Business

New Delhi, Sep 15 (PTI) Air India posted an operating loss of around Rs 4,600 crore in the last financial year mainly due to higher oil prices and foreign exchange losses but the debt-laden carrier expects to turn operationally profitable in 2019-20, according to senior officials.

Reflecting tough business conditions, the airline's net loss stood at about Rs 8,400 crore while total revenues touched around Rs 26,400 crore in 2018-19, one of the senior officials told PTI.

Detroit, Sep 16 (AFP) The United Auto Workers union began a nationwide strike against General Motors on Monday, with some 46,000 members walking off the job after contract talks hit an impasse.

The move to strike, which the Wall Street Journal described as the first major stoppage at GM in more than a decade, came after the manufacturer's four-year contract with workers expired without an agreement on a replacement.

Local union leaders met in Detroit "and opted to strike at midnight on Sunday," the UAW said on its Twitter account.

Washington, Sep 16 (PTI) US President Donald Trump will join Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Houston's mega "Howdy, Modi!" event on September 22, the White House said on Sunday.

Reflecting on the new bonhomie in the India-US ties under the Trump administration, this is for the first time in recent history that the leaders of the two largest democracies would be addressing a joint rally anywhere in the world.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept 16 (NNN-BB NEWS) – Efforts to boost Brunei’s rice production, to achieve its national rice sufficiency targets, are gaining momentum with the use of high-yielding rice strains and the doubling of sites for commercial rice cultivation, local media reported on Sunday, quoting Brunei’s Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, Haji Ali bin Apong.

BAGHDAD, Sept 16 (NNN-NINA) – An Iraqi politician said, Iraqi Prime Minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi’s upcoming visit to China will contribute to “a quantum leap” in bilateral relations.

Raed Fahmi, secretary of the Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party, said, “The visit may open the door for signing agreements to improve the level of cooperation between China and Iraq that could have strong effects.

“Such agreements could help Iraq meet the requirements of development, especially in the development of infrastructure, including roads and bridges,” said Fahmi.

RIYADAH, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Global oil prices surged the most on record after a drone strike on a Saudi Arabian oil plant removed about 5 per cent of global supplies.

In one of the most dramatic oil market openings, Brent futures jumped almost $12 a barrel in the seconds after trading started on Monday, the biggest advance in dollar terms since they were launched in 1988.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate contracts were frozen for about two minutes after the scale of the jump delayed the market open.

BAGHDAD, Sept 15 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, signed a deal valued at 1.3 billion U.S. dollars with the consortium of the German Siemens and the Egyptian Orascom, to renovate two power plants in Iraq’s central province of Salahudin.

Located near the oil-refinery town of Baiji, some 200 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the two plants were severely damaged by the Daesh militants, who once took control of parts of Salahudin province.

TEHRAN, Sept 15 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran is in talks with the European Union, to supply natural gas to the European countries, Financial Tribune daily reported on Saturday.

Iranian natural gas will be sent to Europe through a pipeline from Turkey, Hassan Montazer-Torbati, CEO of National Iranian Gas Company, was quoted as saying.

“The infrastructure is in place and talks are underway with the EU private companies,” Montazer-Torbati said, adding that, as soon as the talks produce results, Greece will be among the first gas export destinations.

15 Sep 2019; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has announced to stop oil production temporarily, from its two oil facilities run by the Saudi Aramco, following drone attacks, Anadolu reports.

Saudi Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said on early Sunday that oil production is being temporarily halted from the two major facilities, owned by Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant.

New Delhi, Sep 15 (PTI) Singapore is looking at continuing the four year trend of having over a million visitor arrivals from India in the current year as it undertakes a number of measures to hard sell the country as a preferred destination.

India is currently the third largest source market for visitor arrivals to Singapore, a senior tourism board official said.