Country Financial News

A survey of factory managers in China shows manufacturing contracted in December in the latest sign the world's second-largest economy remains sluggish

A labor court in Bangladesh’s capital has sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to six months in jail for violating the country’s labor laws

The hacking of a municipal water authority in a small Pennsylvania town is prompting new warnings from U.S. security officials as states and the federal government are wrestling with how to harden water utilities against hackers

Tonto is a legendary traditional drink in Uganda

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva likes to boast he had a good first year after returning to the job

Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin says his country and China will soon implement visa-free entry for each other’s citizens

here.ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) is in talks with its Venezuelan partner to secure oil cargoes in lieu of unpaid dividends totalling $600 million, two people aware of the development said. This follows the US easing sanctions on Venezuela, where India’s overseas explorer has partnered state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA) for the San Cristobal project.Any oil flowing in from Venezuela holds significance for India, the world’s third largest oil buyer that once counted the Latin American country among its largest oil suppliers.A spokesperson for OVL confirmed in response to a query that the San Cristobal project owes dividends of around $600 million to the company.

central Japan on New Year's Day has reached 62, a local government official said, adding that more than 300 injuries have also been reported, of which 20 are severe, AFP reported. Thousands of homes were destroyed, and water, power, and cell phone service were still down in some areas due to aftershocks. Residents expressed sorrow about their uncertain futures.

In 2023, Bitcoin, the most popular crypto, rallied 155% in US dollar terms. The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index—a broader representation of crypto as an investment asset class—gave a return of around 140% during the year, telling us that crypto as an asset class did very well in 2023. Now, when it comes to retail investors investing in a particular asset class, there is always a bit of a recency effect involved, as investors tend to favour assets which have done well in the short-term.

Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned on Tuesday amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school's conduct policy. Gay is the second Ivy League president to resign in the past month following the congressional testimony — Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned on December 9. Gay, Harvard's first Black president, announced her departure just months into her tenure in a letter to the Harvard community.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), a recently enacted criminal code. The focal point of contention within this legal structure pertains to the increased penalties for hit-and-run incidents, a provision vehemently criticized by truckers who refer to it as a “kaala kanoon" or “black law." Here is a comprehensive overview of the protests and how they were terminated.

NEW DELHI : India saw a slump in its tea export earnings during April-November 2023 amid regulatory challenges in Iran, a large market, and due to the ongoing Ukraine crisis impacting exports to the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and Western European region, latest data from the commerce ministry showed. India exported tea worth $531.63 million between April and November 2023, down from $562 million in the year-ago period, according to official data from the Niryat Portal. Geopolitical disturbances, especially in Middle East and Ukraine, subdued economic conditions along with a drop in export prices have led to a decline in export earnings for the commodity, experts said.

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd and Oil India Ltd own 3.5% each, with PdVSA and Spanish energy major Repsol holding 71% and 11%, respectively.

Equity markets have gone up so quickly that they’re highly vulnerable to a pullback if the US economy slips into even a mild recession, according to Royal Bank of Canada’s fund management arm.

State Bank of India (SBI) has raised $1 billion, or double the amount originally envisaged, in an offshore syndicated loan arranged by HSBC and subscribed by lenders across continents, demonstrating the enduring appeal of local financial companies for overseas investors that expect New Delhi to be the undisputed global growth leader in a geopolitics-ravaged 2024. «The success of this transaction reflects the improvement in the bank's credit and business profile, which is the result of tremendous work put in by SBI as a team over the years,» SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara said exclusively to ET. «In addition, we have also benefited from favourable macroeconomic conditions, including a largely stable currency and domestic yields, despite the volatility in overseas markets,» he said. The deal represents the «largest sole-underwritten transaction for an Indian borrower since 2018,» a source aware of the development told ET. SBI, with the biggest branch network and a share of about a fifth in all outstanding bank credit in the country, is often seen as a proxy by analysts for loan demand and deposit options in a country that is increasingly financialising its savings.

By David Lawder

Henk hitting it. A wind warning has been issued by the Met Office that disruption to travel, damage to roofs, and probable electricity cuts in the Midlands, southern England, Wales, and East Anglia till 20:00 GMT could take place.

telecom tariffs are amongst the lowest in the world as a percentage of per capita gross national income (GNIpc), and the country's telcos have enough headroom to raise prices by at least 1.5x over the next 4-5 years, industry executives and analysts said. GNIpc is the dollar-value of a country's final income in a year divided by its population.

Omron Healthcare, the world's largest maker of home blood pressure monitoring (BPM) devices, is betting big on India where the number of people suffering from hypertension is on rise as the population ages and lifestyles change. In an interview to ET, Tetsuya Yamada, managing director of Omron Healthcare India, said the device maker plans to expand its footprint in India and go beyond metro cities, roll out new products, strengthen online distribution, and partner local pharmaceutical companies and startups to raise awareness. «India has just 2% penetration of home BPM; when compared to BRICS it is very low.

Mint that the civil aviation ministry is working on a national aviation hub policy to encourage Indian airlines in international expansion. The policy may also introduce differential charges for Indian and foreign airlines at airports in the country. “I think it is time with around 15.5 crore domestic and 6 crore international passengers that we look at creating a hub in India; earlier, we didn’t have the numbers.

The International Economic Association (IEA) recently concluded its 20th World Congress in Medellín, Colombia. This triennial event brings together scholars from all over the world to share and discuss the latest developments in economic thinking. This year’s edition underscored the urgency of re-evaluating some of the field’s core assumptions.