Business

28 Nov 2020; MEMO: Ankara rejected on Friday a "non-binding" resolution by the European Union (EU) parliament to impose sanctions on Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on the Maras and Cyprus issues, news agencies reported.

"We completely reject the non-binding resolution adopted by the MEPs on our country and the TRNC," Spokesman of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Hami Aksoy announced in a statement.

28 Nov 2020; MEMO: A new United Nations (UN) report found that the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip has resulted in $16.5 billion losses to its crippling economy and pushed more than half of the enclave's residents below the poverty line.

The report, which was issued on Wednesday by the UN's Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to the General Assembly, covered the years between 2007 and 2018.

27 Nov 2020; MEMO: Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday said he held a meeting with his Saudi counterpart to discuss bilateral relations and regional issues, Anadolu Agency reports.

Cavusoglu said in a tweet that the "sincere" meeting with Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud was held on the occasion of the 47th session of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers.

The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza announced on Thursday that it will be importing Palestinian olive oil for the first time from the besieged enclave, to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Speaking to the press, the ministry's Spokesman Adham Al-Basyouni disclosed: "44 tones of olive oil were exported to Arab countries after achieving self-sufficiency for the first time."

Lucknow/Baghpat, Nov 27 (PTI) Farmers on Friday staged demonstrations at some places in Uttar Pradesh leading to traffic jams on roads, officials said.

Protesting against the Centre's new farm laws and the police action on the agitating farmers, the activists of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) blocked the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway at Nawla Kothi in Muzaffarnagar district and also staged sit-ins in Meerut and Baghpat.

Dehradun, Nov 27 (PTI) National coordinator of Kisan Congress Rakesh Kumar Singh on Friday accused BJP-ruled states of using repressive measures against farmers and warned that attempts to quell their protests will only further intensify them.

Referring to Thursday's incident in Haryana where farmers marching to Delhi had to face water cannons and teargas shells, Singh said coercive methods to silence farmers would only worsen the situation.

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) The Indian economy contracted by 7.5 per cent in the July-September quarter of this fiscal amid the COVID-19 crisis, official data showed on Friday.

The gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 4.4 per cent in the corresponding July-September period of 2019-20, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

The economy had shrunk by an unprecedented 23.9 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal due to the coronavirus pandemic and resultant lockdowns.

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) The Union government's fiscal deficit further widened to Rs 9.53 lakh crore, which is nearly 120 per cent of the annual budget estimate, at the end of October of the current financial year, according to official data released on Friday.

The deficit widened mainly on account of poor revenue realisation. The lockdown imposed to curb spreading of coronavirus infections had significantly impacted business activities and in turn contributed to sluggish revenue realisation.

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) Contracting for the eighth consecutive month, the output of eight core infrastructure sectors dropped by 2.5 per cent in October, mainly due to decline in production of crude oil, natural gas, refinery products and steel.

The production of eight core sectors had contracted 5.5 per cent in October 2019, data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry showed on Friday.

Ahmedabad, Nov 27 (PTI) In a bid to bring in "ease of doing business" and attract new investment, the Gujarat government on Friday made some changes in the rules of two labour acts through a notification, an official said.

According to a government release, these changes were applied to the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 and Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services) Act, 1979, to help industries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.