Vijay Mallya, the Indian liquor and aviation tycoon, was charged on Tuesday with conspiracy and fraud connected to a 9 billion rupee ($132 million) loan granted by a government-owned bank, a spokesman for India's Central Bureau of Investigation said, Reuters reported. The head of the Force India Formula One team and a former owner of an Indian Premier League cricket team, one-time billionaire Mallya moved to Britain last March after being pursued in courts by banks seeking to recover about $1.4 billion the Indian authorities claim is owed by his Kingfisher airline.

The central bank opted to leave its benchmark interest rate on hold on Tuesday, stunning economists who had predicted a rise of anywhere between a quarter and a full percentage point, and sending the lira plunging, albeit briefly, the Financial Times reported. The central bank did not stand still entirely, raising the overnight lending rate by 0.75 percentage points and pledging more tightening in future if “inflation expectations, pricing behaviour and other factors affecting inflation” warrant it.

Takata Corp. shares fell sharply Monday as investors rushed to sell ahead of a possible bankruptcy filing for the company, which faces a potential multibillion-dollar bill for recalls related to its faulty air bags, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company’s share price closed down 18% at 467 yen, the third consecutive day of double-digit declines and the sixth straight day of declines overall. Trading volume was thin as buyers of the stock were scarce, accelerating the declines.

The receivers of Pumpkin Patch will have all stores closed by mid-February after they couldn't entice a buyer for the failed children's wear chain, which traded through the traditionally busy holiday period, The New Zealand Herald reported. Sixty-eight stores employing 560 people will close by Jan. 31, and the remaining 56 stores across New Zealand and Australia will shut as and when stock is sold, through the middle of next month, receiver Neale Jackson of KordaMentha said in a statement. Pumpkin Patch staff at head office will lose their jobs over the coming weeks.

The monetary easing and strong property market that buoyed China’s economic growth last year are petering out, leaving policy makers with fewer tools to keep the economy humming steadily in an important political year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Pushed ahead by a torrent of credit and fiscal spending, the world’s second-largest economy clocked 6.7% growth for 2016, according to government data released Friday.

The banking woes of Italy, the euro area’s third-biggest member, pale next to those that, four years ago, plagued Cyprus, its second-smallest. Now there is cause for cautious optimism, The Economist reported. This month Bank of Cyprus, the biggest local lender, finished repaying €11.4bn ($12.2bn) of emergency liquidity assistance from the country’s central bank. It followed that by returning to the bond markets, raising €250m in a sale of unsecured notes, albeit with a stiff 9.25% coupon. Even better, on January 19th Bank of Cyprus listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Bankrupt South Korean shipping line Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd won U.S. court approval at a hearing on Wednesday for the $78 million sale of its stake in U.S. terminal operator Total Terminals International LLC, overcoming objections of container companies. "My decision is to approve the sale," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Sherwood said, adding he would approve the transfer of the sale's proceeds to South Korea.

A South Korean court on Thursday blocked a prosecutor’s attempt to arrest Jay Y. Lee, the leader of Samsung, saying there was not enough evidence that Mr. Lee had bribed President Park Geun-hye, in a scandal that led to her impeachment, the International New York Times reported. A justice on the Central District Court in Seoul, Cho Eui-yeon, rejected the prosecutor’s request to issue an arrest warrant, saying said it was “difficult to recognize the need” to incarcerate Mr. Lee. Mr.

Australia’s economy added jobs in December, although not enough to prevent the unemployment rate edging up as participation in the workforce increased, Bloomberg News reported. December’s data caps a volatile year for Australian jobs, as declining participation for much of 2016 signaled more spare capacity than improved hiring figures suggested. There is some cause for optimism as participation picked up and full-time roles climbed toward the end of the year.

With a $1 billion fine and a criminal guilty plea, Takata, the Japanese auto parts maker, took a major step on Friday toward putting the scandal over its deadly airbags behind it, the International New York Times reported. Next up: a sale of the financially hobbled company. And in a turnabout for Japan, Takata’s new owners could be from abroad — underlining a shift in the country’s once-hostile attitude toward outside buyers. American officials said on Friday that Takata had agreed to plead guilty to charges of wire fraud for providing false data and would pay a $1 billion fine.