KUALA LUMPUR / WAM The 4.2 per cent annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth recorded for the first quarter (1Q16) as announced by Bank Negara Malaysia exceeded the forecast of economists. It came in higher than the consensus estimate of 4.0 per cent, said Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Dr Mohammed Afzanizam Abdul Rashid. He commented that the …

  Kolkata / Bloomberg UCO Bank, an Indian state-owned lender with 629 deliberate defaulters, reported the highest bad loan ratio among banks in the South Asian nation. Shares fell the most in three months. Provisions for soured debt at the Kolkata-based company more than doubled to about 23 billion rupees ($344 million) in the three months through March from a …

  Beirut / AFP Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah on Saturday blamed extremists for killing its top military commander in Syria and vowed to keep fighting to defend President Bashar Al Assad’s regime. The movement has deployed thousands of fighters in Syria where Mustafa Badreddine had led its intervention in support of Assad’s forces, which are also backed by Russia and …