Business

RAMALLAH, Palestine, Feb 19 (NNN-WAFA) — Palestine declared, it will start legal actions against the U.S. company, Amazon, for its discriminatory policy, favouring Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Ministry of Economy said, it will begin legal actions against the e-commerce company, over its discrimination policy that allows free shipping to Israeli settlements, but not to Palestinian communities.

MADRID, Feb 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Spanish government approved the introduction of the so-called “Google tax” on digital companies, during its weekly meeting held on Tuesday.

The bill for a digital service tax proposes taxing the revenues of large web companies, such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, obtained through publicity from advertising and the sale of data and intermediary services, at a rate of three percent, Spain’s Minister of Finance, Maria Jesus Montero, confirmed.

Lucknow, Feb 18 (PTI) With an aim to develop Ayodhya as a tourist attraction, the Uttar Pradesh government in its budget for 2020-21 has made a special provision of Rs 500 crore for an airport in the city.

Apart from it, the state government will spend Rs 85 crore on the development of a high-class infrastructure in the pilgrim city.

CYBERJAYA, Feb 17 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysia’s upcoming economic stimulus package, which would be announced next week, would serve to mitigate the financial impact of Covid-19 and help industries rebound when the outbreak is contained.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said Malaysia is among the earliest to launch the package even though the impact of the outbreak has yet to be ascertained.

“The announcement which would be made by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad showed that the government places emphasis and priorities on the challenges posed by the outbreak.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 18 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Rio de Janeiro will receive one billion reais (232 million U.S. dollars) in revenue, from the upcoming Carnival holiday, the Rio Trade Federation (Fecomercio-RJ) estimated, on Monday.

According to Fecomercio-RJ, Rio is consolidated as a cultural and entertainment destination for the Carnival period, with the local tourism agency, Riotur estimating seven million people to attend Carnival festivities all over the city.

BEIRUT, Feb 18 (NNN-XINHUA) – Iran’s Speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, said Monday that, his country is ready to help Lebanon in all fields, amid an absence of support by the international community, local Al Manar TV channel reported.

“We discussed today (yesterday), with Lebanese officials, the potential of offering support to Lebanon’s industry, economy and agriculture,” Larijani said, during a press conference held at the Iranian embassy in Lebanon.

Larijani added that, Lebanon can benefit from Iran’s expertise in the power, medical and educational sectors.

New Delhi, Feb 17 (PTI) Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation lost over 3 per cent on Monday after the company posted halving of its December quarter net profit.

On the BSE, the stock slumped 3.15 per cent to Rs 100. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), it fell 3.19 per cent to Rs 100.

New Delhi, Feb 17 (PTI) Moody's Investors Service on Monday slashed India's growth forecast to 5.4 per cent for 2020 from 6.6 per cent projected earlier on slower than expected economic recovery.

In its update on Global Macro Outlook, Moody's said India's economy has decelerated rapidly over the last two years and expects economic recovery to begin in the current quarter.

Washington, Feb 17 (AFP/PTI) The United States' ambassador to Germany said Sunday that President Donald Trump had threatened to cut off intelligence-sharing with countries that dealt with Chinese tech firm Huawei.

Washington has been pressing allies to ban Huawei, one of the world's largest tech firms, from next-generation 5G mobile data networks, saying it is a security risk.

SINGAPORE, Feb 17 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Singapore’s economy grew by 0.7 per cent in 2019, slower  than the 3.4 per cent growth recorded in 2018, according to the republic’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).

For 2020, MTI said, it has downgraded the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast to -0.5 to 1.5 per cent, with growth expected to come in at around 0.5 per cent, the mid-point of the forecast range.