LONDON: The coronavirus pandemic that has slammed oil demand and prices is forcing energy majors to tighten their belts on exploration, even if finding new deposits remain essential to their existence. 

LONDON: US retail giant Walmart has agreed to sell its British supermarket chain Asda to billionaire brothers and a private equity group for £6.8 billion ($8.7 billion, 7.4 billion euros), they announced Friday.

NEW YORK/LONDON: Global equity markets slumped and investors piled into gold and the Japanese yen on Friday after US President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, adding to market uncertainty just 32 days before the US election. 

SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla Inc on Friday said it delivered 139,300 vehicles in the third quarter, a quarterly record for the electric carmaker, but shares fell 5.7 percent in pre-market trading.

WASHINGTON: US employment growth slowed more than expected in September and over 300,000 Americans lost their jobs permanently, dealing a potential blow to President Donald Trump ahead of the fiercely contested Nov 3 presidential election. 

KUWAIT: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kuwait rose by 371 yesterday to take the total count to 106,458, while a fivefold increase in fatalities pushed its death toll from the outbreak to 620, health ministry data showed. 

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.