Headlines

The Japanese business mood worsened in March to levels not seen since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, a government survey showed, a sign surging oil costs and supply disruptions from the Middle East war were taking a toll on the fragile economy, Reuters reported. A separate survey by a private think tank also showed corporate bankruptcy cases rose for the fourth straight year in fiscal 2025 with further increases expected from around summer as surging costs from the conflict squeeze profits.

More than 2,000 UK road haulage companies entered insolvency between 2021 and 2025, almost double the total recorded in the previous five-year period, according to parliamentary data. The figures show 2,051 insolvencies in 2021–2025, up from 1,068 in 2016–2020 in the SIC 49410 category, freight transport by road. Put another way, the UK lost road haulage firms at an average of almost eight insolvencies a week over those five years.

MIDI was forced to accept a €43 million deal to return Manoel Island after the government’s legal threats brought it to the brink of insolvency, MIDI told its shareholders in a circular issued on Monday, TimesofMalta.com reported. The starkly worded circular traces MIDI’s account of how negotiations for the return of Manoel Island progressed, detailing how it found itself holding a weak hand as a result of the government’s legal threat to scrap the entirety of the concession signed in 2000.

A committee of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has recommended the need to shift from an entity-centric, recovery-focused framework to a project-centric, completion-driven approach, along with stronger coordination between the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, the Hindustan Times reported.

MyndTec Inc., a Canadian-listed medtech firm specializing in neurostimulation-based rehabilitation devices for paralysis, has built its business around the FDA-cleared and Health Canada-licensed MyndMove system. The company’s model has relied heavily on proprietary technology and exclusive academic licenses to serve stroke and spinal cord injury patients. The company has announced it was unable to secure additional financing after its principal shareholder ceased funding, leaving it without liquidity to continue operations or meet obligations, TipRanks.com reported.

Iran told mediators it would limit the number of ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz to around a dozen a day and charge tolls under the cease-fire struck by President Trump, showing Tehran plans to tighten its grip on the world’s most important energy-shipping lane, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ships that pass will have to coordinate with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the powerful paramilitary group that has been labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union, Arab mediators said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that imports from countries supplying Iran with military weapons will face immediate 50 per cent tariffs with no exemptions, announcing the threatened duty in a social media post just hours after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with Tehran, Reuters reported.

Major global investment banks now expect China to keep official interest rates steady this year, scaling back earlier rate-cut calls, as the impact from the Middle East conflict appears ​limited, even as Beijing maintains a loose policy stance, Reuters reported. The receding rate cut expectations ‌also come as China holds up better than its regional peers amid the Iran war, while the broader economy has shown early signs of a rebound.

The impact of long-term illness suffered by people after Covid-19 infection is estimated to cost OECD countries a total of up to $135 billion (€115 billion) a year and will dog their economies for at least a decade, according to new research, the Irish Times reported. The projected hit to GDP from lower productivity, increased absences or employees quitting work altogether will dwarf extra health spending burdens stemming from the sickness, says the OECD study published on Wednesday.

Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison's Panama business said it would seek arbitration over Maersk's takeover of two strategic ports near the Panama Canal, which are at ​the center of a legal battle between Beijing and Washington, Reuters reported. Panama Ports Company (PPC) - which is already ‌seeking an arbitration ruling against Panama - said in a statement that Maersk broke a long-term contract by siding with the Panamanian government to help remove PPC from its operations at the Balboa port and replace it with a Maersk-affiliated operator.