NEW DELHI / AP Chaotic scenes played out across India on Saturday, with long lines growing even longer and scuffles breaking out, as millions of anxious people tried to change old currency notes that became worthless days earlier when the government demonetized high-value bills. In New Delhi, the capital, angry scuffles broke out after ATMs ran out of bills. …

  ShanghaI / AFP Chinese bank lending almost halved month-on-month in October, official data showed, as Beijing moved to rein in credit risks but with national holidays also an issue. New loans extended by banks fell to 651.3 billion yuan ($95.6 billion) last month, compared with 1.22 trillion yuan in September, said the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central …

  Frankfurt / AFP German insurance heavyweight Allianz announced a bumper third-quarter profit, turning around a slump prompted by higher payouts for natural disasters earlier in the year. The group said it increased net profit to 1.95 billion euros ($2.1 billion) between July and September, an increase of 35 percent year-on-year. Its result outdid the expectations of analysts surveyed by …