Category: Business

Kraken announced plans to suspend transactions involving USDT, DAI, WBTC, WETH, and WAXL within Canada in the next two months. Several other cryptocurrency exchanges have taken similar actions in 2023, discontinuing support for specific assets due to regulatory challenges. The write-off of the world’s largest and most liquid stablecoin came as the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has banned crypto exchanges operating in the region from touching Tether (USDT). The decision dates back to 2021 when the stablecoin was deeply linked…

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried began testifying at his fraud trial on Friday, saying the innovative business he hoped would move the cryptocurrency ecosystem forward ended up doing the opposite and hurting customers. The onetime cryptocurrency golden boy lost his businesses and his reputation as a pioneering entrepreneur in an emerging facet of finance when a rush of customers withdrew their money last year, exposing that billions of dollars were missing. Bankman-Fried, 31, acknowledged some of his failures early in his…

The US Air Force (USAF) has launched two new detachments at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia to bolster the force’s electronic warfare capability. Detachments from the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing (SWW) and the 87th Electronic Warfare Squadron (EWS) will be tasked with responding to electronic threats by developing new countermeasures. The launch is part of the standup process for the future 950th Spectrum Warfare Group, which will further assess the USAF’s combat readiness and effectiveness in electronic warfare. Two…

ISLAMABAD (PAKISTAN): Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is on the verge of a shutdown as it cancelled over 500 flights in the past 11 days due to the unavailability of fuel, ARY News reported. ARY News is a Pakistani news channel. PIA is facing its worst crisis in history as Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has cut its fuel supply over unpaid dues. The move forced the airline to cancel 537 flights since October 13. On Thursday, as many as 49 domestic…

  The US military struck two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday. “The precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17,” he said in a statement. One US citizen contractor died from a cardiac incident during the attacks, and 21 US military…

Just putting three meals a day on the table was a struggle for millions of people in the U.S. last year. That’s the sobering conclusion of a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which found hunger in the U.S. rose sharply in 2022. The report found that 44.2 million people lived in households that had difficulty getting enough food to feed everyone in 2022, up from 33.8 million people the year prior. Those families include more than 13…

The chief executive of Tesco UK is to step down after six years leading Britain’s biggest supermarket chain. Jason Tarry said he felt it was the “right time for me to move on” and revealed he would leave his post in March 2024. He will be replaced by former Aldi UK and Ireland chief executive Matthew Barnes. Mr Tarry has worked for Tesco for 33 years. He joined the firm on a graduate recruitment scheme in 1990 and worked his…

There is a sharp sell-off in the bond market, and it has big implications on both the economy and people’s pocketbooks. Yields on U.S. government bonds, especially the 10-year Treasury note, determine the interest rates that people pay on a lot of their debt, including mortgages and credit cards. And a key bond yield hasn’t been this high since 2007. Several factors are driving the sell-off, including stronger-than-expected economic data and the government’s worsening finances. Here is what you need…

NEW YORK – Gemini Trust and GIC-backed Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (DCG) were sued by New York’s top law-enforcement officer for allegedly defrauding customers of US$1.1 billion (S$1.5 billion), escalating legal woes for two companies hit hard by last year’s plunge in cryptocurrency markets. The lawsuit filed on Thursday by New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Gemini, which operated a crypto exchange, and DCG’s Genesis Global Capital unit of failing to disclose to investors the risks of a…

STOCKHOLM – Finnish telecom gear group Nokia on Thursday said it will cut up to 14,000 jobs in a new cost reduction effort after third-quarter sales fell by a fifth, taken down by sales of next-generation 5G equipment. Nokia and rival Ericsson have grappled with slowing demand for 5G equipment in markets such as the United States and the European Union, trying to offset some of the weakness with higher sales to India, a low-margin market. Nokia is targeting savings…

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Wednesday broadly eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector in response to a deal reached between the government and opposition parties for the 2024 election – the most extensive rollback of Trump-era restrictions on Caracas. A new general license issued by the U.S. Treasury Department authorized OPEC member Venezuela, which had been under crushing sanctions since 2019, to produce and export oil to its chosen markets for the next six months without limitation. U.S. Secretary…

BENGALURU – Grand Centrex Limited (GCL) said on Wednesday that it will list in the US by merging with a blank-cheque firm in a deal that values the Singapore-based video game distributor at US$1.2 billion (S$1.65 billion). Special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) have largely fallen out of favour following a bumper 2020, after they drew intense scrutiny from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The poor stock performance of some companies that went public via a Spac merger have…

SEOUL – South Korean authorities arrested Kakao’s chief investment officer (CIO) for alleged stock price manipulation in a high-profile takeover battle over K-pop agency SM Entertainment. Bae Jae-hyun was arrested early on Thursday, according to the Seoul Southern District Court which issued the warrant. Internet giant Kakao won a controlling stake in SM after an intense bidding war with Hybe, the label behind hit boy group BTS. Financial regulators accused the executive, along with two others working at Kakao and…

SINGAPORE – Keppel Corporation has raised a 1.4 billion yuan (S$262.8 million) initial investment from an undisclosed global institutional investor, capturing opportunities in China’s sustainability transition. Together with 160 million yuan of a sponsor stake by Keppel, the total 1.6 billion fund (S$306 million) marked the closing of its China-focused sustainable urban renewal programme, said the company on Thursday. About 3.9 billion yuan worth of assets are expected to be under Keppel’s management “when fully leveraged and invested”. Both parties…

NEW YORK – US stocks fell on Wednesday as underwhelming earnings and ongoing fighting in the Middle East weighed on investor optimism. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1 per cent to 33,665.08. The broad-based S&P 500 sank 1.3 per cent to 4,314.60, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.6 per cent to 13,314.30. The yield on the popular 10-year US Treasury rose above 4.9 per cent for the first time since 2007, as traders prepared for the likelihood…

Things may take a positive turn only if the US economy achieves a soft landing, boosting the outlook for manufacturing and capital expenditures, the technology cycle bottoms out, and disinflation in Asia accelerates to provide scope for easing monetary policy in 2024, the IMF said. However, medium-term prospects are uncertain due to geo-economic fragmentation, with de-risking policies of major economies creating a potentially significant impact on growth, it said. While inflation is expected to ease in 2024, IMF advised central banks to ensure that inflation remains durably at appropriate…