World oil prices fell by more than five percent on Monday, as energy demand fears grew over the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant.

Dubai airport, one of the world’s busiest travel hubs, is fully operational for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic erupted in March 2020, officials said Monday.

China’s central bank cut a key interest rate on Monday for the first time in nearly two years in a bid to kickstart growth in the world’s number two economy as it creaks under the impact of a real estate crisis and coronavirus flare-ups.

A bid by the White House to dramatically boost electric vehicle tax credits hit a major roadblock on Sunday when a key Senate Democrat said he would not support a $1.75 trillion domestic investment bill.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Monday postponed its annual meeting in Davos due to the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, putting off the event scheduled for January until mid-2022.

A humanitarian association has filed manslaughter charges against high-ranking French and British officials for failing to help 27 people who drowned in November trying to cross the English Channel.

Asian stocks and oil prices sank on Monday on fears about a fresh global surge in coronavirus infections and as the future of US President Joe Biden’s massive social spending bill was thrown into doubt after it lost the crucial vote of a moderate Democrat.

Apple Inc has asked India’s antitrust watchdog to throw out a case alleging abuse of market power in the apps market, saying it is too small a player in the South Asian country where Google is dominant, a filing seen by Reuters shows.

Major US companies are having to reassess their return-to-office plans and getting tough on vaccine or mask requirements as the Omicron Covid variant looks set to extend pandemic-induced work-from-home culture.

After a decade-long hiatus, Russia is relaunching an ambitious bid for dominion over the world’s budding space tourism industry, jostling with zealous billionaires, the United States, and rising China.

Alban Nikolai Herbst’s Berlin apartment is covered in dust, his precious record collection included, thanks to a coal-powered stove he still uses to heat his home like thousands across the city.

Most Gulf stock markets fell in early trade on Sunday, responding to a slide in crude prices on Friday as surging cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant raised fears that new restrictions may hit fuel demand.

China’s antimonopoly bureau will step up legal enforcement against monopolistic behaviour and push forward the amended antimonopoly law to improve the regulatory framework, said Gan Lin, chief of the national antimonopoly bureau.

US retailers opened their doors on Saturday to what they hope will be swarms of shoppers searching for last-minute holiday gifts, despite surging cases of the coronavirus, including the new, highly-contagious Omicron variant.

Debt problems at a major Chinese property developer have now spilled over into a vital artery of the nation’s industrial engine - the steel sector - and started to ripple through to other critical parts of the world’s second-largest economy.

Britain’s pandemic-weary hospitality businesses have taken a fresh hit from soaring coronavirus cases fueled by the Omicron variant, as anxious customers curtail socialising and cancel bookings over the Christmas period.

International ratings agency Fitch downgraded cash-strapped Sri Lanka Saturday due to mounting fears of a sovereign default on its $26 billion foreign debt, but Colombo insisted it will meet its obligations.

China’s factory output grew faster than expected in November, supported by stronger energy production and a moderation in sky-high materials costs, but new curbs to fight rising Covid-19 cases hit retailers in the world’s second-largest economy.

The poster child of China’s property crisis China Evergrande Group was officially declared in default by credit rating agency S&P Global on Friday after the sprawling firm missed a bond payment earlier this month.

European Central Bank policymakers were to gather on Thursday for a crunch meeting, as soaring inflation heaps pressure on the bank to wind down its stimulus just as a new coronavirus variant threatens to derail the recovery.