Country Financial News

Hunger reached its highest point in the United States in nearly a decade last year, with 18 million households, or 13.5%, struggling at some point to secure enough food, a Department of Agriculture report released on Wednesday said. Hunger has been on the rise in the country since 2021, after years of decline. U.S. Census Bureau data last year showed a rise in food insecurity after the end of programs that expanded food aid during the Covid-19 pandemic. The report did not provide an explanation for the increase.

British regulators have cleared Microsoft’s hiring of key staff from startup Inflection AI, saying the deal wouldn’t stifle competition in the country’s artificial intelligence market

Barney’s World," set to premiere on Max in October 2024. The series marks Barney’s return to TV after 14 years.

Another offshore wind project in New Jersey is encountering turbulence

The blood, milk and meat of cattle have long been the staple foods for Maasai pastoralists in Kenya, perhaps the country's most recognizable community

The leaders of South Korea and New Zealand have strongly condemned the deepening military ties between North Korea and Russia

Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is set to elect their new leadership at the upcoming 44th OCA General Assembly set to take place at the Bharat Mandapam, Convention Centre, in New Delhi on September 8. Acting President of the Olympic Council of Asia, Randhir Singh, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Mansukh Mandaviya, and top sports leaders from all 45 countries of Asia will be present on the occasion. The key event will officially announce the former international shooter and veteran sports administrator, Randhir Singh as the first Indian president of the OCA after he emerged as the sole candidate for the top post earlier this year.

interest equalisation scheme on pre- and post-shipment rupee export credit for one more month till September 30 to promote the country's outbound shipments. The scheme, which provides exporters interest benefits, ended on August 31. In June, it was extended for two months. In a trade notice, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said, «Trade and industry is hereby informed that the Interest Equalization Scheme for Pre and Post Shipment Rupee Export Credit, which had earlier been extended up to August 31 as a fund limited scheme, has been further extended for one month i.e., up to September 30, 2024.» It said, however, this extension is applicable only for MSME manufacturing exporters.

HSBC Mutual Fund has announced the launch of HSBC India Export Opportunities Fund, an open-ended equity scheme following the export theme. The new fund offer or NFO of this new scheme will open for subscription on September 5 and will close on September 19. HSBC India Export Opportunities Fund aims to generate long-term capital growth from an actively managed portfolio of equity and equity-related securities of companies engaged in or expected to benefit from export of goods or services. The scheme has the flexibility to invest in companies that are part of the exports theme across market capitalization – large cap, mid cap and small cap companies, according to a press release by the fund house.

Bombay High Court on Wednesday refused to direct CBFC to issue a certificate as the Madhya Pradesh High Court has already ordered the Censor Board to decide the representations made by the Jabalpur Sikh Sangat, which have objected to the film and its Trailer. Further, the Bombay High Court ordered CBFC to decide the representations made by the Jabalpur Sikh Sangat or anyone else, latest by September 18. The next hearing has been scheduled for September 19. A division bench of Justices Burgess Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla heard the plea. It went through the order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court after hearing the arguments of senior advocate Venkatesh Dhond appearing for Zee Studios and advocate Abhinav Chandrachud representing the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

ONGC, Oil India, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, and GAIL dropped up to 5% on the BSE on Wednesday as crude oil prices continued to decline, reaching their lowest close since December and erasing all gains for the year. Shares of ONGC declined to the day’s low of Rs 309.2, with a fall of 4.2% while Chennai Petroleum Corporation shares dropped 5% to a low of Rs 933.3.

India is leading in technology advancements for the first time, rather than just playing catch-up, said a top executive from American chip major Nvidia on Wednesday. «Why India now? What is it for India now? Will India really succeed? I strongly believe India will succeed. For the simple reason that, for the first time in technology advancements, we're not following; we're leading. We're not just creating; we're innovating on top of it. We are the cradle in which AI will be applied,» said Vishal Dhupar, managing director of Nvidia South Asia. He was speaking at the India Innovation Summit, the flagship national event of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), held annually in Bengaluru.

Pope Francis on Wednesday urged political leaders in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, to guard against religious extremism, which he said distorted people's religious beliefs through «deception and violence». In his first speech during an ambitious 12-day journey across Southeast Asia, where Christians are a small minority of the regional population, the pontiff said the Catholic Church would increase its efforts toward inter-religious dialogue in hopes of helping tamp down extremism. «In this way, prejudices can be eliminated, and a climate of mutual respect and trust can grow,» the 87-year-old pope said in an address to some 300 politicians and religious leaders at Jakarta's Merdeka Presidential Palace.

Taiwan and Mongolia, to China's top annual security forum in mid-September, a U.S. official told Reuters. The choice of Chase has not been previously reported. He is more senior than the U.S. officer who attended the Xiangshan Forum last year, a sign that the U.S. military is hoping for deeper working-level engagement with China amid regional disputes and increased deployments across East Asia. More than 90 countries and international organisations plan to send delegations to the Sept. 12-14 forum in Beijing, Chinese state media reported Wednesday.

NRI) who has filed an income tax return (ITR) while claiming relief for income tax and double taxation, it's important to follow additional procedures. Failure to do so could lead to rejection of your claim by the tax department. If your claim for double taxation relief is rejected, you'll be impacted in two ways. First, you'll have to pay income tax according to the laws of the foreign country where you're a resident. Second, you'll also have to pay income tax in India. To save NRIs from this trouble, the Indian government has signed a Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with more than 90 countries including USA, the UK, Korea and Taiwan.

Musk's satellite broadband firm, Starlink, on Tuesday said that it is complying with Brazil's top court order to block access to social media platform X in the country, a day after informing the country's regulator it would not obey the order. Starlink had emerged as a fresh battleground between Musk and Brazil, as top court judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the freeze of the company's accounts for possible use to pay fines owed by X, which is also owned by Musk. «Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing of our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil,» Starlink, which has more than 200,000 customers in the Latin American nation, said in a post on X.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, extending the previous day's more than 4% plunge, on expectations the political dispute that has halted Libyan exports may be resolved and concerns over lower global demand growth. Brent crude futures for November fell 28 cents, or 0.4%, to $73.47 at 0052 GMT after dropping 4.9% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for October were down 31 cents, or 0.4%, to $70.03 after dropping 4.4% on Tuesday.

grassroots campaign in support of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in key battleground states. Vice President Harris, 59, who is of mixed parentage, her mother immigrated to the US from Chennai and her father moved to the country from Jamaica, is up against Republican candidate and former president Donald Trump, 78. The "Indian Americans for Harris" campaign — launched on Tuesday — aims at ensuring that the presidential elections make history by electing Harris as the first person of Indian heritage to lead the US, according to the group's members. «This is the first time we have someone whose mother is from India. She has got Indian heritage and culture. What she has learned, I felt that we Indian Americans should support her beyond the party line,» North Carolina-based businessman Swadesh Chatterjee told PTI.

India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said on Tuesday that the disparity in taxes India imposes on electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids will “continue for a long time." The goal is to increase battery manufacturing and accelerate the electrification of transport. With India having set itself a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, the country needs to decarbonize.

Thousands of Colombians have been forced to walk to work as truckers in major cities blocked highways to protest a recent increase in the price of diesel fuel

Volkswagen is currently weighing all its options around Germany as there is a constant pressure from Chinese EV makers who have forced plants in Germany to close down, due to the increasing competition from the South Asian country. The economic environment has ended up in major crisis and as new competitors are entering the European market, things are getting much tougher for Volkswagen in order to maintain its logistics and manufacturing hub in the country, and still manage to upkeep its profits and other relevant costs.