Country Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The fight against Russia in Ukraine is now firmly Europe’s war.The European Union this week signed off on the equivalent of $105 billion in loans to keep Kyiv afloat through the end of next year—but officials warned that it may not be enough.With Russia determined to continue its four-year invasion until it dominates its neighbor, and President Trump pulling back from Europe and focused on the Middle East, Ukraine finds itself reliant on the traditionally gun-shy EU in its war for survival.The confirmation of the loan ahead of a summit in Cyprus on Thursday, long blocked by recently ousted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, marked a fresh sign of resolve and unity in the bloc.“For the first time in years there are no Russians in the room,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on social media, an apparent reference to Orbán, who had warm ties with Moscow but stayed away from the EU summit after recently losing an election. “Huge relief,” Tusk added.The funding decision, which Orban cleared this week following his election defeat, comes at a critical moment for Ukraine, which needs the cash to sustain its economy and its military amid relentless Russian assaults as Moscow seeks to grab more land in its neighbor’s east.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s power sector is entering a high-growth phase, driven by rising electricity demand and an accelerating shift toward renewable energy.Air-conditioning adoption, electric mobility, data centres, infrastructure build-out, and urbanization are all pushing consumption higher. As the country balances energy security with sustainability, power companies are evolving their business models to keep pace.In this article, we examine why the sector could be turning attractive for investors.India’s peak power demand has been hitting fresh highs each year and, by government projections, is set to climb steadily over the next decade.The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects India to lead global energy demand growth through 2035.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.THE US-IRAN conflict has revealed something that many outside observers—and perhaps even some within—had underestimated: Iran’s strategic doctrine of resilience is not just rhetorical. For years, terms such as the “resistance economy”, “distributed deterrence” and “self-reliance under pressure” were often dismissed, both abroad and domestically, as political language rather than strategic reality. Yet in the face of sustained confrontation with a vastly superior military and economic power, these ideas have proved coherent in practice.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Iranian-flagged oil tanker Dorena slipped past a U.S. Navy cordon and was headed out into the Indian Ocean when it switched off its location signal and went dark.The ship, whose movements were tracked by shipping-intelligence firm Kpler, is one of hundreds of sanctions-evading ghost-fleet vessels playing a game of cat-and-mouse as the U.S. tries to lock down Iran’s oil trade and pressure the country to agree to President Trump’s terms for peace.This time, the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A jet fuel shortage is leading airlines to cut flights, and could cause a severe slowdown in travel this summer—particularly in Europe.German carrier Lufthansa said this week it is canceling 20,000 flights from now through October, immediately reducing its flight schedule by 120 trips a day. Reductions are happening all over, including at the company’s hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, and Rome.More than a dozen other airlines have also reduced capacity, including discount Norwegian airline Norse Atlantic, which cut flights from Los Angeles. American carriers are not in danger of running out of fuel, but U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk—a recent Economist article describes them as the small, powerful group of five men who will determine the path along which artificial intelligence (AI) evolves. Their fellow AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, who invented the neural network system that enables AI models to learn like humans, quit Google in 2023 to alert the world that while further development of AI could lead us to a utopian future, it could equally lead us to a dystopian one.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Japan has decided to ease restrictions on its sale of weapons to other countries, although this would be limited to the 17 with which it has defence tie-ups. As India is part of the four-nation Quad—with Japan, the US and Australia as other members—Tokyo’s move opens up a possibility worth close consideration by New Delhi. We could diversify our set of high-tech arms suppliers to include a non-hegemonic power with which we have had good relations for eight decades.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.IN THE RUN-UP to Israel’s independence day, the motorway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is always festooned with flags. But this year, between the blue-and-white Israeli pennants hangs a another kind of star-spangled banner: that of America. Israel’s government had hoped that Donald Trump, the American president, would arrive on April 22nd to celebrate the 78th anniversary of its independence.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When the war in Iran started nearly two months ago, countries in Asia—which receive more than 80% of the oil and liquefied natural gas delivered through the Strait of Hormuz—were among the most exposed to the energy shock.But now, a combination of deep reserves, aggressive energy conservation efforts and savvy diplomatic efforts have allowed the deepest-pocketed of them to weather the blow—at least for now.They rushed to locate energy outside the Middle East, including the U.S. and Russia, often paying top dollar on the spot markets.