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French judges ordered former Prime Minister François Fillon to stand trial on charges of misusing public funds, in a case that torpedoed his 2017 bid for the presidency and cleared the way for the election of Emmanuel Macron. France’s financial crimes court charged Mr. Fillon with misappropriating public funds by employing his wife and two of his children as aides while he served in parliament, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday. They also charged Mr.
One of Europe’s leading industrialists has said the continent’s largest companies will invest more money in jobs and innovation at home as the attractions of investing in China diminish and the US turns more protectionist. Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of the European Round Table of Industrialists and head of Swedish truckmaker Volvo, vaunted the merits of European stakeholder capitalism over the American and Chinese models, saying it was more sustainable despite the heavier burden of taxation and red tape. “I actually think it works better here than it does in the east and west.
The British government is considering giving lawmakers a vote on a critical piece of Brexit legislation as early as next week, a change of tack as it tries to kick-start the country’s stuttering exit from the European Union. British lawmakers returned to the Brexit treadmill Tuesday after an Easter break, to face the familiar conundrum: finding a deal on the U.K.’s exit from the EU that can win a majority in Parliament. Prime Minister Theresa May wants the U.K.
The Australian dollar dropped on Wednesday after weaker than expected inflation in the first quarter, raising expectations of a possible rate cut by the central bank. In quarter-on-quarter terms, consumer inflation was unchanged in March after a 0.5 per cent rise in the December quarter, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That compared to a 0.2 per cent rise forecast by economists polled by Reuters. Consumer prices rose 1.3 per cent year on year in March, against February’s reading of 1.8 per cent.
A forensic audit of 200 top companies by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has detected irregularities to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore, including diversion of funds. Most of these companies have been referred to insolvency and resolution proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Irregularities detected in some top companies point to the collapse of corporate governance structures leading to liquidity stress in these entities.
Serbia's Bankruptcy Supervision Agency said it is selling assets of insolvent wheat and animal feed wholesaler Mlinostep. The auction will take place on May 24 at a starting price of 170.9 million dinars ($1.6 million/1.4 million euro), the Bankruptcy Supervision Agency said in a statement on Monday. The list of assets put up for sale includes warehouses, silos and land in Stepanovicevo, in northern Serbia. A deposit of 68 million dinars is required to participate in the auction. Mlinostep was declared bankrupt in November 2016.
The Deposit Guarantee Fund of Ukraine last week sold insolvent banks' assets worth UAH 80.26 million, the fund's press service reports. “Last week the assets of 25 banks, which are in the management of the Fund, were sold for UAH 80.26 million,” the report says. In particular, UAH 50.56 million was received from the repayment of fund creditors' claims, UAH 26.08 million from the sale of main banks' assets, and UAH 3.14 million from the sale of accounts receivable. Also, UAH 0.15 million was obtained from the direct sale of banks’ property.
South Africa’s government has had to bring forward the bailout of state power firm Eskom, after it rushed 5 billion rand ($355 million) to the struggling utility earlier this month to avert a default and said more cash could be needed soon, Reuters reported. Eskom supplies more than 90 percent of electricity in Africa’s most advanced economy but is grappling with cashflow problems and a debt mountain which it is struggling to service.