INDIA
Growth tipped to rebound
The nation expects economic growth to rebound this year from a five-year low as political stability aids a pickup in demand and investments. Real GDP growth for the fiscal year started April 1 is projected at 7 percent, the Ministry of Finance said in its annual Economic Survey report. The upside and downside risks to growth are evenly balanced, with monsoon rainfall seen as tipping the scales, it said. The forecast marks an improvement from the 6.8 percent expansion last year and is the same as the reading of the Reserve Bank of India, which last month lowered its projection by 20 basis points from 7.2 percent.
FINANCE
Osborne linked to IMF bid
Former British chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne is lining up a bid to replace Christine Lagarde as head of the IMF, UK newspapers reported yesterday. Making his interest known to friends, Osborne said the job required a “skilled political communicator and operator ... not a technocrat,” the Financial Times reported. Lagarde, a former French minister of finance, is to lead the European Central Bank, replacing Mario Draghi. Draghi is seen as a strong candidate to become IMF chief, with the lender having always chosen a European to lead it.
LIGHTING
Osram bid launched
Bain Capital and Carlyle Group LP have made a 3.4 billion euro (US$3.8 billion) bid to acquire German lighting firm Osram Licht AG, concluding months of negotiations for the long-sought deal. Osram on Wednesday said that it had a received a binding offer at 35 euros a share and that it would decide “shortly” whether to accept it. Its supervisory board was to meet yesterday to vote on the agreement, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Osram shares surged as much as 13 percent, the most since February, after reports earlier on the bid. They rose 12 percent to 32.25 euros in Frankfurt.
BANKING
Deutsche raids expected
German prosecutors are escalating a money laundering inquiry involving Deutsche Bank AG, including planned raids on wealthy former clients, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told reporters. Frankfurt’s state prosecutors in the coming months are to search the homes of people it suspects of using a company formerly owned by Germany’s biggest bank for tax evasion and money laundering, the person said. The intensified scrutiny of Deutsche Bank comes at a delicate time as the Frankfurt-based bank seeks to revamp its struggling business and repair a reputation ravaged by a series of scandals.
DISTILLERIES
Whiskey lost in blaze
A fire blamed on a lightning strike at a warehouse in Kentucky destroyed 45,000 barrels of Jim Beam whiskey, its parent company said on Wednesday. No one was injured in the blaze, which initial reports indicate “resulted from a lightning strike,” Beam Suntory said in a statement posted on Twitter. Whiskey drinkers can rest easy, as the loss of the 45,000 barrels — a small fraction of the roughly 3.3 million at the company’s warehouses in Kentucky — should not affect supply. The distiller hired a cleanup crew and state environmental officials were coordinating efforts to control bourbon runoff into a nearby creek.
Until US President Donald Trump’s return a year ago, when the EU talked about cutting economic dependency on foreign powers — it was understood to mean China, but now Brussels has US tech in its sights. As Trump ramps up his threats — from strong-arming Europe on trade to pushing to seize Greenland — concern has grown that the unpredictable leader could, should he so wish, plunge the bloc into digital darkness. Since Trump’s Greenland climbdown, top officials have stepped up warnings that the EU is dangerously exposed to geopolitical shocks and must work toward strategic independence — in defense, energy and
For the second year in a row, a Brazilian movie has wowed international audiences and critics, securing multiple Oscar nominations and drawing fresh interest in the Latin American giant’s film industry. Experts say the success of The Secret Agent, which has won four Oscar nominations, a year after I Am Still Here won Brazil its first Oscar, is no fluke, with a bit of a push from the country’s political climate. “This is neither a coincidence nor a miracle. It is the result of a lot of work, consistent policies, and, of course, talent,” Ilda Santiago, director of the Rio International Film
AI SPLURGE: The four major US tech companies have lost more than US$950 billion in value since releasing earnings and outlooks, while equipment makers were gaining Four of the biggest US technology companies together have forecast capital expenditures that would reach about US$650 billion this year — a flood of cash earmarked for new data centers and all the gear within them. The spending planned by Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft Corp, all in pursuit of dominance in the still-nascent market for artificial intelligence (AI) tools, is a boom without a parallel this century. Each of the companies’ estimates for this year is expected either near or surpass their budgets for the past three years combined. They would set a high-watermark for capital spending
IShowSpeed, a 21-year-old African-American influencer, has raced a cheetah, leapt with Maasai warriors and drawn huge crowds in a month-long tour of Africa that has also busted cliches about the continent. The YouTube and Twitch star’s tour, which started on Dec. 29 last year, took him to 20 countries, showing his tens of millions of followers a different side of Africa as he visited a diamond mine in Botswana, discovered Ethiopia’s rich cuisine and attended the Africa Cup of Nations football final in Morocco. IShowSpeed — born in Cincinnati, Ohio as Darren Jason Watkins Jr. — is one of the most followed
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