Business

19 Feb 2019; DW: The founder of Huawei on Monday claimed there were political motivations behind the arrest of his daughter, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou.

"Firstly, I object to what the US has done. This kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable," Ren Zhengfei told the BBC in his first broadcast interview since the arrest. "The US likes to sanction others, whenever there's an issue, they'll use such combative methods."

19 Feb 2019; DW: With fresh tensions boiling between US and the European Union on car imports, EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said he believed there would be no immediate tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

"Trump gave me his word that there would be no tariffs for the time being," Juncker told Stuttgarter Zeitung and Stuttgarter Nachrichten papers on Monday.

"I believe this pledge to be reliable," he added.

19 Feb 2019; DW: Germany is prepared to compromise its arms export guidelines to facilitate joint defense projects with France, according to an internal government document. France wants to continue selling weapons to Saudi Arabia.

Germany is working to loosen its arms export control rules to make it easier to continue with joint weapons projects with France, according to an internal strategy paper obtained by Der Spiegel magazine.

19 Feb 2019; DW: Japanese car giant Honda has announced it will close of its only car plant in Britain in 2021. Several carmakers have announced plans to trim UK operations, with concerns that a no-deal Brexit could disrupt supply lines.

Honda will shutter its operations in southwestern England in 2021, the Japanese carmaker announced Tuesday. The move adds to a growing number of car manufacturers scaling down operations in the UK.

ABU DHABI, February 18. /TASS/. Russia will complete the deliveries of advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to Turkey by the end of this year, CEO of Russia’s hi-tech corporation Rostec Sergei Chemezov said at the 14th IDEX-2019 international defense show on Monday.

"We have signed the contract and we will complete the deliveries by the end of this year. We will deliver all the systems this year," the chief executive said.

ABU DHABI, February 18. /TASS/. The construction of a plant in Venezuela to manufacture Kalashnikov assault rifles will be completed by the end of this year, CEO of Russia’s Rostec hi-tech corporation Sergei Chemezov said at the IDEX-2019 defense show in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

"We have fulfilled all our obligations and only the construction of the production facility for Kalashnikov assault rifles has not yet been completed. This work will be fulfilled by the end of the year," the chief executive said.

ABU-DHABI, February 18. /TASS/. Russia will supply to China a replacement for the S-400 air defense system missiles instead of those damaged during a storm in the English Channel a year ago, Rostec corporation chief Sergei Chemezov told the media at the IDEX-2019 exhibition in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

"The contract had been signed a long time ago. The shipment would’ve been carried by now, but regrettably the ship that was carrying the missiles was hit by a storm. We were forced to eliminate all those missiles to make new ones instead," Chemezov said.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. The company - operator of the Nord Stream 2 project, Nord Stream 2 AG, laid about 700 km in total for two lines of the gas pipeline (1,224 km each), Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday, according to the Ministry of Energy.

"In total, around 700 km of the gas pipeline have been laid along both lines," Novak said after a telephone conversation with Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany Peter Altmaier. Novak noted that the project is being implemented in accordance with the schedule.

CARACAS, February 18. /TASS/. Venezuela's direct losses sustained as a result of US sanctions over the last three years stand at around $38 billion, Venezuela's Vice President for Planning Ricardo Menendez told Agencia Venezolana de Noticias on Monday.

CARACAS, February 19. /TASS/. Russia will send 300 tonnes of medicines to Venezuela, the Latin American country's President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday.

"On Wednesday 300 tonnes of legitimate humanitarian aid will arrive from Russia," Maduro said.

Russia will deliver medicines to Venezuela, he added. "We paid for them," he noted.

Last week over 60 containers with 933 tonnes of medicines were delivered to Venezuela from abroad. Most cargo arrived from China and Cuba.