Business

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 (NNN-BERNAMA) — For the first time,  the Asia-Pacific region has become the largest destination and source of foreign direct investment (FDI) globally,  according to a new report launched by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Titled ‘Foreign Direct Investment Trends and Outlook in Asia and the Pacific’, the study found the region is expected to maintain steady inflows and outflows of FDI in 2019 and 2020. 

PARIS, Dec 4 (NNN-Xinhua) — French commuters will face travel misery on Thursday as rail and metro workers will go on strike with which labor unions eye to show enough force to make President Emmanuel Macron reconsider his pension reform.

“Thursday will be extremely difficult. The networks will be badly disturbed. We will only succeed to operate about 10 percent of the trains,” Agnes Ogier, national rail operator SNCF’s spokesperson told a press conference on Tuesday.

“We ask our clients to cancel their trips or postpone them if they can,” she added

BEIJING, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — China has agreed to pay for a new national stadium and library in El Salvador as part of an infrastructure package promised to the country after it switched allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing.

President Xi Jinping met with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Tuesday (Dec 4) during the Central American leader’s first visit to Beijing since being sworn into office this summer.

DOHA, Dec 4 (NNN-QNA) – The Qatari Emir received an invitation from the Saudi King, to attend the 40th Gulf Cooperation Council summit.

Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, received a written invitation from King Salman bin Abdelaziz Al Saud, to attend the 40th session of the GCC Supreme Council, to be held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Dec 10.

The invitation was first received by Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatari minister of foreign affairs, during his meeting with Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, secretary general of the GCC.

SHARM EL SHEIKH (Egypt), Dec 4 (NNN-XINHUA) — The African Economic Conference (AEC-2019) called on African policymakers to take bold steps to tackle red-tape and high startup costs in order to create decent and well-paying jobs for the continent’s youth.

The call was made by African experts and policymakers attending this year’s edition of the African Economic Conference, a flagship joint initiative of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

LONDON, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — NATO leaders will attempt to make a convincing show of unity on Wednesday when they meet to conclude a summit already overshadowed by bitter rows about the future of the alliance.

Last year, the Western allies’ get-together was derailed by US President Donald Trump’s demand for greater European defence spending, but 2019’s provocateur was France’s Emmanuel Macron.

PARIS, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France and the European Union are ready to fight back over the latest U.S. tariff threats on French products, French government ministers said.

On Monday, the U.S. government said it may impose punitive duties of up to 100% on $2.4 billion of imports from France, including champagne, handbags, cheese and other products, after concluding that France’s new digital services tax would harm U.S. tech companies.

Nashik, Dec 2 (PTI) The wholesale price of onions of the summer variety rose to Rs 11,000 per quintal on Monday during auction at the Kalwan Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) here in Maharashtra.

Monday was the first trading day of December and the wholesale price of the summer crop of onions was the highest this season in Nashik district, a major producer of the vegetable, APMC sources said.

The previous highest wholesale auction price of onions was Rs 9,000 per quintal recorded at the Kalwan APMC last month, they said.

Shimla, Dec 2 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Monday approved signing of an MoU to sell water from the Yamuna, an official spokesperson said.

The state government would earn Rs 21 crore per annum from this decision.

New Delhi, Dec 3 (PTI) A bill that seeks to regulate recycling of ships according to international standards will further boost the ship-breaking business in India, after Parliament passes it, Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya told Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

However, Congress member Hibi Eden opposed the Recycling of Ships Bill, questioning the "hurry" with which the government had brought it and cautioning that India's rivals in the business like Pakistan, Bangladesh and China may benefit at its cost.