Seoul / AFP South Korea’s most powerful tycoons, including de facto Samsung chief Lee Jae-Yong, stammered and squirmed on Tuesday under a verbal assault from a parliamentary committee probing a corruption scandal that has riveted the nation. Millions watched in astonishment as the televised hearing showed the heads of the country’s eight largest conglomerates being publicly chastised over donations …

  Bloomberg Cyrus Mistry, the ousted chairman of Tata Group, accused its biggest shareholders of eroding governance at India’s largest business empire and portrayed himself as a defender of independent decision-making in a letter to investors in Tata companies. The conglomerate refuted his allegations. Mistry made his appeal on Monday before a series of extraordinary general meetings from Dec. 13 …

  Bloomberg The death knell sounding for a US-led Pacific trade pact creates a vacuum that a separate Asia deal being championed by China should quickly fill, according to the Asian Development Bank. Negotiators at the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership meeting this week in Indonesia would normally hold talks without much public scrutiny. But the latest round comes after U.S. …