-
Foreign, private firms to gain wider access to oil, gas sectors
China will fully open its oil and gas exploration and mining market to qualified foreign and private enterprises, so that the industry will become further vitalized, under a pilot guideline released on Thursday by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Domestic companies and foreign ones registered i...Read more -
Chinese, US negotiators to sign trade deal
Move has potential to promote dialogue in specific areas, reset ties, experts say China’s top trade negotiator will visit Washington next week to sign the phase one deal with his counterparts in the United States, an encouraging sign for both sides to further reduce tensions. At the invitat...Read more -
U.S. trade policy has disruptive effect on global economy: economist
A change of trade policy, particularly in the United States, has had a disruptive effect on the global economy, said Dr. Ira Kalish, chief global economist of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. “We’ve already seen a pretty substantial deceleration of economic growth globally … An...Read more -
EU should be close to aspiring countries in Western Balkans: Michel
The European Union (EU) needs to send a clear message to the Western Balkan countries and remain close to EU-aspiring countries, European Council President Charles Michel said here on Thursday. Michel is in Croatia to mark the official beginning of the country’s six-month rotating EU presid...Read more -
Brazil hits record oil output of 3 mln bpd
Brazil’s oil output reached a record of 3 million barrels per day (bpd) in November, the Brazilian government said on Monday. Last month’s oil production reached 3.09 million bpd, breaking the previous record of 2.98 million bpd set in August, according to the state-run National Agenc...Read more -
U.S. tariffs significantly dampened export growth: study
New U.S. import tariffs in 2018 and 2019 significantly damaged U.S. export growth, said a study released Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research. “More exposed products experienced 2 percentage point lower growth relative to products with no exposure,” said the study, title...Read more -
Iran fires missiles at military base housing U.S. force in Iraq
Iran fired missiles Wednesday at Iraqi military airbase which houses U.S. troops in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, an Iraqi provincial security source said. Ayn al-Asad airbase in al-Baghdadi area, some 190 km northwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, was pounded with more than 20 ballisti...Read more -
Iran takes final step to end commitments to nuke deal
Iran on Sunday announced the fifth and final step to end its commitments to the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, official IRNA news agency reported. “In the fifth step of withdrawing from its commitments, the Islamic republic drops the last key restriction under the nuclear deal, namely ‘r...Read more -
Trump threatens harsh sanctions against Iraq after parliament vote
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to impose harsh sanctions on Iraq after the war-torn country’s parliament passed a resolution urging the government to expel foreign troops. “If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charg...Read more -
raqi parliament asks gov’t to end presence of foreign forces in Iraq
The Iraqi parliament on Sunday passed a draft law requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in Iraq and prevent them from using Iraqi airspace and water. In an extraordinary session, the lawmakers voted with majority in favor of passing a law requiring the government to cance...Read more -
U.S. to deploy about 3,500 more troops to Middle East: reports
The United States will deploy some 3,500 more troops to the Middle East as early as this weekend following a U.S. strike killing a top Iranian commander, local media reported on Friday, citing U.S. officials. The additional troops from the 82nd Airborne Division will be deployed to Iraq, Kuwait a...Read more -
Brazilian analysts predict economic growth of 2.3 pct in 2020
Brazilian financial analysts elevated projections for the growth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 from 2.28 to 2.30 percent, the Central Bank announced on Monday. According to the Central Bank Focus survey of the country’s main financial institutions, the GDP expa...Read more