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BEIJING, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held talks on Sunday ahead of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), agreeing to elevate the comprehensive strategic partnership of the two countries to a new level.

Islamabad, Sep 2 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has roped in some renowned foreign economists in the newly-constituted economic advisory panel to provide the best possible professional advice to his cash-strapped government on prudent economic policies, media reported on Sunday.

The immediate challenge for the Khan-led government is to arrange finances to fill about a USD 10 billion gap that is arising due to higher outflows than estimated inflows.

BOCHAROV RUCHEI, September 1. /TASS/. Azerbaijan has purchased Russian-made military-technical products worth more than $5 bln, President Ilham Aliyev said on Saturday following talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

"We discussed further cooperation in the military-technical sphere. It has great traditions. The cost of the military-technical products purchased by Azerbaijan from Russia exceeds $5 bln, and this tends to grow," he said.

TASS, September 2. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that his country is not willing to ask anybody for permission to buy S-400 defense missile systems from Russia, the Milliyet newspaper reported.

"We have made an agreement with Russia on S-400, and some are concerned by that. I’m sorry, but we’re not going to ask anyone for permission," the newspaper quotes Erdogan.

On August 31, the Turkish leader said that Turkey hopes to receive the missile systems "as soon as possible".

by Peter Mertz

DENVER, the United States, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The so-called U.S. Friday deadline for Canada to agree to trade terms elapsed with little fanfare, as both countries agreed to wait until next week to resume talks. Experts and scholars see the two sides are keeping "alert" about any bad deal or no deal for them.

"It is unclear what the ultimate shape of any deal with Canada would look like," said Vincent Smith, an economics professor of Montana State University (MSU).

ANKARA, Sep. 2 (Xinhua) -- As the Turkish-U.S. ties remain deeply strained, Ankara's relationship with Europe is steadily warming, where cooperation seems to have taken the upper hand over confrontation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to pay a state visit to Germany in late September, the first of its kind in four years.

Meanwhile, the Turkish leader is also likely to host a summit between France, Germany and Russia, in the absence of the United States, to discuss the Syria issue.

BANGUI, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Central African Republic (CAR) stands ready to join the Belt and Road Initiative and wants its central location in Africa to be an advantage, President Faustin-Archange Touadera said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

In the run-up to the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Touadera said the Belt and Road Initiative is "the important subject of connectivity."

Mathura, Sep 2 (PTI) The Congress has asked the Narendra Modi government why it inked a deal with France's Dassault Aviation to buy just 36 aircraft when 126 fighter jets were required.

The party's national spokesperson, Priyanka Chautrvedi, asked if there's any urgency, why the government did not ask the French company to supply all the aircraft in one go.

"The first lot of the aircraft will be supplied in 2019 and the rest in 2022. If there is any urgency, the whole lot should have been supplied by 2019," she said here Saturday.

by Ronald Ssekandi

LUWEERO, Uganda, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- At a middle school called Everest College in Luweero town of the Luweero district in central Uganda, Smith Mugisha said that he already has learned the Chinese language for nearly one year.

Customs in the Chinese culture must be followed in Chinese language learning, just like chopsticks have to be used when eating food, Mugisha said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Mugisha is among the 500 students at this middle school who have enrolled to learn the Chinese language.

These could have been the sequence of events Rahul Gandhi seem to be saying, based on an Indian Express report.

Crooked deal was all worked out beforehand.

French President Francois Hollande was invited to New Delhi as the Republic Day chief guest.