Headlines

Canada’s live music scene is shrinking, and with it, the stages where Canada’s next generation of artists make their debut, BNN Bloomberg reported. The latest loss is Velvet Underground, a 350-person capacity venue on Queen Street West in Toronto that announced earlier this month it will permanently close at the end of October. It joins a growing list of closures across the country, including the Dakota Tavern in Toronto, 648 Kingsway in Vancouver, Blue Dog Bar in Montreal and the Dream Cafe in St. John’s.

The Singapore High Court has prevented foreign liquidators from suing Standard Chartered and BSI Bank over transactions allegedly linked to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, ruling that Singapore’s cross-border insolvency framework cannot be applied to deals executed before the law took effect in 2018, the BusinessTimes.com.sg reported.

The Government’s latest company insolvency statistics reveal an uncomfortable truth: business failures in the U.K. are not easing, according to a commentary by Ed Rimmer, CEO of Time Finance, in GlobalData.com. In August 2025, 2,048 registered company insolvencies were recorded in England and Wales. That’s 6% higher than August 2024 and only slightly down on July 2025. Across the first eight months of this year, insolvencies have been running above 2024 levels and, more worryingly, at a similar pace to 2023 – a year that marked a 30-year high in annual insolvencies.

Appellate Tribunal NCLAT has set aside an appeal by Future Consumer Ltd (FCL) seeking to initiate insolvency against Aussee Oats Ltd, the Economic Times of India reported. A two-member NCLAT bench has upheld the orders of the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which had rejected the claims of FCL, part of the debt-ridden Future Group. FCL had claimed an amount of over Rs one crore due from Aussee Oats. It had given Rs two crore to Aussee Oats in the form of an Inter-Corporate Deposit.

Westpac is facing a lawsuit filed by the liquidators of collapsed investment companies who claim the bank ignored red flags while large sums moved through accounts linked to a scheme run by businessman Chris Marco, The Aussie Corporate reported. The case, lodged in the Supreme Court of NSW, accuses Westpac of failing to prevent investor losses and continuing to process questionable transactions after inquiries were made by financial regulators.

China's manufacturing activity shrank for a sixth month in September, an official survey showed on Tuesday, suggesting producers are waiting for further stimulus to boost domestic demand, as well as clarity on a U.S. trade deal, Reuters reported. The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to a six-month high of 49.8 in September versus 49.4 in August. It remained below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction. The prolonged slump underlines the twin pressures on China's economy: domestic demand has failed to mount a durable recovery in the years since the pandemic while U.S.

Factory output fell for a second month in August as businesses remained cautious amid a global outlook clouded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff campaign. Industrial production dropped 1.2% from the previous month, following the same pace of decline from July, the economy ministry reported Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported. The fall was led by metal products and electronic machinery, and was deeper than the median forecast of a 0.9% decline. Compared to a year earlier, output also fell more than expected. The data reflect ongoing caution among manufacturers, as the U.S.

The Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates on hold Tuesday, citing the need for continuing caution amid simmering inflation and a still-tight job market, the Wall Street Journal reported. The RBA’s policy-setting board left the official cash rate unchanged at 3.60%, as expected by most economists. The decision was unanimous, with the central bank saying that while domestic economic activity is rebounding, the outlook remains uncertain. The decline in underlying inflation has also slowed, the RBA said in a statement.

Inflation in the Irish economy jumped back to almost 3 per cent in September, the Irish Times reported. The latest flash estimate for the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) put the annualised rate of price growth at 2.7 per cent, up from 1.9 per cent the previous month. Inflation as measured by the HICP dropped back to almost zero at the end of last year on the back of falling energy prices internationally.

Australian home prices increased at the fastest pace in a year in September, driven by rate cuts and record-low listings, property consultant Cotality said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. National home prices increased 0.8% to a record median value of A$857,280 ($565,462) in September, marking the strongest monthly gain since October last year, according to figures from Cotality, formerly CoreLogic. For the quarter, prices were up 2.2%, compared with a 1.5% lift in the second quarter. The monthly gain was broad-based, led by a jump of 1.2% in Brisbane and a 1.6% surge in Perth.