Headlines

Hundreds of abuse victims linked to a long-running insolvency case involving a Catholic archdiocese in Newfoundland and Labrador will soon be receiving more cash after a court approved the disbursement of more than $14 million raised through the sale of churches and other assets, CBC.com reported. Cheques are expected to be distributed sometime in July to nearly 360 claimants who endured abuse at the hands of Christian Brothers at the notorious Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John's, and members of the clergy and other religious orders.

A supplier of military microelectronic components in Stavropol, Russia, has not been providing Moscow with important parts for its aircraft as the Kremlin cannot pay enough, its leadership said, the Kyiv Post reported. The company, Optron-Stavropol, reportedly was being paid so little by the Ministry of Defense for its orders that it suffered losses and mounting debts so great as to suspend production earlier this year.

The European Union is considering lowering tariffs on a range of U.S. imports in a bid to clinch a speedy trade deal with President Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported. EU leaders are set to debate how much they are willing to sacrifice to win over Trump at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday evening. Other concessions under consideration include lowering nontariff barriers, buying more American products including liquefied natural gas, and offering to cooperate with the U.S. to tackle its economic concerns about China.

Japan is driving Asia's M&A rebound in 2025 with a record $232 billion worth of deals in the first half, and bankers expect the trend to sustain fuelled by multi-billion dollar take-private arrangements, outbound investments and private equity activity, Reuters reported. Management reforms to tackle chronic low valuations among Japanese firms are spurring a flurry of foreign and activist investor interest, while Japan's low interest rates - which support deals - mean the appetite for more deals remains strong, bankers say.

Japan’s chief trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said the country can’t accept the U.S.’ 25% tariffs on cars, adding that the Asian nation’s automakers produce far more cars in the U.S. than they export to America, the Japan Times reported. Japanese automakers make roughly 3.3 million cars in the U.S. a year, a number that’s far larger than the 1.37 million that they ship there, Akazawa told reporters on Thursday before he left for Washington, D.C. to hold his seventh round of trade negotiations with U.S. counterparts. The companies have invested more than $60 billion in the U.S.

Mexico's banking regulator will temporarily step in to replace the administration of two banks sanctioned by the U.S. for alleged involvement in money laundering linked to organized crime, it said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The nation's banking and securities commission said it will intervene in the operations of CIBanco and Intercam Banco to protect the banks' creditors and depositors. The move comes a day after the U.S. Treasury prohibited certain transactions with the banks, as well as brokerage firm Vector Casa de Bolsa, under new fentanyl sanctions.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global financial crime watchdog, on Thursday called on countries to take stronger action to combat illicit finance in crypto assets, warning that gaps in regulation could have global repercussions, Reuters reported. The Paris-based watchdog said that while progress has been made since 2024 in regulating virtual assets, many jurisdictions still have work to do to combat risks. As of April 2025, only 40 of 138 jurisdictions assessed were "largely compliant" with FATF's crypto standards, up from 32 a year earlier.

In the busy shopping district of the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, ATMs let shoppers swap coins for cryptocurrency, beauty salons offer cut-price deals if you pay in Bitcoin, and people use Binance accounts to buy fried chicken, Reuters reported. Bolivians are facing a rising economic crisis, with reserves of dollars near zero, inflation at 40-year highs and fuel shortages causing long lines at the pump. The country's currency has lost half its value on the black market this year, even as the official exchange rate has been held artificially steady by government intervention.

Job vacancies in Australia rebounded in the May quarter, led by openings in the construction and professional sectors, data showed on Thursday, in a sign demand for labour remained resilient despite a soft economy, Reuters reported. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed vacancies bounced 2.9% in the three months to May, partly reversing a 4.3% drop in the previous quarter ended February. Job openings were still down 2.8% from May last year at 339,400, but that was the smallest annual decline in the past two years.