Business

20 Nov 2019; MEMO: China and Saudi Arabia have begun a three-week joint naval exercise, Chinese state media said on Tuesday evening, reports Reuters.

The joint exercise at a Saudi Arabian naval base comes as tensions in the Gulf have risen over recent attacks on oil tankers and a major assault on Saudi energy facilities.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (PTI) Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday hit out at the government over Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's reported remarks that Air India and Bharat Petroleum Corporation could be sold by March, alleging the BJP is making India's best organisations hollow and then selling them.

Her attack comes days after Sitharaman reportedly said the government was looking to wrap up the sale of state-run Air India and oil refiner and marketer BPCL by March 2020.

CAPE TOWN, Nov 19 (NNN-Xinhua) — Calls emerged for privatizing debt-ridden South African Airways (SAA), the national flag carrier being hard hit by a strike.

The airline must be placed under business rescue in order to mitigate any further loss of revenue and to ensure that the entity is a going concern, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said.

Without business rescue, the only viable option would be to partially or fully privatize the national carrier, the party said.

KATHMANDU, Nov 19 (NNN-NEPALNEWS) – Nepal’s Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli, inaugurated a China-funded 60 MW Hydro-power Project, which had started producing electricity recently.

Upper Trishuli 3A Hydro-power Project, developed by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned power production and utility body, and constructed by China Gezhouba Group Company, is located at the border of Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts.

PYONGYANG, Nov 19 (NNN-KCNA) – An official of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), said, Pyongyang was no longer interested in another DPRK-U.S. summit, that “brings nothing” to his country.

In a statement, Kim Kye Gwan, adviser to the DPRK’s Foreign Ministry, said, he learned that, U.S. President, Donald Trump, called for another DPRK-U.S. summit.

Trump addressed DPRK top leader, Kim Jong Un, saying, “I am the only one who can get you where you have to be. You should act quickly, get the deal done. See you soon!”

19 Nov 2019; MEMO: Chairman of the Palestinian Energy Authority, Zafer Melhem, said yesterday the Palestinian electric company is preparing to prosecute its Israeli counterpart over plans to cut electricity in the occupied West Bank.

Speaking to the Voice of Palestine radio, Melhem said that the complaint against the Israeli electric company would be filed in the Israeli and international courts.

Islamabad, Nov 19, GANASHAKTI:  Pakistan has resumed postal mail service with India, nearly three months after it was suspended in the wake of India's decision to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistan media reported on Tuesday.

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after New Delhi abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories.

Wellington, Nov 19 (AFP/PTI) Foreign investors hoping to buy New Zealand's strategic assets will now have to convince the government it is in the national interest, officials said Tuesday, while denying the rules targeted China.

New rules will for the first time give the government power to reject overseas investments in sensitive areas if it decides they could be detrimental to the country, Associate Finance Minister David Parker said.

VIENTIANE, Nov 18 (NNN-KPL) – A Key tunnel of China-Laos railway, has been drilled through by China Railway No. 8 Engineering Group (CREC-8), near the ancient Lao capital of Luang Prabang, some 220 km north of the capital, Vientiane.

With the roar of the excavator, the last piece of rock was crushed in the 1,001-metre-long Houay Han No. 1 Tunnel, of China-Laos railway on Sunday, and the completion was 43 days ahead of schedule.

LA PAZ, Nov 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bolivians suffered long lines on the streets of La Paz to secure chicken, eggs and cooking fuel as supporters of ousted President Evo Morales continued to cripple the country’s highways, isolating population centres from lowland farms.

Officials said a massive Hercules military plane had touched down in the highland capital of La Paz Saturday with a cargo full of meat products, bypassing the barricaded highways that drop down out of the city.