Chinese Premier Li Qiang hosted the US Treasury in Beijing, and both agreed to cooperate despite their differences. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Premier Li Qiang sounded cautiously confident on Sunday that ties between the world's two largest economies were improving.   Yellen met Li in Beijing on her second visit to China in less than a year. She told the Chinese premier that the ability to have difficult conversations has put the two economic giants on "a more stable footing."  "While we have more to do, I believe that, over the past year, we have put our bilateral relationship on more stable footing," she said. Relations between the US and China have often been strained in recent years, with issues such as technology, trade, human rights and Beijing's aggressive stance on Taiwan all bones of contention. On Sunday. Li said China hoped for a partnership rather than an adversarial relationship between the two countries. The premier added that "constructive progress" had been made during Yellen's visit. 'Balanced growth' On Saturday, Yellen held a series of meetings in the export hub of Guangzhou. The Treasury chief held hours of discussions with her counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng. The two agreed to hold " intensive exchanges " on more balanced economic growth. Yellen stressed that she intends to use the medium to advocate for a level playing field with China to protect US workers and businesses. Talking about Yellen's Guangzhou visit, Li said on Sunday that Chinese internet users have closely followed the details of her trip since her appearance in the southern city, showing "expectation and hope for the China-US relationship to continue to improve." Excess capacity arguments contentious During her visit, Yellen emphasized the threat of China's overproduction of clean energy products, such as EVs and solar panels, to producers in the US and other countries. It was not well-received by some sections of the Chinese media. The state news agency Xinhua said that talking up "Chinese overcapacity" in the clean energy sector created a pretext for protectionist policies to shield American companies. Suppressing China's EV-related industries will not help the US grow its own, Xinhua said as it expressed hope that more headway could be made during Yellen's visit to break down barriers impeding mutually beneficial cooperation. A meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November has contributed to a warming of bilateral ties. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also expected to soon visit China again in a sign that the two sides are striving to return to more settled relations.

Amid renewed political volatility, the Fitch Ratings agency on Tuesday downgraded Pakistan's outlook from stable to negative. In a statement, the credit rating entity affirmed the Long-Term Foreign-Currency (LTFC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'B-'. "Pakistan's 'B-' rating reflects recurring external vulnerability, a narrow fiscal revenue base and low governance indicator scores compared with the 'B' median," said Fitch, adding that external funding conditions and liquidity will likely improve with the new staff-level agreement, reported Business Recorder. The move comes in view of the significant deterioration in the country's external liquidity position and financing conditions since early 2022. "Former prime minister Imran Khan has called on the government to hold early elections and has been organizing large-scale protests in cities around the country," the agency pointed out. "The new government is supported by a disparate coalition of parties with only a slim majority in parliament." It Regular elections are due in October 2023, creating the risk of policy slippage after the conclusion of the IMF program, it added.   Fitch cited a host of other factors behind its decision to downward revise the rating outlook. It added that renewed political volatility could undermine the authorities' fiscal and external adjustment, as happened in early 2022 and 2018, particularly in the current environment of slowing growth and high inflation. "We forecast slower growth of 3.5 per cent in FY23 amid fiscal and monetary tightening, high imported inflation, and a weaker external demand outlook, all of which will also hit household and business confidence," said Fitch Ratings agency. Fitch saw considerable risks to the implementation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program and to continued access of Pakistan to financing after the program’s expiry in June 2023 in a tough economic and political climate, reported Business Recorder. Citing that Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves were under pressure, it added that limited external funding and large current account deficits had drained the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)-held reserves. It argued that the SBP has used reserves to slow currency depreciation. Liquid net FX reserves at the SBP declined to about USD 10 billion or just over one month of current external payments by June 2022, down from about USD 16 billion a year earlier. The agency estimated Pakistan's current account deficit (CAD) to reach USD 17 billion (4.6 per cent of GDP) in the fiscal year ended June 2022 (FY22), driven by soaring global oil prices and a rise in non-oil imports boosted by strong private consumption. The credit ratings agency also said that the fiscal deficit widened to 7.5 per cent of GDP (nearly Rs 5 trillion) in FY22, from 6.1 per cent in FY21.   Source: ANI

