Seoul / AFP Tens of thousands of North Koreans, brandishing red flags and chanting slogans, paraded in Pyongyang to celebrate the start of the Stalinist regime’s latest five-year economic plan, state media reported on Thursday. The “mass mobilization” took place on Wednesday in the sprawling Kim Il Sung square in the North Korean capital. It marked the beginning of a ...

  Vienna / AFP Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine said on Thursday it had pulled off a slight increase in full-year profits despite a “negative” international economic climate that has hampered steel and oil prices. Investors cheered the results which beat analysts’ forecasts. Shares in Voestalpine, which specialises in steel used in the rail, automobile, aviation, home appliances and oil and gas ...

  Tokyo / AFP Japan has temporarily suspended live cattle imports from Australia after “some” cows were found to have a gastrointestinal disease, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday. The infected animals arrived in Japan by air and tested positive for Johne’s disease, also known as paratuberculosis, while in quarantine, a ministry official said. Tokyo imposed a temporary ban on ...

  New Delhi / Tribune News Service Indian companies’ earnings growth is recovering and they are all set to post a double-digit profit growth for the fiscal years to come, after seeing flattish to weak growth for a few years now, according to analysts. To be sure, this growth comes on a low base. Kotak Insititutional Equities, an arm of ...

  Beijing / Bloomberg China sent shares of renewable-energy companies higher by forcing grid operators to buy wind and solar power in regions where network congestion has idled plants. Grid companies will have to buy sufficient power that ensures wind farms across nine regions including Xinjiang and Gansu can operate at least 1,800 hours a year, according to a statement ...

  AFP The European Central Bank held key interest rates at historic lows Thursday, but made no announcement regarding Greece despite speculation it may offer a helping hand to its cash-strapped banks. Meeting in the Austrian capital instead of its usual home venue in Frankfurt, the ECB’s decision-making governing council voted not to alter borrowing costs, which have been at ...

  AP A US congressional committee is investigating how hackers managed to divert US$101 million from Bank of Bangladesh accounts held at the Federal Reserve in New York. The February theft led the Bangladesh central bank’s chairman to resign, and added to worries about the security of online bank data. This week, the Science Committee in the US House of ...

  REUTERS Kuwait’s Gulf Bank said a court ruled in favour of the lender in a 55.3 million dinar (US$182.99 million) dispute with The Cube Group to auction assets, according to a bourse filing. This is to go towards covering part of its debt to the lender, Gulf Bank said in the statement. The court ruling is final, the statement ...

  Bloomberg Brazil’s state development bank BNDES will sell equity assets and utilize concessions and privatisations as it seeks to attract the private investment needed to pull Latin America’s largest economy out of recession, according to the bank’s new president. Maria Silvia Bastos Marques took over as head of the bank known as BNDES, saying she will personally oversee the ...

  BLOOMBERG Australia’s securities regulator is set to start civil legal proceedings against National Australia Bank Ltd. for allegedly manipulating the nation’s benchmark swap rate, according to a person familiar with the matter. It will be the third such legal action in a more-than three-year investigation by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission into alleged manipulation of the bank-bill swap ...