Business

Dhaka, 25 Mar 2019; AA: Turkish appliance giant Arcelik has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Singer Bangladesh for $75 million, an official announcement said on Sunday.

Under the agreement, Ardutch BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arcelik, would acquire a 57 percent stake in Singer Bangladesh's majority shareholder Retail Holdings Bhold BV.

ESCONDIDO, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California company is voluntarily recalling whole avocados over possible listeria contamination.

Henry Avocado, a grower and distributor based near San Diego, said Saturday that the recall covers conventional and organic avocados grown and packed in California. The company says they were sold in bulk across California, Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina and New Hampshire.

There have been no reports of any illnesses associated with the avocados.

HOUSTON (AP) — An emergency dike has been repaired and a fire-damaged petrochemical tank stabilized during cleanup of leaking oil products that closed part of the Houston Ship Channel, the operator of the complex said Sunday.

Authorities are still trying to determine what caused a March 17 fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company’s Deer Park facility, which left several petrochemical tanks damaged or destroyed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s business economists foresee a sharp slowdown in U.S. economic growth over the next two years, in sharp contrast to the Trump administration’s predictions that growth will accelerate this year and next.

25 Mar 2019; AFP: Uber is set to buy its Middle Eastern rival Careem for $3.1 billion, financial news agency Bloomberg reported Sunday.

The deal, expected to be announced Tuesday, will see Uber pay $1.4 billion in cash and the rest in notes convertible to Uber shares, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

25 Mar 2019; DW: The EU's budget commissioner, Günther Oettinger, proposed on Sunday giving the bloc the right to deny Chinese-funded infrastructure deals in Europe if they don't serve the EU's common interests.

The call came a day after Italy signed on to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an ambitious infrastructure project that has raised concerns in many EU capitals.

What are Oettinger's concerns?

Oettinger told Germany's Funke Media group:

24 Mar 2019; DW: Theresa May was battling to convince lawmakers within her Conservative Party to back her Brexit withdrawal deal on Sunday amid reports that senior ministers in her Cabinet were planning to force her resignation.

May met with senior party officials and pro-Brexit lawmakers who oppose her deal at her Chequers country retreat after inviting them to discuss a way forward. Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Ian Duncan Smith were reportedly present at the meeting.

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Outside pressure in the form of sanctions has become an incentive to resolve various issues of Russia’s economy, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev stated in an interview with the Izvestiya daily.

He noted that through introducing sanctions against Russia, "the West aims to destabilize Russia’s economy and to create social and political tensions in society."

MONACO, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Prince Albert II, head of state of the Principality of Monaco, here Sunday on strengthening China-Monaco relations.

Xi was paying a state visit to Monaco, the first by a Chinese president to the European country.

Noting the affinity between the two peoples, Xi said that since China and Monaco established diplomatic relations more than 20 years ago, the two sides have always treated each other as equals with sincerity and friendship.

Worries about economic growth prospects hit global stock markets on Friday, causing sharp price drops on both sides of the Atlantic.

In bloodletting on Wall Street, US stocks suffered their worst day since early January.

The closely watched "yield curve" flashed a warning sign that a recession could be looming while monthly US, French and German manufacturing indices all fell -- rattling investors who were already uneasy after this week's surprisingly weak outlook from the Federal Reserve.