LONDON: British airline EasyJet yesterday announced it had rejected a takeover approach, reportedly from rival Wizz Air, and revealed a $2.0-billion lifeline as the battered aviation sector looks to recover. 

HONG KONG: Asian equities retreated yesterday on growing concerns about the impact of the Delta coronavirus variant, while tech giants drove a sharp sell-off in Hong Kong (HK) after China further tightened its grip on the gaming sector. 

KABUL: As a nurse at one of Kabul’s main hospitals, Latifa Alizada was the breadwinner for her family, providing for her three young boys and unemployed husband. Now-since the Taleban rolled into Afghanistan’s capital-she too is jobless, and worried about the future. 

MARSEILLE: Plastic packaging and discarded fishing nets bob in the tranquil waters of the Mediterranean, signs of the choking pollution that has stirred strong feelings at the world conservation congress in the French port city Marseille this week.

ALEPPO: Workshops in Syria’s Aleppo used to clatter on into the night before the war, but these days the machines grind to a halt at 6 pm sharp because of power cuts. 

ISTANBUL: The Turkish lira took one of its biggest tumbles of the year yesterday over speculation that the central bank was about to cut rates in the face of soaring inflation. Turkey’s annual rate of inflation accelerated to 19.25 percent last month, above the central bank’s policy rate of 19 percent.

BEIJING: The billionaire founder of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is to step back from daily operations, his company announced, making him the latest A-list CEO to retreat from the limelight as Beijing squeezes the tech industry. 

PARIS: European travellers helped plug a gap left by Asian and North American tourists stranded at home by the pandemic, staving off a total washout this year for Europe’s hospitality industry. After a disastrous 2020 tourism season, the sector had banked on vaccination campaigns and the easing of travel restrictions to see brighter days this summer.

MUNICH: Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess said it was “impossible” for the German car giant’s electric transformation to happen any faster, but he accused Angela Merkel’s government of holding back change with generous diesel subsidies.