Business

Bhubaneswar, Dec 4 (PTI) Amid the onion prices soaring to Rs 120 a kg in open markets of the state, the Odisha government on Wednesday sought to provide succour to people, saying the cost of the pungent vegetable bulb is likely to decline by January first week after production of new crop.

While the onion price in open market was around Rs 90 a kilogram on Tuesday, it registered an overnight jump by Rs 30 in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

Mumbai, Dec 5 (PTI) The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday kept the key policy rate unchanged at 5.15 per cent and decided to continue with its accommodative stance to support the economy.

The central bank also revised GDP growth downwards to 5 per cent for 2019-20 from 6.1 per cent projected in its October policy.

MOSCOW, Dec 5 (NNN-TASS) – Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, agreed to develop cooperation in various spheres, primarily in the energy sector.

“All aspects of interaction between Russia and Serbia have a character of genuine strategic partnership,” Putin said, at a joint press conference with Vucic, following their talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

According to the Russian leader, bilateral trade amounted to 2.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, and it grew 9.5 percent in Jan-Sept this year.

MUSCAT, Oman, Dec 5 (NNN-ONA) – Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman and visiting Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, on Wednesday discussed bilateral relations.

The British prince is currently in Oman for a three-day visit.

“The meeting took place at the Bait Al Baraka Palace, in the Omani capital, Muscat.”

During the meeting, they reviewed the strong ties of cooperation binding Oman and Britain.

TEHRAN, Dec 5 (NNN-IRNA) – Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Hossein Baqeri and visiting Azeri Deputy Prime Minister, Shahin Mustafayev, discussed defence and security cooperation between the two countries.

The two sides vowed to do their best to deepen bilateral relations, especially in defence and security.

Baqeri said that “some of the regional and trans-regional players cannot tolerate friendly relations between Iran and Azerbaijan.”

BEIJING, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- China warned Wednesday if the United States continues to play with double standards on anti-terrorism or even try to infringe upon other countries' sovereignty and security, it will end up swallowing a bitter fruit with its own interests harmed.

"It hasn't been long since the Sept. 11 attacks. The U.S. should not forget the pain as wounds heal," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press conference.

New Delhi, Dec 4 (PTI) The FDI inflow into India has increased in the last fiscal in comparison to previous years with USD 62 billion foreign investments in 2018-19, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Goyal's response came in response to a question by Congress MP Abdul Khaleque on whether the Foreign Direct Investments into India have declined in 2018-19 as compared to the previous years.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 (NNN-BERNAMA) — For the first time,  the Asia-Pacific region has become the largest destination and source of foreign direct investment (FDI) globally,  according to a new report launched by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Titled ‘Foreign Direct Investment Trends and Outlook in Asia and the Pacific’, the study found the region is expected to maintain steady inflows and outflows of FDI in 2019 and 2020. 

PARIS, Dec 4 (NNN-Xinhua) — French commuters will face travel misery on Thursday as rail and metro workers will go on strike with which labor unions eye to show enough force to make President Emmanuel Macron reconsider his pension reform.

“Thursday will be extremely difficult. The networks will be badly disturbed. We will only succeed to operate about 10 percent of the trains,” Agnes Ogier, national rail operator SNCF’s spokesperson told a press conference on Tuesday.

“We ask our clients to cancel their trips or postpone them if they can,” she added

BEIJING, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — China has agreed to pay for a new national stadium and library in El Salvador as part of an infrastructure package promised to the country after it switched allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing.

President Xi Jinping met with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Tuesday (Dec 4) during the Central American leader’s first visit to Beijing since being sworn into office this summer.