Business

20 Jan 2019; DW: German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the importance and significance of German-French ties in a video message posted on Saturday.

After centuries of war between the two countries, the friendship that now exists between Berlin and Paris was "anything but self-evident," she said.

Her remarks come just days before she and French President Emmanuel Macron are due to sign a new friendship treaty in the city of Aachen.

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's transport authorities are busy getting ready for the Spring Festival travel rush starting Monday, with 3 billion trips expected to be made.

From Jan. 21 to March 1, total trips are expected to rise 0.6 percent compared with the travel rush last year, with an 8.3-percent increase in railway trips and 12-percent hike in air trips.

New Delhi, Jan 20 (PTI) India is likely to surpass the United Kingdom in the world's largest economy rankings in 2019, according to a report by global consultancy firm PwC.

As per the report, while the UK and France have regularly switched places owing to similar levels of development and roughly equal populations, India's climb up the rankings is likely to be permanent.

PwC's Global Economy Watch report projects real GDP growth of 1.6 per cent for the UK, 1.7 per cent for France and 7.6 per cent for India in 2019.

Washington, Jan 20 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has launched a new plan to end a government shutdown, which has been ongoing for nearly a month, by offering protection from deportations for some undocumented immigrants in exchange for USD 5.7 billion for constructing a wall on the US-Mexico border.

The Democrats, however, rejected the deal as a "non-starter" and called on Trump to open the government before negotiations on immigration could start.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks in the U.S. and Europe jumped Friday as renewed hopes for progress in trade talks between the U.S. and China helped the markets finish the week with another strong gain.

Indexes jumped after Bloomberg News reported that China’s government offered to buy more goods and services from the U.S., potentially eliminating its trade deficit by 2024. For investors, the encouraging news on trade builds on recent positive signs for the U.S. economy and indications from the Federal Reserve that it will be patient when considering future interest rate hikes.

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said Friday he supports President Donald Trump’s push for a border wall that has led to a government shutdown and questioned why Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won’t agree to “another few miles” of barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Romney also said he plans to keep working with other senators to find interim solutions, such as legislation that would make sure essential government employees still working get paid now.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are adding hundreds of millions of dollars to improve ports of entry from Mexico and hire more immigration judges to a batch of spending bills the House will consider next week.

The move represents the party’s first steps in detailing how it would bolster border security as it battles President Donald Trump over his demand for building Southwest border wall. Trump’s refusal to sign spending bills that lack $5.7 billion to start constructing that wall has prompted the partial government shutdown that enters its 29th day Saturday.

TOKYO (AP) — Representatives from a Pacific Rim trade bloc geared up to roll out and expand the market-opening initiative as they met Saturday in Tokyo, reaffirming their commitment to open and free trade and inviting new membership.

The Pacific Rim free trade agreement, rejected by President Donald Trump after he took office in 2017, took effect at the end of last year after Australia became the sixth nation to ratify it. So far, seven of the 11 member countries have done so, and the others are expected to follow through soon.

19 Jan 2019; AFP: In a vault under the streets of Dublin a pot of gold owned by anxious investors is growing every day Britain edges closer to leaving the EU without a deal.

"They're worried about a significant devaluation in sterling if there's a hard Brexit," said Seamus Fahy.

Fahy is co-founder of Merrion Vaults, a gold brokerage and safe deposit facility in the centre of the Irish capital.

19 Jan 2019; AFP: France's "yellow vests" took to the streets on Saturday for a 10th straight weekend of anti-government protests, defying attempts by President Emmanuel Macron to channel their anger into a series of town hall debates.

A police source said the authorities expected the protests to be "at least as big as last week" when over 80,000 people demonstrated over inequality, the privileges enjoyed by senior public servants and the governing style of a president accused of arrogance.