Business

JAKARTA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's biggest airliner, PT Garuda Indonesia, has canceled orders of 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jet planes in the wake of two crashes involving similar types of planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in the last six months, President Director of the firm Ari Askhara said here Friday.

BRUSSELS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- European Union's (EU) 27 members unanimously agreed to Art. 50 extension until May 22 if Withdrawal Agreement is approved next week by Britain's House of Commons, President of the European Council Donald Tusk said on Twitter Thursday.

If the Withdrawal Agreement is not approved next week, then extension will go to April 12, said Tusk.

The EU27 also approved the Strasbourg Agreement on Thursday and will continue no-deal preparations, said Tusk.

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official Thursday called for efforts to build a batch of high-level think tanks that meet the requirements for the new era.

Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at a meeting of national high-level think tanks.

ROME, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Italy would boost the prospects of stronger bilateral cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Chinese media on Wednesday.

"The tradition of our relationship is very ancient, as our two cultures can be traced back to one or two thousand years ago," Conte said, noting that Xi will be the first Chinese president to visit Italy in a decade.

New Delhi, Mar 22 (PTI) Fitch Ratings Friday cut India's economic growth forecast for the next financial year starting April 1, to 6.8 per cent from its previous estimate of 7 per cent, on weaker than expected momentum in the economy.

"While we have cut our growth forecasts for the next fiscal year (FY20, ending in March 2020) on weaker-than-expected momentum, we still see Indian GDP growth to hold up reasonably well, at 6.8 per cent, followed by 7.1 per cent in FY21," Fitch said in its Global Economic Outlook.

21 Mar 2019; DW: The "Under" restaurant is five meters (16 feet) under water at Spangereid on Norway's southern tip.

"Under" also means "wonder" in Norwegian. It opened on Wednesday for friends and family of the owners, with the first paying guests expected in April. 

It is Europe's first and the world's largest underwater restaurant, with seating for 100 guests.

21 Mar 2019; DW: Brexit — soft or hard — is expected to cost Europeans billions of euros every year in the form of reduced incomes, a new study by Germany's Bertelsmann Foundation shows.

The impact would be particularly huge if Britain were to leave the European Union without a deal.

The losses are expected to be mainly driven by higher prices of goods and services as a result of tariffs that would kick in after Brexit. Currently, there are no tariffs in the EU single market.

TEHRAN, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday called for economic initiatives and boost of production to offset U.S. sanction pressures.

He hailed what he called the nation's "fortitude and prudence" against conspiracies.

Khamenei made the remarks, broadcast live on the state TV, on the occasion of the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, which began on Thursday.

JERUSALEM, March 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended a summit with Israeli, Greek, and Cypriot heads of states in Jerusalem on Wednesday, discussing a natural gas pipeline.

The meeting was attended by Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

"The leaders discussed regional issues and deepening the cooperation between the countries," according to a statement released by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged after concluding a two-day policy meeting, in a move that met market expectations and reflected the central bank's patient approach regarding monetary policy changes.

In support of the goals of fostering maximum employment and price stability, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent, the central bank said in a statement.