Business

10 Feb 2019; DW: Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi took up his chairmanship of the 55-member African Union (AU) at its 32nd ordinary session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Sunday.  

During his tenure, el-Sissi is expected to concentrate on security and financial reform, but with no great plans to strengthen the AU's multilateral powers.

Instead, the focus is expected to be on combating illegal immigration while Egypt presents itself as a model for hosting refugees.

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) State-owned State Bank of India (SBI) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) have put on sale various financial accounts to recover dues of around Rs 5,740 crore.

The country's largest lender SBI has invited bids from asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) and financial institutions (FIs) to recover an outstanding of Rs 4,975 crore.

The bulk of accounts up for sale by SBI are of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have dues amounting to Rs 4,667 crore.

Islamabad, Feb 10 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will meet IMF chief Christine Lagarde in Dubai on Sunday to discuss the conditions of the bailout package for his cash-strapped country.

Khan is paying a day-long trip to the UAE to take part in the 7th edition of the World Government Summit on the invitation of Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

BRUSSELS, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Mission of China to the European Union (EU) on Saturday denied groundless allegations about Chinese espionage in Brussels.

Responding to reports by Germany media that a large number of Chinese spies are active in Brussels, a spokesperson of the Chinese mission said the Chinese side is "deeply shocked by such unfounded reports."

"China always respects the sovereignty of all countries, and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries," the spokesperson said in a statement.

BEIJING, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will hold a new round of high-level China-U.S. economic and trade consultation with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Beijing from Feb. 14 to 15.

Building on the recent consultation in Washington, the two sides will have further discussion on issues of common concern.

The U.S. delegation will arrive in Beijing on Feb. 11.

KANPUR: One can easily come to know of the cold impact of the tanneries’ closure over the labourers during the Ardh Kumbh fair. First, they have been rendered jobless and secondly, they are failing to find petty jobs even for their livelihood.

 As a result, one poor couple had to sell their newly born child to a well-to-do childless family living in the city areas. The poor labourer’s wife took this strong decision with the heavy heart and gulped down all the mother’s emotions.

Washington, Feb 8; PTI: The US has discussed a potential missile defence collaboration with India, a top Pentagon official has said, underlining that America wants to build a "much deeper and broader relationship" with the country.

Under Secretary of Defence for Policy John Rood, however, said that it is early to determine how far India, which already has substantial domestic missile defence capabilities, will go regarding the defence collaboration.

Dubai, Feb 9 (AFP) Public debt has rapidly increased in many Arab countries since the 2008 global financial crisis, due to persistently high budget deficits, the International Monetary Fund warned Saturday.

"Unfortunately, the region has yet to fully recover from the global financial crisis and other big economic dislocations over the past decade," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.

"Among oil importers, (economic) growth has picked up, but it is still below pre-crisis levels," she told the Arab Fiscal Forum in Dubai.

09 Feb 2019; DW: Overcoming differences between Paris and Berlin, EU diplomats reached a deal on the pipeline, placing stricter regulations on the project. France said it wanted to "ensure European control" of its own energy needs.

France and Germany have reached a compromise that will allow Berlin to remain the lead negotiator with Russia on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, European leaders confirmed on Friday.

09 Feb 2019; DW: "We're no one's beggars," Maduro said as supplies were being stockpiled along the Colombian border. He has rejected calls from Europe and the Americas for fresh elections.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday that he would not allow "fake" humanitarian aid to enter the country. Convoys of food and medicine supplied by the US at the request of self-declared opposition president Juan Guaido have been brought to the Venezuelan-Colombian border.