NEW DELHI: India unveiled a massive spending plan focused on healthcare and infrastructure yesterday, as the government sought to boost a coronavirus-ravaged economy on course for its biggest annual contraction on record. 

LONDON: British energy giant BP yesterday said it had sold a 20-percent stake in Oman’s block 61 gas field to Thailand’s state-controlled PTTEP for $2.6 billion. BP, which like its peers has been hit hard as coronavirus lockdowns slash energy demand, will retain a 40-percent stake and continue to operate the block, it added in a statement. 

KUWAIT: The ministry yesterday listed 586 new coronavirus cases, bringing the caseload of infections to 165,843. MoH official spokesperson Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad said that no new fatalities with the contagious disease were registered during the same period, thus mortalities’ toll steadied at 959.

LONDON: Britain will apply to join a massive 11-nation free-trade bloc of Asia-Pacific countries, it announced Saturday, weeks after leaving the European single market with its departure from the EU. 

WASHINTON: Food banks, immigrant rights groups, and struggling colleges across the US discovered a surprise benefactor last year as billions of dollars flowed into organizations hurting during the pandemic from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. 

NEW YORK: When President Joe Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal earlier this month, few were surprised by the plan’s hefty price tag or sweeping scope. 

BEIJING: Factory activity in China slowed slightly in January, official data showed yesterday, as the country rushed to stamp out a recent coronavirus wave in northern China. 

KUWAIT: Kuwait Health Ministry yesterday listed 635 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and no deaths registered during the past 24 hours, raising the caseload of contaminations with the virus to 165,257 while fatalities’ overall count steadied at 959.

LONDON: A tangle of post-Brexit paperwork, duties and taxes is disrupting commercial ties between Britain and the European Union that have often taken years to build, piling extra costs on small firms that can make cross-Channel trade unprofitable.