Country Financial News

Koran alight outside parliament in Stockholm on Monday, an AFP reporter saw, at a protest similar to previous ones that have sparked tensions between Sweden and Middle Eastern countries.Salwan Momika and Salwan Najem kicked and stomped on the Muslim holy book, then set its pages on fire before slamming it shut, as they had done at a protest outside Stockholm's main mosque in late June — sparking outrage and condemnation across the Middle East. The duo also staged a similar protest outside Iraq's embassy in Stockholm on July 20, where they stomped on the religious text but did not burn it. Swedish police granted a permit for the protest by campaigners hoping to see the Koran banned in the country, according to local media.

Australians withdrew nearly $7.8 billion from bank deposits in June, the first big drawdown since May 2021 and the largest on record, as interest rate increases and high inflation started to bite into savings buffers.

The Spanish owner of CIMIC, Australia’s biggest construction group, has confirmed it wants to use its stake in Barcelona-headquartered toll road operator Abertis to expand into tolling motorways in Australia.

China’s 200-million-strong army of individual investors has turned away from the stock market. The country’s benchmark CSI 300 index lost around a fifth of its value last year, and has risen much less than major indexes in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere in 2023. That is creating a sense of despair among the office workers, civil servants and other ordinary citizens who are responsible for the bulk of trading in China’s stock market.

Lok Sabha elections. Prasad made the remark when his comments were sought on Modi's "Quit India" jibe a few days ago when the PM had accused opposition parties, which have formed the new coalition "INDIA", of corruption, nepotism and appeasement politics. "It is Modi who is planning to quit...

Reliance Jio has launched all new JioBook laptop in the country today. The laptop is equipped with a 11-inch HD screen and runs on an octa-core chipset. JioBook is claimed to be the country’s ‘first learning book’ and will be available from August 5 onwards.

New Delhi: There is a need to implement stringent food safety standards to boost consumer trust both within the country and overseas, according to Sanoj Kumar Jha, additional secretary, ministry of food processing industries on Monday. Jha highlighted the crucial role of food safety in the rapid growth of the Indian food processing sector. Addressing the ‘FICCI conference on Capability Enhancement for Safe Food Business and Accession Ceremony of All India Cadre of Safe Food Business Professionals,’ Jha emphasized the significance of India’s agriculture and processed food industries during the pandemic.

By Lizbeth Diaz and Noe Torres

Scoring the biggest gain for oil in 18 months is one thing; keeping it going is another. That’s what OPEC will attempt this week as the world’s biggest crude producers sit again to strategize how to manipulate the market their way, as top importer China continues to show signs of economic weakness.

Canada has pleaded guilty to smuggling several Indian nationals from Canada into the US for profit. Simranjit 'Shally' Singh admitted to six counts of alien smuggling and three counts of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling during an appearance in Albany, New York on Friday. At the request of the US government, Singh was taken into custody on June 28, 2022, in Ontario, Canada. He was extradited from Canada to the US on March 30 this year, the US Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of New York stated in a release. From March of 2020 through March of 2021, Singh admitted to facilitating the smuggling of several Indian nationals from Canada into the US, via Cornwall Island and the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation in the St Lawrence River region.

Lebanon’s embattled central bank governor has ended his 30-year tenure

Kosovo’s journalists have protested against the government’s decision to suspend a private television station’s operations

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. has registered a 6.4% rise in its total vehicle sales in Q2, 2023 compared to the same period last year. The country’s largest automobile manufacturer sold a total of 4,98,030 vehicles during the quarter.

IAS officers, and the elder brother of Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar have been booked on charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy by the police in Greater Noida in connection with an ED probe into an alleged liquor scam in the central state, officials said on Monday. The FIR was lodged at the Kasna police station on Sunday on a complaint from the Raipur-based deputy director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the alleged Rs 2,000-crore scam in the Chhattisgarh excise department. Those named as accused in the case are Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Anil Tuteja, Arunpati Tripathi, an Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officer and a special secretary in the excise department, IAS officer and Excise Commissioner Niranjan Das, businessman Vidhu Gupta and Anwar Dhebar, the elder brother of Raipur Mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, according to the FIR. Tripathi, the former managing director of the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL), and Anwar Dhebar were arrested by the federal agency in the case earlier. The Supreme Court asked the ED on July 18 to «stay their hand in all manner» in the alleged liquor scam-linked money-laundering probe.

India, you should ask — beaches and mountains or temples? Independent surveys have pegged the tourist footfall in Varanasi at an eight-fold increase as compared to Goa in 2022. A survey by ICICI Direct suggested that while Varanasi received 7.2 crore tourists in 2022, Goa was far behind with 85 lakh. In his Sunday's 'Mann Ki Baat', PM Modi said the tourist footfall in Varanasi has crossed 10 crore a year. Modi said that while Varanasi leads in footfall, other temple towns such as Ayodhya, Mathura and Ujjain are not far behind.

Oppenheimer, the story of a man, and all humanity, becoming “death, the destroyer of worlds.” Real life seems hell-bent on imitating art these days. The blame for the global spike in nuclear anxiety belongs mainly, but not exclusively, to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Surely the situation brought about by his invasion of Ukraine and his recurring rattles of the atomic saber must also change how the US thinks about its own atomic strategy.

Britain says it will grant hundreds of new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea in a bid for energy independence

An escalating dispute over a gas field in the Persian Gulf poses an early challenge to a Chinese-brokered agreement to reconcile regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran

West African nations have given Niger’s coup leaders one week to reinstate the country’s democratically elected president and have threatened to use if the demands aren't met

Europe's economy is growing again — but not by much

weather forecast would drastically reduce the prescience and preparedness of more than 35 countries, NATO, at least one space agency and a great many research institutions and businesses. The operation must run constantly, says Mr Dell’Acqua, who is in charge of the whole affair. “It’s really critical." Built inside a former tobacco factory, the Bologna data centre is a nerve centre of ECMWF’s operations.