The condition of Ghoraghat Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Wahida Khanam, who suffered serious injuries in an attack by miscreants on Thursday, is now stable, said a physician at the National Institute of Neurosciences & Hospital. “Her condition is stable after doctors conducted a surgery from 9:30 pm to 11 pm on Thursday. She’s undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit (ICU),” said Dr Badrul Alam, joint director of the hospital. “Doctors at the ICU have informed me she (Wahida) is stable now and today they’ll conduct some tests,” he said while talking to UNB over phone. Wahida Khanam, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Ghoraghat, was seriously injured in an attack by miscreants at her home on the Upazila Parishad premises early Thursday. Her father Omar Ali was also injured in the gruesome attack. They were taken to Rangpur Medical College and Hospital. Later, the UNO was airlifted from Rangpur to Dhaka by a Bangladesh Air Force MI-171SH helicopter. She was admitted to the National Institute of Neurosciences & Hospital, Dhaka. Source: UNB AH

Vice Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Kanak Kanti Barua said, the condition of Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader is stable at present. He has been kept in Coronary Care Unit (CCU) for observation. He delivered the information at 12 pm on Friday. The Vice Chancellor said, Prime Minister has directed Awami League leaders and activists not to gather in the hospital. Because there are other patients admitted in the unit. The Prime Minister has asked not to create problem for the others. Earlier at 11 am Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni said, he was suffering from breathlessness. He sought doa from all of you. The adjourned Awami League secretarial meeting was scheduled to begin from 10:30 am at party president’s political office at Dhanmondi. To attend the meeting Obaidul Quader reached there at 10 am. But he felt breathlessness after entering the office. Then he was taken to BSMMU hospital for treatment. AH 

Commerce Secretary Md Zafar Uddin on Monday assured that the onion market will soon become stable thanks to effective measures taken by the government. “On behalf of the government, I want to assure people that the price of onion will come down soon following the government’s effective steps,” he told reporters at the Secretariat. He said legal steps have been taken against 2,500 people for manipulating onion market. Onion prices started rising after India banned its export in late September. The item’s price rose to more than Tk 250 per kg. Secretary Zafar said onion price increased as Myanmar hiked export price. Cyclone ‘Bulbul’ also played a part. He said the government has asked businessmen to import onions from other countries. “A huge amount of onion is being brought via sea,” he said. Initiatives have been taken to import onions from Egypt, Turkey, and China via air cargo following the directives of the Prime Minister, he added. Meanwhile, cargo planes carrying the first consignment of onion from abroad will hopefully reach the country Tuesday, said Zafar. “The local variety of onion has already hit the market in different districts. The activities of state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) have been strengthened [to tackle the situation],” he said. Source: UNB AH

The condition of Shahreen Ahmed, the injured survivor of the deadly US-Bangla aircraft crash in Nepal, is stable at the moment. After performing different tests she was transferred to VIP cabin from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) at around 7:30 pm on Thursday. Coordinator of Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of DMCH Dr. Samanta Lal Sen told these. He said, Shahreen was first taken to ICU after she arrived in Dhaka from Nepal. She has a fracture in the leg. Five per cent of her body was burnt. She can be cured. She is stable at the moment. Medical board could be formed if needed for her treatment. Dr. Samanta Lal Sen said, after getting reports of the tests it could be determined whether any operation is needed or not. So far casualty has gripped her and from the current condition we can make recover of the patient. He further said, the Prime Minister gave decision for sending medical team on the same day the accident occurred. After getting green signal from Nepal the team was sent on Thursday. A flight of BG 0072 carrying Shahreen reached at the Shahjalal International Airport at 3:50 pm. She was boarded on a DMCH ambulance at 4:17 pm. At around 5 pm she was taken to the Burn Unit ICU of DMCH. AH