Headlines

The appellate tribunal NCLAT has dismissed petitions filed by two Dhoot brothers - Rajkumar Nandlal Dhoot and Pradeep Nandlal Dhoot, challenging the initiation of personal insolvency against them over a default committed by debt-ridden Videocon Industries, the Economic Times of India reported. Personal Insolvency against the Dhoot brothers was initiated after SBI had issued a demand notice of Rs 5,353.78 crore over defaults by Videocon Industries, the principal borrower, for which they were the personal guarantors.

Insurance companies are cancelling war risk coverage for vessels in the Gulf as the widening Iran conflict disrupted shipping, leaving at least four tankers damaged, two seafarers killed and 150 ships stranded around the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported. Shipping through the strait between Iran and Oman, which carries around one-fifth of oil consumed globally as well as large quantities of gas, has ground to a near halt after vessels in the area were hit as Iran retaliated to U.S. and Israeli strikes.

Canada’s economy shrank as it closed out 2025, yet still managed to show resilience against the U.S. administration’s protectionist shift, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product declined at an annualized rate of 0.6% in the October-to-December period to 2.502 trillion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of US$1.829 trillion, Statistics Canada said Friday. The contraction was slightly steeper than the 0.2% economists expected following a recovery in the prior quarter.

Prices in the Irish economy rose by an average 2.4 per cent in the 12 months to the end of February, according to a flash estimate for inflation published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Irish Times reported. The latest estimate of price growth comes at a pivotal moment for the global economy with conflict in the Middle East causing a sudden spike in energy prices.

South Korea's exports extended their ‌growth streak to a ninth ‌month in February as strong chip sales ​continued to underpin overall shipments even as uncertainties regarding U.S. tariffs cloud the outlook, Reuters reported. Exports from Asia's fourth-largest economy, ‌a bellwether ⁠for global trade, increased 29.0% in February from a ⁠year earlier to $67.45 billion, trade data showed. Imports gained 7.5%. The preliminary trade balance stood at $15.51 billion in February.

The European Central Bank should be prepared to quickly move its key interest rate in either direction if some of the potential threats to the eurozone economy arising from a fresh increase in uncertainty come to pass, Austria’s central bank governor said, the Wall Street Journal reported. The ECB has kept rates on hold since June last year, with annual inflation having hovered close to the bank’s 2% medium-term target for much of 2025.

Brazil's government partially rolled back a controversial increase in import tariffs approved earlier this year, the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services said on Friday. The move, previously reported by Reuters, citing sources, restores a zero tariff on items that had been taxed after losing exemptions granted under the government's policy to attract data centers to the country. In February, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration raised import duties on more than 1,200 capital and technology goods.

The International Monetary Fund says it allowing Egypt to draw on about $2.3 billion from an earlier approved loan, noting that the country has made progress in restoring economic stability and reducing inflation as part of a reform program, the Associated Press reported. The IMF said in a statement Wednesday that the decision to release the funding followed reviews of the government reforms, which it credited with bringing about “a broad-based economic recovery” in the world’s most populous Arab country. It noted that the gross domestic product grew at a rate of 4.4% from 2024 to 2025.

Turkey's ruling AK Party proposed on Monday adopting a tax on cryptocurrency ‌income and a transaction levy on crypto asset ‌service providers, in a draft law submitted to parliament, Reuters reported. "Platforms must apply a ​10% withholding tax on income and gains from crypto‑asset transactions on a quarterly basis," the text of the draft said. Profits from crypto asset transactions conducted outside authorized platforms would ‌be taxed through declaration ⁠in annual statements.

In decades past, China’s ascendent middle class flocked to booming megacities to chase jobs and dreams, once abundant as the country went from rags to riches. But as the once red-hot economy cooled, expectations have soared, opportunities have dwindled and competition has grown fierce, the Associated Press reported. Most large Chinese companies, especially high-paying tech firms, requires a work schedule of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, a grueling lifestyle popularly known as the 996 culture.