Country Financial News

SYDNEY—For decades, health authorities have been warning about the dangers of smoking. In many countries, cigarette packaging carries graphic images of black lungs and emaciated cancer patients.

WASHINGTON—Four months after President Biden switched strategies to stem illegal crossings at the southern border, the new plan isn’t working. Border crossings from Mexico into the U.S. are on the rise again after an unexpected drop in May and June, when the administration ended its use of the pandemic-era measure known as Title 42 and replaced it with a new set of policies it said would work as a better deterrent.

TikTok has been fined €345 million ($370 million) for breaching privacy laws regarding the processing of children's personal data in the European Union, its lead regulator in the bloc said on Friday. The Chinese-owned short-video platform, which has grown rapidly among teenagers around the world in recent years, breached a number of EU privacy laws between July 31, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2020, Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said in a statement.

Union Power Minister R K Singh on Friday said that India may add 25 GW to 30 GW thermal electricity generation capacity in addition to 50 GW already under works to meet the rising demand.

Air India has introduced an integrated self-baggage drop and self-kiosk check-in service at Terminal 3 Delhi airport for domestic and international flights, becoming the first Indian carrier to do so. The service is currently available for all Australia-bound flights as well as all for all flights within India. Rajesh Dogra, Chief Customer Experience & Ground Handling Officer, Air India, said, “This facility eliminates the queue waiting time for check-in over the counters and helps travellers to nearly breeze through the airport.

foreign exchange reserves decreased by $4.992 billion to $ 593.904 billion for the week ending September 8, the latest data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Friday. Previously, forex reserves were up by $4.039 billion to $598.897 billion for the week ended on September 1. According to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the RBI, Foreign currency assets (FCAs) dropped by $4.27 billion to $526.43 billion. Expressed in dollar terms, the FCAs include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. Gold reserves dipped by $554 million to $44.38 billion, while SDRs were also down by $134 million to $18.06 billion. Reserve position in the IMF decreased by $39 million to $5.03 billion. It can be noted that in October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of USD 645 billion.

cybercrime hotspot, Jamtara, was reportedly pocketing between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh daily through credit card frauds. As per a TOI report, the disclosure of their daily earnings emerged during the initial interrogation of three individuals apprehended by police. The law enforcement authorities revealed that the arrest of cyber criminals Sanjay Mandal, Vikas alias Vicky Vinod Shukla, and Momu Zamil alias Mujju Ayub Malek led to the resolution of three cybercrime cases registered in Gujarat, Punjab, and Telangana.

BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday asserted Sanatan Dharma is the foundation of India and those talking about its eradication will be themselves «destroyed» by the «140 crore people of the country». He questioned the «silence» of Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties over critical statements made on Sanatan Dharma by leaders of one of its key constituents, the DMK, and claimed the opposition bloc is riddled with internal contradictions. Scindia, talking to reporters at the Indore airport, said the INDIA front has parties ranging from north to south and they speak in different voices. «There is a party in north which thinks the move to make Kashmir an integral part of India was wrong.

According to the report, Pakistan's finance ministry has cited the exhaustion of the country's foreign exchange reserves as the reason for being unable to release salaries, extending the financial strain into September. This situation poses a significant challenge to officials working in costly cities like Washington, DC, and Hong Kong, as well as Singapore, as they face the prospect of going without salaries for yet another month. Top officials have confirmed, «The press attaches working in Washington, DC, and Hong Kong, as well as the press counsellor deputed in Singapore, continue to live without salary since June.» This is not the first time that Pakistan, facing financial constraints, has encountered difficulties in disbursing salaries.

Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) is planning to soon introduce rules to monitor quality of housing projects with a view to safeguard interests of homebuyers. The new mechanism is expected to help resolve disputes between developers and homebuyers arising due to quality issues. «In Maharashtra, 1.6 crore citizens are waiting for homes and about 14 lakh homes are under construction. Hence the government recognises the importance of the real estate sector and good housing.

Italy plans to ask Apple to issue a software update for iPhone 12 users in the country, according to a government source, after the US company offered to make similar changes in France to end a row with regulators there over breaches of radiation exposure limits.

