September 29, 2021 By John O’Donnell and Rupam Jain FRANKFURT/MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Afghan central bank ran down most of its U.S. dollar cash reserves in the weeks before the Taliban took control of the country, according to an assessment prepared for Afghanistan’s international donors, exacerbating the current economic crisis. The confidential, two-page brief, written […]
Dollar swaps widen in sign of rising demand as Q4 nears
September 29, 2021 LONDON (Reuters) – Demand for dollars was on the rise in currency derivatives markets on Wednesday, as the last quarter of the year approached and the greenback rose to 10-month highs against its peers. Spreads on three-month euro-dollar, sterling-dollar and dollar-yen swaps were at their widest since the end of December 2020, […]
Evergrande set to miss second offshore bond coupon payment this month, sources say
September 29, 2021 By Andrew Galbraith, Anshuman Daga and Karin Strohecker HONG KONG (Reuters) – At least some of China Evergrande’s offshore bondholders had not received a due coupon payment by the close of Asia business on Wednesday, sources said, although the cash-strapped developer reached a $1.5 billion deal to settle debt with a Chinese […]
UK set to sign contracts with Tempest partners, Japan talks ongoing – BAE
September 29, 2021 By Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) – BAE Systems said Tempest, the British-led project to build a new fighter jet, would sign contracts with partners Italy and Sweden by the end of this year and talks were ongoing with Japan about joining the project. BAE’s director of Future Combat Air Systems Michael Christie […]
Factbox-Congress struggles over U.S. debt ceiling as deadline looms
September 29, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate blame each other for failing to move forward so far on a temporary suspension of the $28.4 trillion debt ceiling, in a political game of “chicken” with potentially dire economic consequences. The U.S. Treasury will exhaust its borrowing authority by Oct. 18 […]
Egypt forges new plan to restore Cairo’s historic heart
September 29, 2021 By Patrick Werr CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt is pushing ahead with a new project to restore historic Cairo, a sprawling but now rapidly crumbling thousand-year-old world heritage site home to many a tale in the Thousand and One Arabian Nights. The plan aims to revitalise and promote Cairo as a tourist attraction […]
Russia arrests top cybersecurity executive in treason case
September 29, 2021 By Tom Balmforth and Anton Zverev MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian authorities have arrested the chief executive of a leading Russian cybersecurity company on suspicion of state treason, a court said on Wednesday, sending a chill through Russia’s IT and business sectors. Ilya Sachkov, 35, who founded Group IB, one of Russia’s most prominent […]
Tunisia’s difficult decade of democracy and crisis
September 29, 2021 TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian President Kais Saied on Wednesday named a little-known professor as prime minister at a moment of grave national crisis after he seized wide powers in a move his foes called a coup. Here is a timeline of events showing Tunisia’s difficult transition to democracy after a 2011 revolution […]
Ukraine’s crypto legislation is a step in the right direction
David Kirichenko Contributor Share on Twitter David Kirichenko is an editor at Euromaidan Press and writes about cyberspace, digital currencies, economics and technology. Cryptocurrency may soon be used legally in Ukraine, once President Volodymyr Zelensky signs the legislation passed by Ukraine’s Parliament on September 8. This law will protect owners of virtual assets and exchange […]
Angry relatives of Beirut blast victims protest probe delays
September 29, 2021 By Issam Abdallah BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hundreds of relatives of victims of last year’s Beirut port explosion, some chanting and some silent, took to the streets on Wednesday angry that an investigation into the disaster had been delayed for the second time this year. Some carried miniature figures of people on death […]
WHO employees took part in Congo sex abuse during Ebola crisis, report says
September 29, 2021 By Emma Farge and Hereward Holland GENEVA (Reuters) – More than 80 aid workers including some employed by the World Health Organization (WHO) were involved in sexual abuse and exploitation during an Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an independent commission said on Tuesday. The probe was prompted by an […]
Finding fraud in a world of fast-moving deals
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture-capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. We got the crew together — Natasha and Danny and Alex — this time ’round to talk fraud, one of our favorite topics. Sure, we’ve riffed on the ups and downs at Luckin, and we’ve spent more time talking about WeWork’s implosion than […]
Tonic.ai raises $35M Series B to help engineers create synthetic data sets
When engineers are building software, they often run into issues around testing it without using actual customer data. Creating a meaningful test set can be time-consuming and challenging. Tonic.ai, a startup that helps engineers create synthetic data sets is trying to fix that, and today the company announced a $35 million Series B. Insight Partners […]
German IT security watchdog examines Xiaomi mobile phone
September 29, 2021 BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s federal cybersecurity watchdog, the BSI, is conducting a technical examination of a mobile phone manufactured by China’s Xiaomi Corp, a spokesperson for the interior ministry told Reuters on Wednesday. The spokesperson did not provide further details on what kind of examination the agency was carrying out. Lithanua’s state […]
OPEC+ seen sticking to November output plans, despite $80 oil
September 29, 2021 By Ahmad Ghaddar, Olesya Astakhova and Alex Lawler LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) -OPEC+ is likely to stick to an existing deal to add 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to its output for November when it meets next week, sources said, despite oil hitting a three-year high above $80 a barrel and pressure from consumers […]
China Evergrande to sell $1.5 billion stake in Shengjing Bank to state firm
September 29, 2021 By Donny Kwok and Anne Marie Roantree HONG KONG (Reuters) – Scrambling to avoid defaulting on its debts, cash-strapped China Evergrande Group said on Wednesday it plans to sell a 9.99 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) stake in Shengjing Bank Co Ltd to a state-owned asset management company. Shengjing Bank, one of the […]
Merkel congratulated Scholz on German election success – govt spokesperson
September 29, 2021 BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Olaf Scholz, the leader of the Social Democrats, on his election success, a government spokesperson said in a written statement on Tuesday. In the national election, the SPD came marginally ahead of her conservative bloc, leading some in her party to say they should […]
Australian Chinese language newspapers print censored news – report
September 29, 2021 By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) – Chinese language community news groups in Australia are publishing news censored by translators they use in China to avoid potential repercussions in Beijing, an Australian think tank said. A report by the Lowy Institute found that staff working in mainland China exercised self-censorship when translating news […]
Hong Kong’s government broadcaster ordered to support national security mission
September 29, 2021 By Greg Torode HONG KONG (Reuters) – Staff of Hong Kong’s embattled public broadcaster were ordered on Wednesday to support the national security and interests of the Chinese and Hong Kong governments, the broadcaster reported, a move certain to stoke fears over press freedom in the city. The only independent, publicly funded […]
Breaking with the left, Labour’s Starmer promises to win back UK voters
September 29, 2021 By Elizabeth Piper and William James BRIGHTON, England (Reuters) – British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer promised on Wednesday to win back voters lost to Prime Minister Boris Johnson by prioritising key workers and balancing the books, a break with leftist supporters who heckled him during a conference speech. After a low-key […]
