Labor cases to be examined first by labor offices

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Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Council of Ministers emphasized on Tuesday that the strong position of the Kingdom’s economy confirms the positive results of the reform measures.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman chaired the weekly session of the Cabinet at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.

In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency following the session, Minister of Media Awwad Al-Awwad said the Cabinet decided that labor cases will be submitted first to the labor office, within the jurisdiction of the work place, before filing the litigation in labor courts.

The Cabinet lauded the success of the recently-concluded Future Investment Initiative which saw the signing of big investment agreements worth over $60 billion in diverse fields.

“This emphasizes the trust reposed in the Saudi economy and reflects its power and strength at the regional and global level,” the Cabinet said.

It noted the speech of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman at FII forum in which he affirmed that the Kingdom has taken initiatives to develop the Saudi economy.

The Cabinet stressed the Kingdom’s full cooperation with the United Nations and the international community to achieve all that is good for humanity and fulfill aspirations of all of them for security, stability and development, as well as continuing to provide its humanitarian, political and economic role with a sense of full responsibility, considering its Islamic and global status.

The Kingdom also vowed to implement the goals of Sustainable Development Plan 2030, citing the Kingdom’s Debt Waiving Initiative exempting the poor countries from a total of more than $ 6 billion of debt.

 

Source : Saudi Gazette

Fire breaks out in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward as crowds gather at Halloween mecca for celebrations

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Fire breaks out in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward as crowds gather at Halloween mecca for celebrations

A rooftop fire broke out in Tokyo’s crowded Shibuya Ward on Wednesday evening, as revelers flocked to the Halloween mecca for a massive annual street party.

Firefighters were working to extinguish the blaze, which occurred at a building near a police box on the area’s iconic Center-gai street, according to media reports and video posted to social media.

The Tokyo Fire Department said the fire, which broke out around 6 p.m., had spread from the sixth floor of a building complex to its roof, public broadcaster NHK reported.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the scene of the blaze was Udagawacho, near the famed ‘scramble crossing’ in front of JR Shibuya Station, where thousands of partygoers were gathering for the Halloween celebrations.

Police were bracing for massive crowds to mark the holiday, with a possible repeat of behavior that saw a small truck overturned and five people arrested on the weekend likely at the front of their minds.

It was unclear how, if at all, the fire would affect the raucous affair, but several hundred members of the capital’s police force were being mobilized in the Shibuya area to monitor rowdy crowds through early Thursday.

Special officers dubbed “DJ police,” who aim to marshal crowds with a spirit of goodwill, were also dispatched to the area.

Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, five people were arrested in Shibuya on suspicion of groping women or trying to take upskirt photos or videos.

Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe has urged people to be on their best behavior and to observe the law, criticizing the weekend’s incidents as “absolutely intolerable” in a statement released Monday.

 

Source :  Japan Today

Qatar Petroleum announces November fuel prices

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31 Oct 2018 – 13:10

Qatar Petroleum announces November fuel prices

The Peninsula Online

Doha: Qatar Petroleum announced on their website today that the fuel prices in November will remain the same as in October. They had increased the premium petrol price in October.

In November, the price of premium, super and diesel will remain the same as that of October.

Price of premium grade petrol will be QR2.05 per litre while that of super will be QR2.10 per litre.

Price of diesel will also remain the same at QR2.05 per litre. In the last four months there was no change in diesel price.

When the first list was announced in June 2016 the premium petrol was QR1.20 per litre, super QR1.30 per litre and diesel QR1.40 per litre.

From April 2016, the Ministry of Energy and Industry had started pegging the fuel prices to the international market.

From September 2017, it is Qatar Petroleum who is announcing the monthly price list.

Uzbekistan to pay attention to increasing incomes of the population and jobs in 2019

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Uzbekistan to pay attention to increasing incomes of the population and jobs in 2019

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on 30 October to discuss the expected results of the State budget execution in the current year, the main macroeconomic indicators and the directions of fiscal policy for 2019.

At the meeting, it was noted that following the results of the current year, the State budget revenues are expected to be 74.5 trillion soums, expenses – 78.5 trillion soums, local budgets will have 5.5 trillion soums or 6 times more funds than last year.

Budget expenditures this year rose by 60 percent or 29 trillion soums compared to 2017. Of this amount, 5.6 trillion soums were used to finance the programs “Obod Qishloq”, “Obod mahalla”, “Yoshlar – kelajagimiz” and the construction of affordable housing. To provide young entrepreneurs with preferential loans and provide employment for the population, 700 billion soums were allocated to Microcredit Bank and more than 1 trillion soums to the People’s Bank, 4.5 trillion soums were allocated to increase our country’s defense capability.

The most important thing, along with an increase in the wages of public sector employees, pensions and benefits above the inflation rate, was the increase in wages of educators, teachers, science and culture workers from 30 to 100 percent.

The liberalization of monetary and pricing policies, the streamlining of mutual settlements in agriculture and the growth of capital investments had a positive effect on the increase in budget revenues.

Until the end of the year there are two more months. Therefore, it is necessary to use all reserves and prevent a possible budget deficit, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

The meeting noted that the steady growth of budget revenues next year, the historical changes introduced in the tax system will be of great help to the population and business.

In particular, as a result of the abolition of mandatory deductions from revenue from January 1, 2019, an additional 5.2 trillion soums of income will remain at the disposal of enterprises.

A reduction in the maximum personal income tax rate from 22 to 12 percent, a single social payment rate from 25 to 15 percent, and the abolition of the 8 percent insurance premium will lead to an increase in household income by 6.5 percent.

As a result of lowering corporate property tax rates from 5 to 2 percent, income tax from 14 to 12 percent, a single tax payment for small businesses from 5 to 4 percent, 2 trillion soums of additional funds will remain at the disposal of entrepreneurs. In general, the number of taxes and obligatory payments will be reduced from 19 to 15 types.

These breaks will make budgetary revenues a little more difficult. In this regard, the meeting gave instructions to reduce the deficit and increase budget revenues, in particular the implementation of systematic work on the legalization of the number of employees and wages.

It was instructed to submit in the near future to the Oliy Majlis a thoroughly elaborated Budget Statement for 2019 and a draft of a relevant law on amending tax policy.

Instructions are also given for the introduction of a simplified mechanism for paying value-added tax, inventory and optimization of existing benefits.

When discussing the expenditure side of the budget for 2019, the President noted that expenditures should be focused mainly on the social and economic sphere.

Next year we must continue the policy of raising wages, pensions and benefits from the budget not lower than the inflation rate. At that, the main attention should be paid to social workers with relatively low wage growth rates, including raising salaries of medical workers by 26.5 percent, workers of institutions of higher education and science – 1.5 times, the head of state said.

As noted at the meeting, it is planned to increase spending on social benefits by 20 percent, and the share of wages and equivalent payments in the State budget as a whole from 49 to 54 percent.

Attention is paid to the implementation of state programs. It was noted that it is necessary to attract foreign funds for this purpose on favorable terms, to form and include in the Investment Program for 2019 a specific list of objects to be repaired under the programs “Obod Qishloq” and “Obod mahalla”.

Instructions have been given on the targeted and effective use of budgetary funds, on further strengthening control in this area.

On issues discussed at the meeting, reports of responsible officials were heard.

 

Source :  UzDaily