Author: News Desk

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will see their economies shrink by 7.6% this year, an International Monetary Fund official said on Tuesday, revising downwards April forecasts of nearly 3%. The six GCC nations are, with varying degrees, facing steep economic declines as the slowdown in business activity due to the coronavirus pandemic is amplified by a price drop in hydrocarbons, which are their main source of revenue. The IMF last week said Saudi Arabia’s economy – the largest in the Arab world – faces a 6.8% contraction this year, sharper than the 2.3% the Washington-based lender had forecast in April.…

Facebook said on Monday it would submit itself to an audit of how it controls hate speech in a bid to appease a growing advertising boycott of the platform, as it prepared to address a group of advertisers on Tuesday. The move comes as major advertisers such as Unilever and Starbucks have signed on to the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign started by U.S. civil rights groups, which urges brands to pause their Facebook ads in July to pressure the social media giant to do more to take down hate speech. Media Rating Council, a media measurement firm, will conduct the…

A study of coronavirus infections that covered almost everyone in the quarantined north Italian town of Vò found that 40% of cases showed no symptoms – suggesting that asymptomatic cases are important in the spread of the pandemic. The study, led by a scientist at Italy’s Padua University and Imperial College London, also produced evidence that mass testing combined with case isolation and community lockdowns can stop local outbreaks swiftly. “Despite ‘silent’ and widespread transmission, the disease can be controlled,” said Andrea Crisanti, a professor at Padua and Imperial who co-led the work. “Testing of all citizens, whether or not…

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told parliament on Tuesday he had no doubt that India was behind an attack on the stock exchange building in the southern city of Karachi. Four gunmen armed with grenades attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday, killing two guards and a policeman before security forces killed the attackers. “There is no doubt that India is behind the attack,” Khan said in his address to parliament – a charge that India had denied a day earlier. Khna offered no evidence for his allegation, but he said there had been intelligence reports warning of attacks in…

Saudi Arabia’s central bank governor said it was encouraging commercial banks to lend more to sustain businesses during the coronavirus crisis. Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) Governor Ahmed al-Kholifey was speaking at a virtual economic forum.

Saudi Arabia has reported 4,387 new cases and 50 deaths from coronavirus, taking the total cases to 190,823. The death toll raised to 1,649 after reporting the new deaths. Meanwhile, 3,648 patients fully recovered from the virus, bringing the total recoveries to 130,766. In line with recent trends, the majority of the new cases are in Al Hofuf (980), followed by Riyadh (342) and Al Mubarraz (323). https://twitter.com/media_ksa/status/1277946928878309380?s=20

Six months after the World Health Organization learned of “viral pneumonia” cases that would become the COVID-19 pandemic, life in Wuhan, the city where it emerged, is returning to normal, although masks remain ubiquitous and emotional scars linger. A city of 11 million, Wuhan was locked down for two months starting in late January in a draconian measure that helped stamp out the virus at its initial epicentre. Hubei province and its capital city Wuhan accounted for most of China’s 83,531 new coronavirus cases and 4,634 deaths. “As time goes on, the epidemic situation is slowly getting better and the…

Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said on Tuesday a gold deposit with estimated resources of 1 million ounces had been discovered in the southeast of the country. The deposit lies in the concession area of the military-controlled Shalateen Mining Company in the Eastern Desert’s Iqaat area, it said in a statement. More than $1 billion is expected to be invested to develop the deposit over the next 10 years, the statement said, without giving details on the methodology used to determine the deposit’s size. Egypt has been seeking to attract investors to its mining sector and in March…

The coronavirus lockdown persuaded retired speech therapist Anne-Marie Arnaud a better future could be had, one with emptier skies, fresher air and quieter streets rid of diesel-belching cars. And so the pensioner from Lyon switched her vote in last Sunday’s municipal election, among the first worldwide to be held after countries began emerging from lockdown, in favour of the Green party. The results, which saw the Greens take control of or become an alliance partner in no fewer than 11 city halls, may point to a broader shift in voting patterns as governments, companies, and citizens adjust to the COVID-19…

Kuwait has reported 671 new coronavirus cases, of which 435 are citizens, taking the total confirmed cases in the country to 46,195, according to the Ministry of Health. 4 patients died of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 354. 717 new recoveries have been reported in the country, raising the total recoveries to 37,030. Kuwait has done 4,045 NP swab tests in the past 24 hours, as the country ramps up its efforts to test more people and detect cases early, according to the health ministry. So far, the country has conducted…