FIVE Financial News

By Kaori Kaneko, Lisa Barrington and Daniel Leussink

Investing.com-- Most Asian currencies nursed steep losses on Wednesday, while the dollar steadied after a sharp overnight rebound as anticipation of more cues on the Federal Reserve saw markets question expectations for early interest rate cuts. 

IN OCTOBER CYBER-CRIMINALS hacked into the British Library, a storied institution in the heart of London, encrypted its data and demanded money in exchange for the key. Months later the library and its catalogue of 14m books remain offline, with no end in sight. Similar ransomware attacks—in which criminals encrypt or steal data and demand a ransom to decrypt or refrain from leaking it—are not only undermining business and sapping prosperity across North America and Europe.

The top commander of U.S. naval forces in the Middle East says Iranian-backed Houthi rebels are showing no signs of ending their “reckless” attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea

Insurers and health care funds sued over its marketing work with Purdue Pharma.

KYIV: Ukraine's two largest cities came under attack early Tuesday from Russian missiles that killed five people and injured as many as 130, officials said, as the war approached its two-year mark and the Kremlin stepped up its winter bombardment of urban areas. Air defenses shot down all 10 of the Russian Kinzhal missiles, which can fly at 10 times the speed of sound, out of about 100 of various types that were launched, said Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's commander-in-chief. But other missiles got through in Kyiv and in Kharkiv, the provincial capital of the northeastern region.

Wall Street started 2024 with a slump, giving back some of its powerful gains from the year before

collision of two airplanes at Tokyo's Haneda airport, weeks after the global airline industry heard fresh warnings about runway safety. All 379 people aboard a Japan Airlines Airbus A350 escaped after a collision with a De Havilland Dash-8 Coast Guard turboprop that killed five of six crew on the smaller aircraft.

₹20,000 on the S1 X+ electric scooter, its cheapest offering in the market, as it moved to grab a larger share of the e-two-wheeler market ahead of a potential public listing early this year. While there were negligible discounts on the TVS iQube and Bajaj Chetak after the festive season, Hero’s Vida V1 and Ather’s 450 range of scooters had cash discounts of just ₹6,500, according to a report by Motilal Oswal. Ola was followed in the market share pecking order by TVS Motor (16.2%) and Bajaj Auto (13.7%).

Vodafone Idea on Tuesday denied a media report of talks with Elon Musk-owned Starlink for a stake sale, sending the telecom operator's shares down by 5.65%. The shares had hit a 52-week high intraday Monday, gaining nearly 40% in two trading sessions after the report emerged on the Starlink talks. «In this regard, we would like to submit that the company is not in any such discussion with the named party,» the cash-strapped company said in a regulatory filing, adding: «We are not aware of the basis of the said news item.» Vodafone Idea said it would keep stock exchanges informed about all price-sensitive information under the listing regulations. On Tuesday, these shares rose to as high as ₹17.78 on the BSE before giving up the gains and closing at ₹16.03.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s failure to complete an ambitious climate-related agenda in 2023 is making environmental activists nervous.

By Aditya Soni and Medha Singh

Montreal police issued an Amber Alert for a missing a baby girl who authorities believe was allegedly abducted by her 18-year-old mother on Tuesday.

By Allison Lampert and Shivansh Tiwary

Jakub Stancl scored his second goal of the game with 11.7 seconds left in third period as Czechia survived a blown 2-0 lead to defeat Canada 3-2 and advance to the semifinals at the world junior hockey championship on Tuesday.

RBL Bank last week offloaded almost ₹800 crore of its credit card portfolio at a steep discount to another private sector lender, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said people with direct knowledge of the matter. Credit card repayment delays account for about one-fifth of the total gross non-performing assets (NPA) of RBL Bank, which is seeking to clean up its books after a change of guard at the private lender that lost more than 50% in its market capitalisation over the past five years. Of the RBL Bank's ₹2,441-crore gross NPA, credit card dues total ₹462 crore, as of September 30, 2023, according to the quarterly investor presentation. The ₹793-crore portfolio sold by RBL is a mix of credit card outstandings as non-performing assets and written-off card dues, said one of the persons cited above. Kotak Mahindra Bank acquired the credit card portfolio for ₹20 crore in an all-cash deal, which equates to a recovery of 2.5% for RBL Bank, the same person said. RBL Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank did not respond to ET's requests for comments until Tuesday press time. Once the portfolio is transferred to Kotak Mahindra Bank, the credit card customers will be intimated about the transfer. The acquiring bank will reach out to these customers to recover the outstanding dues. Credit card loans, 42% of RBL Bank's retail loan book, have grown rapidly in the last two years.

power generation and distribution company Torrent Power is planning to raise up to Rs 650 crore through the issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs), as per officials aware of the development. The company is considering issuing the NCDs in tranches of two years, three years, and five years, market sources said. Torrent Power is expanding operations in the green energy segment and may use the proceeds to fund the same. Axis Bank and Barclays are likely the arrangers of the issue, they added.

Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid down foundation stones of projects worth more than Rs 19,850 related to rail, road, airports, oil, gas and shipping at Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. He also reached out to the youth in the state on the first day of his two day tour of the state along with Lakshadweep. The prime minister lauded the contribution of Tamil Nadu to the Make in India program, saying the state is a front-runner.

Disney Dreamlight Valley, the weekly DreamSnaps challenge offers players a chance to showcase their creativity and win rewards. This competition, which resets every Wednesday at 1 pm UTC, has simple rules and easy steps for participation.

Idukki (Kerala), Two days after a young dairy farmer suffered a devastating loss, with as many as 13 of his 20 cows dying from suspected food poisoning, offers of new cows and financial assistance poured in from various quarters at their farm in this mountainous district of Kerala on Tuesday. State ministers J Chinchu Rani and Roshy Augustine visited 15-year-old Mathew, the distressed young farmer, at his house in Velliyamattom village this morning and offered support and assistance from the state government.

₹190.6 crore from ₹168.8 crore in the previous financial year, India Ratings said in a report in June based on the company’s provisional financials. Aizant broadly operates four segments–clinical research, formulations, internal products, and contract manufacturing operations (CMO), which includes services from drug development to manufacturing.