By Horacio Soria and Juan Bustamante

By Uditha Jayasinghe

As the U.S. and Russia vie for greater influence in Africa, Moscow is seeking access for its warships to a Mediterranean port in Libya that could expand its naval footprint in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s backyard. Senior Russian officials, including Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, met with Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar in recent weeks to discuss long-term docking rights in areas he controls in the war-torn country’s east, according to Libyan officials and advisers.

With 400 new electric buses flagged off by Delhi C... moreWith 400 new electric buses flagged off by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and LG VK Saxena from the IP State Depot on 5th September, Delhi is now ranked number 1 in the country in terms of deploying electric buses in the city.

WARSAW—Russia’s blockage of Ukrainian food exports has become a painful political issue next door in the European Union. EU authorities must decide Friday whether to extend a ban preventing Ukrainian grain from being sold in neighboring EU countries, an issue that has sparked a rift between Kyiv and Poland, one of the Ukrainian government’s strongest backers in the war. The temporary ban, aimed at keeping out cheaper exports, expires at midnight Friday.

Germany has reached an all-time high in global venture capital funding share in 2023 despite a decline in the overall performance of the blockchain market across the globe, according to a report published by Crypto Valley Venture Capital (CVVC). 

Read more of our recent coverage of the Ukraine war In early May Russia’s ambassador to Germany threw a party to honour Soviet victory in the second world war. Guests at the embassy, a Stalin-era colossus that occupies more German territory than the nearby parliament building, included a host of dignitaries. The last boss of communist East Germany, Egon Krenz, now 86, mingled under the chandeliers with Gerhard Schröder, chancellor of united Germany from 1998 to 2005 (and, more recently, a lobbyist for Russian energy firms).

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Gucci, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton, among others, have signed leases for retail spaces in a new Mumbai mall developed by Asia's richest Mukesh Ambani, as the brands and Reliance Industries look to tap lucrative prospects presented by India's robust economic growth and the swift increase in the number of millionaires. Jio World Plaza is likely to open this year, Reuters said citing an unnamed source. The new mall is situated within Reliance Industries' extensive $1 billion business and cultural complex in Mumbai's bustling business district. India is turning into a magnate for luxury brands. More than a dozen luxury consumer goods brands are entering the country ahead of the festive season, as they look to attract consumers in a market riding on the growing affluence of Indians with higher incomes, spurring greater discretionary spending even in small towns. The trend is being driven by increased exposure to global trends, younger people buying luxury products, and a post-pandemic boom, all of which are stoking interest from western luxury brands, executives said. While a K-shaped economic recovery in India is also seen to be a strong trend, according to several economists, the Asian economy has beaten almost all countries in terms of rising wealth. Remember India is home for some of the world's richest including Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani. For the first time since the global financial crisis of 2008, global household wealth in 2022, measured in US dollars, registered a collective decline both in nominal and real terms, encompassing aggregate and per-adult figures. Significantly, wealth per adult also saw its second-largest reduction since the turn of the century.

Berkeley Earth, which focuses on environmental data science and analysis, said last month was the warmest August since records began to be kept in 1850, with «particularly warm conditions» prevailing in parts of India, Japan, North Atlantic, Eastern Equatorial Pacific, Northern South America, Central America, parts of Africa and the Middle East. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a US government agency, said on Thursday that 2023 witnessed Earth's hottest August in its 174-year climate record. The sizzling month also marked the northern hemisphere's warmest meteorological summer and the southern hemisphere's warmest meteorological winter on record, the NOAA's National Centres for Environmental Information said. Berkeley Earth said August 2023 exceeded the previous record set in August 2016 by 0.31 degrees Celsius, «a surprisingly large margin, well outside the margin of uncertainty». Its researchers said: «We estimate that 13 per cent of the Earth's surface experienced its locally warmest August average, and 87 per cent of the Earth's surface was significantly warmer when compared to its local average during the period from 1951 to 1980.» In total, they estimated that 65 countries (mostly in the tropics) witnessed their warmest August on record. These countries include Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, China, Colombia, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Niger, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Turkiye, Venezuela and Yemen. Some of these countries broke their August records by extraordinary margins.