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Iraq has told OPEC it would start an urgent plan to cut its oil production gradually to fully comply with its quota, an OPEC delegate said on Saturday after the group demanded that Baghdad and other laggards adhere to a pact on output curbs. Iraq’s plan would include reaching a …

Popular game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile’s new version outraged Muslim players all over the world over its new ‘Idol Worshipping’ feature. As one of the most famous mobile video games in the world, PUBG Mobile boasts almost 750 million active players, 33 millions of whom are in the Muslim world, …

The World Health Organization (WHO) has changed its advice on face masks, saying they should be worn in public to help stop the spread of coronavirus. The global body said new information showed they could provide “a barrier for potentially infectious droplets”. Some countries around the world already recommend or …

Oil prices rose on Friday after an unexpected fall in the May U.S. jobless rate and OPEC’s decision to bring forward to Saturday discussions on whether to extend record production cuts. Brent crude futures settled up $2.31, or 5.8%, at $42.30 a barrel, surging 19.2% on the week. U.S. West …

America’s workers likely suffered another devastating blow in May, with millions more jobs lost to the viral pandemic and an unemployment rate near or even above 20% for the first time since the Great Depression. Economists have forecast that the government will report Friday that employers shed 8.5 million more …

The carmaker Bentley has announced plans to slash up to 1,000 jobs, warning the coronavirus crisis has hit its sales hard and it had run out of other ways to cut costs. The company, headquartered in Crewe, said it had informed its 4,200-strong workers of its “voluntary release programme” and …

Oil prices rose on Friday after OPEC decided to move up discussions on whether to extend record production cuts to Saturday, indicating that some laggard countries may have agreed to align themselves with the deal. Brent crude futures were up 95 cents, or 2.4%, at $40.94 a barrel as of …

The German economy has passed the trough of its coronavirus recession and is starting to grow again, the Bundesbank said, endorsing the government’s sweeping fiscal stimulus that should underpin the rebound. Yet the recovery is still muted as some restrictions to rein in the spread of the pandemic remain in …

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday it would launch a new China joint venture with Chinese auto companies to develop fuel cell systems. Toyota said it will launch the Beijing-based venture with FAW Group, Dongfeng Motor, Beijing Automotive, GAC, and Beijing SinoHytec. The total investment amount will be …

Almost £7bn has been raised to immunise 300 million children at a virtual global vaccine summit hosted by the UK. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said up to eight million lives would be saved as a result of the funds pledged at the Gavi vaccine summit on Thursday. The money will …

The last three coronavirus patients in Wuhan, the first epicenter of the COVID-19, have been discharged and the central Chinese city has recorded zero cases of the virus after mass testing of about 10 million people, state media reported on Friday. According to China’s National Health Commission (NHC), five imported …

Russia reported 8,726 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, pushing the total number of infections to 449,834. Officials said 144 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official nationwide death toll to 5,528.

The European Commission is pledging €300 million to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Commission announced on Thursday. Gavi is a Swiss-based global public-private partnership aiming to improve access to vaccines in poor countries. “It will help immunize 300 million children around the world and finance vaccine stockpiles to shield against …

Facebook will start labeling Russian, Chinese, and other state-controlled media organizations, and later this summer block any ads from such outlets that target U.S. users, it said on Thursday. Russia’s Sputnik, Iran’s Press TV, and China’s Xinhua News are on the list of organizations that will receive the label from …

German newspaper Handelsblatt reported health ministers from Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands wrote to the EU Commission that access to vaccines is “one of the most urgent issues that the European Union has to address at present”. Germany and three other European Union states are forging a new alliance …

Rafael Nadal feels that a two-and-a-half-month break from tennis has set him up for another two years at the top – despite the Spaniard turning 34 on Wednesday. The 19-time Grand Slam champion was unable to pick up a racket for two months as he was forced into lockdown in …

Twitter has accused the US president of making false claims, in one of the app’s own articles covering the news. The move – which effectively accuses the leader of lying – refers to a tweet by Donald Trump about his first defence secretary. Mr Trump had tweeted that he had …

Astronomers have confirmed the existence of Proxima b, an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting the closest star to our sun. The European Southern Observatory’s High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) detected the planet in 2016. The Very Large Telescope based in Chile has a new and more powerful spectrograph named ESPRESSO, …

Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell 1.18%, or 47 cents, to $39.32 a barrel as of 0652 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures slid 1.80%, or 67 cents, to $36.62 a barrel. Saudi Arabia and Russia, two of the world’s biggest oil producers, have agreed to support …

Snapchat will no longer promote President Donald Trump’s account on its platform in the wake of his controversial comments on ongoing protests across the US, the company announced Wednesday. Trump’s account is regularly spotlighted in Snapchat’s “Discover” feature, which also highlights content from celebrities and news organizations. “We are not …