Business

LONDON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday urged her conservative fellow MPs to unite and back the Brexit deal she agreed with the European Union (EU) amid the current deadlock.

In a letter to the 317 Conservative MPs, May asked them to put aside "personal preferences", saying that "history will judge us all" over the handling of Brexit.

MOSCOW, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday that the upcoming new round of U.S. sanctions against Russia will be senseless like previous ones.

"I did not warn. I just said that this is senseless. Nothing else. I said that the goal of this move is unclear. If they did not understand that the sanctions are not working, I feel sorry for them," Lavrov said in an interview with the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin." that aired on state TV channel Rossiya-1, when answering a question if Russia can counter new U.S. sanctions.

PUCHONG, Selangor State, Malaysia, Feb 17 (NNN- BERNAMA) – Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has given an assurance that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government will build one million affordable homes and low-cost houses, within a period of 10 years.

He said, although the government was facing various constraints in fulfilling the pledge, it would still be implemented, to help the less affordable group, especially those in the B40 group.

MUNICH, February 17. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate in the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing at the turn of April 2019, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

"We are looking forward to the second Road and Belt Forum, where President Putin will participate," Lavrov said at the meeting with Yang Jiechi, head of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of China's Communist Party.

ISLAMABAD, 17 Feb 2019; AA: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman delayed his visit to Islamabad by a day, officials said Saturday.

He is due to arrive in the capital on Sunday for a two-day official visit accompanied by a high-level delegation including members of the royal family.

Earlier, he was expected to arrive on Saturday, but the visit was delayed without citing any reason.

EDIRNE, 16 Feb 2019; AA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that Turkey aims to reduce its dependence on foreign energy sources.

Speaking at a campaign rally for local March 31 elections in northwestern Edirne province, Erdogan said that Turkey aims to maximize domestic resource utilization in energy.

"In 2017, our electricity generation from domestic sources was 45 percent. Now, it has reached 60 percent," Erdogan said.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A biennial arms fair has opened in the United Arab Emirates as the country faces increasing scrutiny over its involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

While the war went unmentioned at the opening ceremony of the International Defense Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, it was clearly present in the theatrical show offered to spectators.

17 Feb 2019; DW: British regional airline Flybmi announced Saturday it has ceased operations and filed for administration, citing among other things uncertainty caused by Brexit.

Parent company British Midland Regional Limited said it had canceled all flights with immediate effect and its 17 airplanes would no longer connect 25 European cities.

Munich, Feb 16 (AFP) German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday labelled as "frightening" tough US trade rhetoric planning to declare European car imports a national security threat.

"If these cars... suddenly spell a threat to US national security, than that is frightening to us," she said.

"All I can say is it would be good if we could resume proper talks with one another," she said at the Munich Security Conference.

"Then we will find a solution."

New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) Taking strong economic action against Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, India Saturday raised the customs duty to 200 per cent on all goods imported from the neighbouring country, including fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products and mineral ore.

The decision would significantly hit Pakistan's exports to India, which stood at USD 488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18 as it would drastically increase the prices of its goods here.