WASHINGTON: US lawmakers elevated President Joe Biden’s giant social welfare bill to the Senate on Friday, in a major step toward realizing his vision for the more equitable, greener society that he hopes will be his legacy. 

ISTANBUL: Turkish pensioner Abdullah Cici and his wife Hatice travelled across Istanbul to hunt for bargains at a popular bazaar. They were disappointed. “We need a lot of things but we cannot buy them. There’s salami, sujuk (sausage) over there. I am a human. 

MUMBAI: India’s oil-to-telecoms giant Reliance is abandoning a $15 billion deal for Saudi Aramco to buy a 20 percent stake in its oil refining and chemicals unit, it said, as the firm pivots towards renewable energy. 

MUMBAI: Indian mobile payments giant Paytm lost more than a quarter of its value on its market debut yesterday after raising $2.5 billion in the country’s biggest-ever IPO, as traders questioned whether the loss-making firm would ever turn a profit. Asia’s third-largest economy has been in the grip of an initial public offering frenzy, with start-ups attracting billions of dollars in investment in a bright spot in the Covid-battered economy. 

SAINT-POL-DE-LEON: The French government accused the Channel island of Jersey yesterday of being unwilling to cooperate on fishing licences, raising tensions again just weeks after Paris threatened to impose sanctions.

SYDNEY: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday warned that bitcoin presents a risk to younger generations, sounding a hawkish tone as his government prepares to introduce legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies. 

DONGGUAN: Huawei’s Consumer Business Group opened their largest HUAWEI Health Lab to date to the media. The new 4,680 sq m facility in Songshan Lake, Dongguan, China representing a 200 million yuan R&D investment project will support more than 80 types of testing requests for R&D personnel in fields such as professional research, ecosystem co-development, and health and fitness scenario incubation, ultimately supporting the research, incubation and testing of Huawei’s smart wearable products.

SHANGHAI: Hu Siqin had a promising career in Shanghai with a Fortune 500 company and more than enough money, but something was missing under the bright lights of the big city, a sense of what she calls “roots”. 

LONDON: British inflation spiked close to a ten-year high in October on increased energy bills and resurgent post-lockdown demand, data showed yesterday, sparking talk of a pre-Christmas interest rate hike. The annual rate jumped to 4.2 percent, the highest level since November 2011, the Office for National Statistics said.