House Democrats approved the package in a vote of 219-212. The House vote sends the legislation to the Senate. Senate Democrats may clash on a minimum wage hike. Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories . House Democrats approved President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion emergency spending package in a near-party line vote early on Saturday morning, advancing far-reaching legislation …

WASHINGTON — The Democratically-controlled House approved President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package early Saturday, a key step for a measure that would provide millions of Americans $1,400 stimulus payments , ramp up vaccine distribution and extend unemployment aid through the summer. The bill, known as the American Rescue Plan , passed 219-212. No Republicans voted for it, and two Democrats voted against it: Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., and Jared Golden, …

Unless you’re the world’s richest person, you shouldn’t be buying Bitcoin, said Bill Gates in a TV interview. Gates, the world’s third-richest man after Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, took a shot at the Tesla CEO after the electric vehicle maker announced taking a $1.5 billion stake in Bitcoin. ‘Elon has tons of money and he’s very sophisticated, so I …

WUHAN, China: A team of investigators led by the World Health Organization visited a virus research laboratory in China’s central city of Wuhan and met with a prominent virologist there in its search for clues to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. The experts spent about 3-1/2 hours at the heavily-guarded Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been at the …

KARACHI: Hamza Shikoh seized the initiative on the opening day of the Sindh Amateur Golf Championship, grabbing a one-stroke lead at the Karachi Golf Club on Friday. Hamza returned a card of 71 — the only under-par score of the day — to grab top spot ahead of Arsalan Shikoh Khan (72). Beyond the top two were Mohammad Ahmed Mannan …

SEOUL: South Korea said 18,489 people received their first doses of AstraZeneca PLC’s vaccine by midnight on Friday as it launched an ambitious COVID-19 inoculation campaign, and will begin using Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines on Saturday. The first to receive the shots are healthcare workers, staffers at assisted care facilities and other high-risk people, with a goal of vaccinating 32 million to …

NYON: Seven-time European champions AC Milan have been drawn to play Man­chester United in what is the standout tie in next month’s Europa League round of 16. Friday’s draw sends Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic back to the English club where he played for two years, including the 2016-17 season when United won their only Europa League title. Ajax Amsterdam, the …

AHMEDABAD: Victorious India and dejected England players took a rest Friday on what should have been the third day of a key five-day clash, with warnings that the speed of the result had tarnished the Test format. New spin hero Axar Patel took 11 wickets in two innings as India cruised to a 10 wicket victory that put them 2-1 …

KARACHI: Multan Sultans got themselves off the mark in the HBL Pakistan Super League 6 fixture after on the back of captain Mohammad Rizwan’s dazzling batting form to hand Lahore Qalandars their first loss in three matches at the National Stadium here on Friday. In the first clash of the double header — with Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators playing …