Business

By Maecy Alviar

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines; 18 Aug 2018; AA: President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out Friday at the United States after one of its top defense officials cautioned the Philippines against buying military equipment from Russia.

He slammed Washington for blocking the Philippine military’s modernization and only giving Manila used and refurbished military equipment, including rusted choppers from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that crashed and killed Filipino soldiers.

By Deniz Cicek Palabiyik

ANKARA; 17 Aug 2018; AA: The Turkish finance minister and his French counterpart on Friday agreed over the phone to conduct a joint action against U.S. sanctions targeting Turkey, according to the ministerial sources.

Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak and French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire discussed economic cooperation, the Turkish Treasury and Finance Ministry said in a statement.

BERLIN, August 17. /TASS/. The German authorities need to change the policy towards Russia and discuss the possibility of continuing cooperation in the G8 format. For its part, Moscow should likewise make efforts to become a reliable partner again, leader of the liberal German Free Democratic Party (FDP) Christian Lindner told the Passauer Neue Presse daily.

KOVROV. August 17. /TASS/. Russia’s state hi-tech corporation Rostec is developing stronger individual protection for soldiers, Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov told TASS on the sidelines of a conference on diversification on Friday.

"We are developing new technology of forming aramid fibers for developing the next-generation armor. The research shows already now that the use of this technology helps increase the armor reliability by 12-15% compared to foreign analogs, with its weight remaining the same," Chemezov said.

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Work has begun on the building of 4.07 million homes in rundown urban areas during the first seven months of the year, official data showed.

This marks a 70-percent completion of the annual target with an investment of over 990 billion yuan (about 143.6 billion U.S. dollars), according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

China will launch a new three-year renovation plan to address housing in rundown urban areas, with 5.8 million units to be constructed this year, according to this year's government work report.

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan here on Saturday morning.

President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath to Imran Khan as the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan. Caretaker Prime Minister Nasir ul Mulk was also present at the ceremony.

The ceremony was attended by diplomats, ministers, lawmakers, other political leaders, military and civil officials and dignitaries.

ANKARA; 16 Aug 2018; (AP) — The Turkish lira continued to rebound from record losses on Thursday a day after Qatar pledged $15 billion in investments to help Turkey’s economy.

The currency strengthened some 2 percent against the dollar, trading at around 5.85 per dollar, hours before Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak was scheduled to update international investors about the economy.

WASHINGTON, August 15. /TASS/. The United Sanctions expanded its sanction list related to North Korea, adding Russia’s Profinet Company and its general manager Vasily Kolchanov, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) reports on Wednesday.

One Chinese company and one Singaporean company were also added to the list.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The White House said on Wednesday that the United States will not lift sanctions on Turkish steel and aluminum products even if detained American pastor Andrew Brunson is released.

In a press briefing, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said, "The tariffs that are in place on steel would not be removed with the release of Pastor Brunson. The tariffs are specific to national security."

Kolkata, Aug 16 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said the informal sector and small businesses will be worst hit by the depreciating rupee and lead to increase in the oil import bill.

"After demonetisation disaster and now Rupee slide, Rupee crashes to its lowest ever. We are very concerned," the chief minister tweeted.