The insolvency case of Guo Wengui, the exiled Chinese businessman, got off to raucous start Tuesday when a longstanding creditor called the move “astonishing” and signaled it would wage an aggressive fight in bankruptcy court, Bloomberg News reported. Guo, a former partner of Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, filed for bankruptcy last month after moving a yacht from New York waters, a shift that would keep it out of the reach of creditors, and then facing a $134 million penalty for taking that step.

To most in corporate India, a ‘connected entity’ and ‘related party’ mean the same --- arguing over the difference is quibbling over semantics. But, is it? A confidential KPMG forensic report has run into legal ambiguity over the terms while making a litany of allegations on the lending practices of two Kolkata-based Srei companies which are categorized as systemically important non-banking finance companies in the country, the Economic Times of India reported.

A fugitive Malaysian financier said he won support from allies of former U.S. President Donald Trump for a possible settlement of a probe into the looting of funds from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, a former Goldman Sachs banker testified on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Tim Leissner offered a glimpse of what he had heard from financier Jho Low about the attempted deal, on the sixth day of his testimony at the trial of Roger Ng, another former Goldman banker. Ng, 49, has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-bribery law.

Future Retail Ltd, India's second-largest retailer, suspended most of its online and offline operations as stores remained shut on Sunday, after rival Reliance bid to take over its flagship supermarkets for missed lease payments, Reuters reported. Reliance Industries Ltd will rebrand the Future stores after the company failed to make payments for them to Reliance, sources told Reuters on Saturday, closing most outlets of the popular Big Bazaar chain.

A widely-anticipated push by China’s government to boost construction in order to stabilize growth in the world’s second-largest economy has yet to materialize, a blow to hopes that Chinese stimulus would lift global growth early on this year, Bloomberg News reported. The Communist Party has made its stimulus goals clear in recent months, pledging to “front-load” pro-growth policies in 2022, pushing early sales of bonds to fund investment and easing curbs on financing for the property sector.

With Covid shutting off tourism from much of the West, Russia and Ukraine had become an increasingly important source of foreign currency for Sri Lanka. The conflict threatens to turn off that tap as key bond repayments come due, Bloomberg News reported. Almost a quarter of all tourist arrivals into Sri Lanka this year were from Russia and Ukraine -- rising to 30% if you include Poland and Belarus, official data show. Russia, which was the third-biggest buyer of Sri Lankan tea over the past two years, rose to second place in January.

The committee of creditors of Vasan Health Care Pvt. Ltd. has approved a resolution bid of around ₹550 crore by Rajasthan-based ASG Hospital Private Ltd. under the insolvency process, according to the sources, The Hindu reported. The plan would be placed before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Chennai for approval. Max Vision Eye Hospitals Private Limited, Dr. Agarwals Healthcare Limited had also bid for Vasan Health in the insolvency process. The clear break-up of ASG’s plan would be known only when it is filed for approval.

China’s top disciplinary watchdog sharply criticized more than two dozen financial regulators, state banks, insurers and bad debt managers following months of investigations, Bloomberg News reported. The financial agencies had common problems in meeting the objectives of the Communist Party’s leadership, including gaps in their work to implement the Party’s major strategy, insufficient awareness and mechanisms to prevent financial risks, and slow progress in making financial reforms, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement Thursday.

Japan’s factory output fell for a second straight month in January as supply shortages continued to hurt manufacturers, adding to concern that the economy could shrink this quarter as omicron restrictions weigh on activity and the Russian invasion of Ukraine clouds the outlook, Bloomberg News reported. Production slipped 1.3% from the previous month, with falls at automakers and iron and steel manufacturers making the biggest contributions to the drop and driving output below year-earlier levels, according to the industry ministry Monday. Economists had expected a decline of 0.7%.

Afghanistan is inching closer towards economic collapse six months after the Taliban seized power, the Red Cross said on Friday, with a paralysed banking system stymieing international efforts to get financial aid into the war-ravaged country, Reuters reported. Organisations such as the Red Cross have been forced to rely on informal money exchanges to move cash in to pay the salaries of some workers, although most of Afghanistan's estimated 500,000 state employees have now worked without pay for months. "The banking system is totally paralysed.