Business

Beijing, Oct 9 (AP/PTI) China says Iran's foreign minister will visit the country from Friday to Saturday, a day after the Trump administration blacklisted virtually all of Iran's financial sector in the latest step aimed at the oil-rich country's economy.

In a brief announcement, China's foreign ministry said only that Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was visiting at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Mumbai, Oct 9 (PTI) Maintaining status quo for the second time in a row, Reserve Bank of India on Friday decided to keep benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent but maintained an accommodative stance, implying more rate cuts in the future if the need arises to support the economy hit by the COVID-19 crisis.

The benchmark repurchase (repo) rate has been left unchanged at 4 per cent, Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing the decisions taken by the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

Mumbai, Oct 9 (PTI) The Reserve Bank expects the GDP to contract by 9.5 per cent in the current financial year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on domestic as well as global economies.

Unveiling the bi-monthly monetary policy statement, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that GDP was likely to turn positive at 0.5 per cent in the January-March quarter of the current financial year.

Washington, Oct 8 (PTI) The World Bank on Thursday said that India's GDP is expected to contract by 9.6 per cent this fiscal which is reflective of the national lockdown and the income shock experienced by households and firms due to the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the country's economic situation is much worse than ever seen before.

07 Oct 2020; MEMO: Israel has in recent days issued 63 military orders to close areas and land planted with Palestinian olive trees, covering an area of 3,000 dunams (3 square kilometres) across the occupied West Bank ahead of the olive harvest season.

The military orders bore the signature of the commander of the occupation army in the West Bank, were dated 17 September 2020, and entitled “Closing down an area – preventing entry and stay.”

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 8 (PTI): In a first in the country, the Kerala government has decided to form a Welfare Fund Board for the uplift of farmers in the state.

The state cabineton Wednesday decided to set up the board to be known as 'Kerala Karshaka Kshemanidhi Board'.

The cabinet also decided that Dr P Rajendran would be appointed as the chairman of the Kerala Farmers Welfare Fund Board.

"This is the first time in the country that such a board has been set up for the welfare and uplift of farmers," an official press release said.

LONDON, Oct 07 (APP): India’s right wing populist prime minister, Narendra Modi, has erected an oppressive, Hindu majoritarian power vertical, where inclusive, secular traditions trail-blazed by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru once proudly stood, the Guardian reported.

A latest report published by the British Newspaper, said Amnesty specializes in hard truths. It said that Narendra Modi was trying to stifle Amnesty.

Kanpur: The business related to the flower decoration has stopped in the city. The decorators large in numbers have even left it. They are either selling vegetables or eggs or running tea stalls. The main reason behind leaving the work was the borrowings taken from the moneyed. The little prospect stays because the sale of bouquets goes on.

According to an estimate, more than 500 flower traders exist in the city but as many as 100 have said goodbye to this business.

07 Oct 2020; MEMO: The coastline of the abandoned town of Maras in the Turkish Cypriot city of Gazimagusa will reopen on Thursday, the prime minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) announced Tuesday, reports Anadolu Agency.

The coastline of Maras will be open for public use as of Thursday morning, Ersin Tatar said in a joint news conference with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital Ankara.

07 Oct 2020; MEMO: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis yesterday said his country welcomes Turkey’s moves to de-escalate tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, adding that Ankara needs to show a stronger commitment to improving mutual relations.