Stocks sold off and investors quit riskier assets yesterday after US President Donald Trump said he and his wife had tested positive for the coronavirus and would isolate, four weeks before US elections. 

PARIS: The President of the French agency in charge of regulating telecommunications ARCEP Sebastien Soriano (right) speaks as French Junior Minister for Digital Transition and Electronic Communication Cedric O (left) listens during their visit at the Swedish telecommunications equipment provider Ericsson’s research and development center on Thursday in Massy, near Paris. — AFP

WASHINGTON: The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week but remained at recession levels, while personal income dropped in August, underscoring the seed for another government rescue package for businesses and the unemployed.

SYDNEY: Australia will spend A$1.5 billion ($1 billion) to revitalize manufacturing across six sectors, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, as the government pushes to get the economy out of the deep slump triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

MEXICO CITY: Latin America’s e-commerce industry is booming as millions of shoppers across the region venture online during the pandemic, many for the first time, forcing traditional businesses to adapt to survive. 

NEW YORK: Workers from the beleaguered US airline industry were making a last-ditch public appeal this week to coax more money from Capitol Hill power brokers to save their jobs. The first day of October concludes the period when US carriers that received billions in aid from Congress promised to refrain from laying off workers.

UGHELLI, Delta State, Nigeria: Jonah Gbemre often has no electricity, but he says his home is permanently lit at night by the flames of waste gas being “flared” near his home town in Nigeria’s Delta State.