Business

3 May 2019; DW: Scandinavian airline SAS announced late on Thursday that management had reached a deal with pilot unions to end a weeklong strike that forced some 4,000 flights to be canceled and stranded over 380,000 passengers.

"I can with relief inform our customers and our staff that we now can put this conflict behind us. We have tonight signed a new collective agreement with our four pilot unions," said CEO Rickard Gustafson.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 2 (Xinhua): U.S. experts in law and international business on Thursday expressed positive views on China's pledge to lower tariffs and import more goods and services from other parts of the world.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's statement about China's plan to have more imports "is, of course, welcome," and its willingness to provide a "level-playing field" is an important factor in bilateral trade, said Mei Gechlik, a law professor at Stanford University, on Thursday.

TASHKENT, May 3. /TASS/: The appointment of Russia’s new ambassador to Belarus does not indicate any crisis in relations between the two countries, which continue to be partners and allies, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told reporters on Friday.

"I am dead against interpreting all that as a kind of crisis. That’s an ordinary move. Various incidents occur in diplomatic practice," he said.

"Relations between Belarus and Russia have a strategic partnership nature, these are allied [relations]," Karasin stressed.

MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/: The exact date of the visit by Foreign Minister in Libya’s Government of National Accord Mohamed Taher Siala to Moscow depends on the situation around Tripoli and has not been set yet, a diplomatic source informed TASS on Friday.

"We are waiting for him, but the exact date depends on him and on the situation in the country," the source said.

Russian Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov earlier said that Siala could visit Moscow soon.

Ahmedabad, May 2 (PTI) Food and beverages giant PepsiCo India said Thursday it will withdraw the cases it has filed against potato farmers in Gujarat for allegedly growing a variety of the tuber for which the company claims Plant Variety Protection (PVP) rights.

PepsiCo in April sued a few farmers for cultivating a potato variety grown exclusively for its popular Lay's potato chips, leading to an outcry and protests.

MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/: Austria’s OMV oil and gas company has earmarked 44 mln euro to finance the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the first quarter of 2019, the company said.

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhua): U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that Stephen Moore, who was picked by him to serve on the Federal Reserve Board, has decided to withdraw from consideration.

The president's announcement came after weeks of tussling with opponents over Moore's past comments about women, his personal financial issues, as well as his similar view with the president on Fed policy.

"Steve Moore, a great pro-growth economist and a truly fine person, has decided to withdraw from the Fed process," Trump tweeted.

PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) — The Trump administration moved Thursday to give oil and gas companies more flexibility in meeting safety requirements imposed after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed nearly a dozen people and was the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history.

The revised rules, which govern safety standards at offshore wells, come as the administration pushes to expand drilling off the U.S. coast, although court challenges and opposition from many coastal states have slowed its efforts.

TEHRAN, May 2 (Xinhua): Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday that Iran will never bow to the U.S. anti-Iran pressures, Press TV reported.

"We will find a way (to deal with the U.S. pressures). We have done that for 40 years, and will do that now too," Zarif said in Qatari capital Doha on Thursday.

Zarif, who attended the 16th ministerial meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue in Doha, warned about the "existential threat" that the U.S. unilateralism poses to the international community.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: The deal of German company BASF and LetterOne owned by Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman on the merger of their oil and gas assets, Wintershall and Dea, was closed on May 1, the companies said in a statement.

The merger was endorsed by all relevant authorities and shareholders, Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer of the new company Mario Mehren said.