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Among several distressing data points in the recently published The State of Working India 2026, a detailed vivisection of India’s demographic bulge by scholars at Azim Premji University (APU), a few vividly stand out. While India now produces 5 million graduates every year, salaried employment is only a fraction of that at 1.7 million annually. “This has also contributed to a slowdown in graduate earnings,” the report notes.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The government’s push on entrepreneurship through the Atal Innovation Mission promised to transform Indian colleges into innovation hubs. A decade on, that ambition remains largely unrealized.Since2016, the Centre has established Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) in 60 institutions across the country under the initiative, spearheaded by think tank Niti Aayog.Of these, 38 have incubated 3,067 startups.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.South Korean tech companies Krafton Inc. and Naver Corp.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Velmurugan J., a hospitality sector executive from Kulithalai town near Karur, considers himself lucky. He decided to attend actor Joseph Vijay’s political rally in Karur on 27 September last year, urged on by his colleague who was a die-hard fan of the star.By noon, they reached Velusamypuram, the venue of the meeting on the Karur-Erode highway, and took a vantage position near a generator shed. The crowd was swelling and the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader’s arrival was delayed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The old pharma order anchored around cutting-edge advances in the West has quietly disappeared. What we have now is a bipolar industry centred on the US and China—with implications for patients and policymakers worldwide. China has closed the gap on the number of research studies being conducted and in certain cases even moved ahead of the West on developing new treatments.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is again fighting for his political life this week, thanks to a scandal that’s becoming emblematic of Britain’s national dysfunction. Mr. Starmer’s woes boil down to a crisis of incompetence.Ostensibly the scandal concerns the vetting of a high-profile appointee—the long tail of the release in the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently updated its economic data for member countries, as part of the health check it conducts on the global economy twice every year. One number buried in the latest World Economic Outlook database is worth pulling out: India’s current account deficit.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India is emerging as a key growth market for champagne as the country's appetite for premium spirits grows. And, if the duty cuts planned under the proposed trade deal with the European Union (EU) kick in, the spirit would get more affordable and usher in new growth in a hugely underpenetrated market.Senior representatives of the Comité Champagne, which represents growers and manufacturing houses in France’s Champagne region, said India’s champagne market has climbed back to pre-pandemic levels, with shipments at about 60,000 bottles in 2025, close to a peak of around 65,000 bottles recorded in 2016.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.FOR DECADES Americans have fretted that China might dump its vast holdings of Treasuries, undermining the dollar. Global investors therefore snapped to attention when Bloomberg, a news agency, reported on February 9th that China’s regulators have warned commercial banks against holding too many American government bonds. Some banks have been told to cut their exposure.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.On 17th April Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, declared that commercial passage through the Strait of Hormuz was “completely open”. Shortly afterwards Donald Trump, America’s president, echoed his words: the conduit was “completely open and ready for business”.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—The United Arab Emirates has opened talks with the U.S. about obtaining a financial backstop in case the Iran war plunges the oil-rich Persian Gulf state into a deeper crisis, U.S. officials said.U.A.E.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Nasdaq-listed travel company MakeMyTrip is weighing the benefits of listing its Indian arm via Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs) rather than a traditional initial public offering (IPO), according to two people familiar with the matter.“An IDR structure is on the table, being viewed as a method to manage tax obligations that would be triggered by the Mauritius-based parent entity—MakeMyTrip Ltd—during a secondary sale of shares in a domestic IPO,” said one of the two persons on the condition of anonymity.The development follows the company's reaffirmation of its strategic priorities on 16 March, including plans for a potential listing of its India business after the consolidation of its brands, such as RedBus India, under MakeMyTrip (India) Pvt. Ltd.The company provides flight, hotel, and bus bookings through its platforms, including Goibibo and RedBus.Experts say the move may have been driven by the 15 January Supreme Court of India ruling in the Tiger Global-Flipkart tax case, which held that a Mauritius-based holding company participating in an offer for sale (OFS) in an Indian IPO would be liable to pay capital gains tax in the country on such transactions."In practical terms, this means that reliance on Mauritius purely as a tax-efficient holding jurisdiction is significantly weakened in the context of IPO exits," said Sonam Chandwani, managing partner, Mumbai-based law firm KS Legal & Associates.The IDR route allows a foreign-listed company to remain domiciled abroad while accessing local liquidity by issuing receipts to Indian investors that are backed by shares held by a custodian, avoiding tax liabilities.“There is renewed interest in the IDR route.