WASHINGTON: The US economy showed more signs that its recovery is stalling as hiring slowed amid a surge in Covid-19 cases, ramping up pressure on politicians to agree on a new relief package to help struggling businesses and families.

MOSUL: Mountains of kitchen supplies, back-to-back butchers: the historic wholesale market in Iraq’s Mosul is battling the odds-from extremists to epidemic-to revive the city’s reputation as a trading hub. The northern city was a commercial hub for centuries, strategically located along transport routes linking Baghdad to the south, Syria to the west, Turkey further north and Iran in the east.

PETROSANI, Romania: In the large, dark locker room of southern Romania’s Lonea coal mine, 20-year-old Liviu dons his uniform and helmet before embarking on a six-hour shift in a vanishing industry. 

TULSA, US: Will this plane land safely?
That question was very much on the minds of the 87 passengers on the revamped Boeing 737 MAX’s first public flight Wednesday following a 20-month grounding after two fatal crashes. 

WASHINGTON: President-elect Joe Biden undoubtedly has plans to roll back many of President Donald Trump’s policies when he takes charge of the White House next month, but when it comes to trade, he has signaled little may change-at least at first. In an interview with The New York Times published Wednesday, Biden, who defeated Trump in last month’s presidential election, made it clear his first job will be reviving the beaten-down US economy, not radically shifting trade policy. 

LONDON: The members of the OPEC group of oil producers were meeting with their allies yesterday to see if they could reach an accord on extending production cuts over the coming months. 

KUWAIT: Kuwait said yesterday that 314 new coronavirus infections were registered in the previous 24 hours, raising the total to 143,574, while two deaths recorded over the same period upped its death toll from the outbreak to 884. 

KUWAIT: Health Assurance Hospitals Company (DHAMAN) launched a number of initiatives aimed at the continuous development of its human resources to ensure achieving ‘Healthcare for New Kuwait.

PARIS: Thousands of workers around the world who suddenly lost their jobs in sectors hit hard by the pandemic such as air travel, hospitality and tourism, said they had to find out how they have coped during the second coronavirus wave.