Business

New Delhi, Sep 28 (PTI) India had a "worrisome" debt burden of over Rs 88 lakh crore at the first financial quarter of 2019 with the government apparently having no inkling to deal with the country's economic slowdown, the Congress said on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also said the debt has risen by 4 per cent compared to the last quarter.

OUAGADOUGOU, Sept 28 (NNN-GNA) — Burkina Faso’s Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire says that the country is open to more investors in its mining sector.

“We want the whole world to know that our country is a mining country and that investors are welcomed,” said the prime minister in an opening speech at the West African Week of Mining Activities.

“The mining sector is the most dynamic sector that creates employment in our country,” said Dabire.

A report in Chandigarh-based Tribune newspaper claims that the personal information of Indians such as photographs, thumbprints, retina scans and other identifying details, stored in the world’s largest biometric database, can be bought online for less than £6.

United Nations, Sep 26 : Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday boycotted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's opening statement at the meeting of the SAARC Council of Foreign Ministers, saying his country will not engage with India "until and unless" it lifts the "siege" in Kashmir.

The meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session here started in his absence.

New Delhi, Sep 27 (PTI) Swiss-based EST Group on Friday said it is planning to invest USD 250 million (around Rs 1,770 crore) in next 18 months into Indian startups that are focused on fintech applications and related business models.

The group is very bullish about India market and believes that when markets are slow they provide new opportunities, its chief executive officer and director Sindhu Bhaskar said in a statement.

Ankara, Sep 27 (AFP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Ankara would continue to purchase oil and natural gas from Iran despite US sanctions in comments published on Friday.

The United States reimposed sanctions on Iran after pulling out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, and says it aims to reduce Tehran's energy sales to zero.

Puducherry, Sep 26 (PTI) The CPI (M) on Thursday claimed that the country had entered a stage of recession with factories in large numbers being shut down and huge retrenchment of employees taking place.

Besides, farmers suicides continued and the country`s growth rate had fallen steeply and this scenario had clearly marked that the country was in a stage of recession, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged.

LONDON, Sept 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered yet another setback after MPs rejected a request to briefly suspend business for his party’s conference, highlighting the hostility he faces in parliament just weeks before Brexit.

In his seventh successive defeat in parliament, MPs voted to reject his call for three days off next week to hold his Conservative party’s annual conference.

RIYADH, Sept 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Saudi Arabia threw open its doors to foreign tourists, launching a new visa regime for 49 countries and appealing to foreign companies to invest in a sector it hopes will contribute 10 per cent of gross domestic product by 2030.

The ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, relatively closed off for decades, has in recent years relaxed strict social codes, like segregating men and women in public places and requiring women to wear all-covering black robes, or abayas.

New York, Sep 24; GANASHAKTI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a USD 150 million line of credit to the group of  Pacific island nations for undertaking solar, renewable energy and climate related projects based on their requirement.

Modi, who attended the India-Pacific Islands Developing States (PSIDS) Leaders' Meeting, also announced a total allocation of USD 12 million to the member states towards implementation of high impact developmental project in the area of their choice.