Eric Teng was preparing to welcome his restaurants’ first dine-in customers in weeks on Wednesday when the Philippine government suddenly backtracked on its decision to ease virus curbs, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s unacceptable, but we have to live by these overnight declarations,” said Teng, who runs a group of restaurants including Mango Tree and Cocina Peruvia in Manila. “That’s a live-or-die statement for us.

U.S. payments giant PayPal Holdings Inc. said it would acquire Japanese "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) firm Paidy in a $2.7 billion largely cash deal, taking another step to claim the top spot in an industry experiencing a pandemic-led boom, Reuters reported. The deal tracks rival Square Inc.'s agreement last month to buy Australian BNPL success story Afterpay Ltdfor $29 billion, which experts said was likely the beginning of a consolidation in the sector.

Philippine Airlines Inc. expects to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy before the end of the year, with a leaner fleet and fewer destinations as a recovery in travel demand isn’t likely in the next few years, President Gilbert Santa Maria said, Bloomberg News reported. Majority owned by billionaire Lucio Tan, the carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York on Sept. 3 with a lender-supported plan to help it recover after the pandemic devastated global travel.

When Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the $46 billion in revenue Aditya Birla Group, walked into Indian government offices in New Delhi last week with Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read in tow, they had only one mission: to salvage their joint venture Vodafone Idea from imminent financial collapse, Nikkei Asia reported. The meeting was called because Vodafone Idea, the mobile telecom company owned 27.6% by the Birla group and 44.3% by U.K.-listed Vodafone, will require a bailout package from the Indian government and lenders if it is to survive.

Hong Kong media group Next Digital Ltd has said that it aims to go into liquidation and its board of directors has resigned to facilitate the process, Aljazeera.com reported. Next Digital is owned by jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai and was the publisher of Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper that closed in June after its newsroom was raided by police officers investigating whether some articles breached a national security law introduced in Hong Kong by Beijing last year.

The Biden administration has no plans to release billions in Afghan gold, investments and foreign currency reserves parked in the United States that it froze after the Taliban's takeover, despite pressure from humanitarian groups and others who say the cost may be the collapse of Afghanistan's economy, Reuters reported. Much of the Afghan central bank's $10 billion in assets are parked overseas, where they are considered a key instrument for the West to pressure the Taliban to respect women's rights and the rule of law.

China's banking and insurance watchdog issued a draft guideline on Friday aiming to improve its regulation over insurance group companies to prevent financial risks as the world's no.2 economy strives to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Reuters reported. China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) is seeking public advice on the draft and the amendments it makes to a 2010 version of the rules regulating such companies.

Singapore Exchange's new rules for special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) are likely to help it attract regional funds and fast-growing firms, as it seeks to revitalise a staid market for equity listings, market participants said, Reuters reported. Some of them expect Southeast Asian startups, especially from the tech sector, to take advantage of SGX becoming the first Asian bourse to allow SPAC listings since the investment frenzy in SPACs started in the United States last year, although the interest is peaking there.

India’s Punjab National Bank on Thursday urged a tribunal to quash the rescue plan for defunct debt-laden Jet Airways, alleging irregularities in it, a move that risks delaying any return of the airline grounded two years ago, Reuters reported. A consortium of London-based Kalrock Capital and a UAE-based businessman last year agreed to pump in 10 billion rupees as working capital and give funds to creditors of Jet, which was hit hard due to piling up debt in 2019.

French dairy giant Lactalis is in talks to buy Kwality Dairy (now Kwality) in a fire sale as the company’s creditors have failed to reach a timely agreement on its debt resolution, forcing the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to send it to liquidation, the Economic Times of India reported. Talks between Lactalis and Kwality Dairy’s creditors have gathered steam over the past few weeks and could result in the former making a formal proposal for Kwality Dairy in the next 8-10 days. This could be Lactalis’s fourth acquisition in India, if the creditors agree to its proposal.