Business

Washington, May 12 (PTI) President Donald Trump has said he is "not interested" in reopening negotiations on the trade deal with China, days after the US warned Beijing of very significant consequences for not honouring the bilateral agreement early this year to end their bruising trade war.

Trump's remarks came in response to a question on a report in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post which said that China would like to reopen negotiations on the trade deal to make the terms more favourable to Beijing. Is this something you'd be interested in doing? he was asked.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12  (NNN-BERNAMA) — The people today were reminded of their joint responsibility in helping to break the chain of the COVID-19 infection during the current phase of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) to ensure the country is free from the pandemic.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the current CMCO phase would require more efforts from all Malaysians as self-discipline would be crucial to ensuring the success of efforts made in the past few weeks to break the chain of the virus infection.

DUBAI, May 12 (NNN-WAM) – The Ministry of Finance of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), ruled out any plans to raise the value added tax (VAT), following Saudi Arabia’s announcement of increasing the VAT, on Monday.

VAT was introduced in the UAE in 2018, at five percent on several goods and services.

Younis Haji Al Khoori, the finance ministry undersecretary, said, the ministry will reorient the financial resources, to prepare for the future and continued growth, to ensure the security and safety of the communities.

BRUSSELS, May 12 (NNN-XINHUA) – France and Spain, on Monday, cautiously joined the ranks of European nations loosening COVID-19 restrictions, while the fear of a second-wave outbreak is hanging over.

The easing came a little shy of two months after the two governments imposed nationwide lock-down, to curb the virus pandemic, which so far claimed 26,643 lives in France and 26,744 in Spain.

The relaxation also came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that the global virus caseload passed the 4-million mark.“

TEHRAN, May 12 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, on Monday sacked Reza Rahmani, the minister for Industry, Mine and Trade, Press TV reported.

Rouhani’s office did not provide any reason for removing the minister, but Rahmani had been facing criticism over his inability to contain rising prices of cars in the market, over the past week.

RIYADH, May 12 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry directed on Monday, the national oil company, Aramco, to further reduce crude oil production for June, by an additional one million barrels per day.

An official from the ministry said, the reduction will be a voluntary amount of one million barrels per day, in addition to the reduction, committed by the kingdom in the latest OPEC+ agreement.

The official said that this brings the total production cut to around 4.8 million barrels per day, from the Apr production level.

New Delhi, May 11 (PTI) The Delhi government decided on Monday to provide another financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to the construction workers in the wake of the extended coronavirus lockdown.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Construction Workers' Welfare Board, chaired by Labour Minister Gopal Rai. There are around 40,000 construction workers registered with the board.

United Nations, May 11 (PTI) International tourism could decline by 60-80 per cent in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the revenue loss of USD 910 billion to USD 1.2 trillion and placing millions of livelihoods at risk, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has said.

The global international agency said that the pandemic has caused a 22 per cent fall in international tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2020.

NEW DELHI, May 11 (NNN-PTI) – Indian Railways will start operating a few trains with effect from tomorrow (Tuesday), announced the Ministry of Railways on Sunday.

Booking for train tickets will begin online from Monday (this) evening, added the announcement.

This assumes significance as the country is witnessing lock-down till May 17, to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far taken more than 2,100 human lives with total cases nearing 63,000.

SYDNEY, May 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australians who broke the law, to protest social distancing restrictions, received harsh rebuke from medical community representatives today, accused of jeopardising an early relaxing of restrictions.

Hundreds of demonstrators hit the streets in the state of Victoria on Sunday, calling for an end to the lock-down.