Business

19 June 2019; DW: German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier on Wednesday signed a cooperation agreement with Chinese Market Regulation Minister Xiao Yaqing at the start of a three day visit.

"China and the European Union are partners, but also competitors," Altmaier said. "We need a level playing field, without discrimination and disadvantages."

EU member states, including Germany, are hoping to establish better trade terms as the US pursues a costly trade war with China. 

19 June 2019; DW: The European Union on Tuesday delayed the start of formal accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia until October.

The European Commission last month recommended that accession talks should begin with the Balkan countries after they had carried out reforms.

Washington, Jun 19; PTI/GANASHAKTI: The US has communicated its "strong views" on an IMF bailout package to cash-strapped Pakistan and sought "conditionality", a top State Department official has said, amidst concerns in the Trump administration that the aid could be utilised to pay off the Chinese debts.

Pakistan last month reached an agreement with the Washington-headquartered International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a USD 6 billion bailout package aimed at shoring up its finances and strengthening a slowing economy as tries to overcome a ballooning balance-of-payments crisis.

New Delhi, Jun 19 (PTI) IT services major HCL Technologies Wednesday said it has signed a multi-year deal with Cricket Australia (CA) to deliver digital experiences to fans, players and employees.

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

HCL Tech will help the Australian cricket's governing body provide an elevated and immersive digital experience to cricket fans, players, partners, employees, and volunteers across the country and around the world, through CA's digital offerings, HCL Technologies said in a statement.

Mumbai, Jun 18 (PTI) Maharashtra government Tuesday presented an additional budget for 2019-20 with a revenue deficit of Rs 20,292.94 crore, higher than last year's deficit of Rs 14,960.04 crore.

The government has estimated revenue expenditure of Rs 3,34,933.06 crore against revenue receipts of Rs 3,14,640.12 crore, said Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who tabled the budget proposals in the Legislative Assembly.

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Xinhua) -- "We shall not allow disputes and differences to define the current China-U.S. relationship" as the two sides have far more common interests, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said here on Tuesday.

Speaking at an event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties, Cui noted that some people have asserted that as China pursues a different development path, it will surely "move America's cheese," or have gone further by clamoring for the "decoupling" of the two countries and even a "new Cold War".

MUMBAI, June 18. /TASS/: Russia and India should jointly use the dollar less and develop national currencies instead, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev said on Tuesday at the session of the Eastern Economic Forum in India.

"This is an advantage that the US enjoys. With the help of the dollar, they significantly influence world economy," Trutnev said.

"The world should be multipolar both politically and economically. We should work on this together. I am confident that there should not be only one dominant currency in the world, this is just wrong," he added.

MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/: Teheran’s steps in relation to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear deal are of a forced and sporadic nature and can be reversed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he’ll hold trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week at a summit of nations in Japan. And U.S. and Chinese negotiators will resume talks before the leaders meet.

Financial markets greeted the news with relief Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.4% higher, adding 353 points.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook is getting a taste of the regulatory pushback it will face as it creates a new digital currency with corporate partners.

Just hours after the social media giant unveiled early plans for the Libra cryptocurrency, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire insisted that only governments can issue sovereign currencies. He said Facebook must ensure that Libra won’t hurt consumers or be used for illegal activities.

“We will demand guarantees that such transactions cannot be diverted, for example for financing terrorism,” he said on Europe-1 radio.