World Bank

According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, the COVID-19 infected in the world are more than 785 thousand, and those who are cured are more than 165 thousand.

The poor countries "will take the hardest hit, especially ones that were already heavily indebted before the crisis," said David Malpass, World Bank chief.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday that the IMF expects the global economic recession in 2020 to be "at least as bad as during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis or worse" .

The International Monetary Fund expressed concern in a report issued on Wednesday about the weak supervision of the non-banking financial sector in Moldova and about inadequate efforts to prevent and combat money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Electrical workers at a power plant in the town of Obilic in Kosovo, December 2011. Photo: EPA/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

US power generation company ContourGlobal has halted plans to build the 500-megawatt coal-fired Kosova e Re (New Kosovo) power plant, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 3 warned of a global shortage and price gouging for protective equipment to fight the fast-spreading coronavirus and asked companies and governments to increase production by 40 percent as the death toll from the respiratory illness mounted.

Dame Minouche Shafik is one of the world's most distinguished academics. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1962, Shafik went on to study at Amherst College, Massachusetts, the London School of Economics and St Antony's College, Oxford, and has since worked for some of the most prestigious global institutions.

The US designated Bulgaria a developed country. The measure makes it easier for Washington to launch investigations and impose customs and other penalties if it finds unlawful subsidies or commercial practices, BNR reported.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Feb. 18 offered an olive branch to the Taliban, shortly after winning a second term in office.

An evidently confident Ghani embraced his supporters at the highly guarded Arg palace in the capital Kabul after the long-awaited results of last September's election were announced.

The region is rich in architectural and cultural heritage, including the most extensive mining system known from the ancient Roman world, remnants of Roman, medieval and modern mining settlements as well as churches belonging to five denominations.