The Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN), a leading anti-racism watchdog group in France, is filing a lawsuit against state-owned bank Caisse des dépôts et de consignations (CDC), alleging that the bank had illegally profited from the slave trade in Haiti between 1804 and 1946, collecting sums equal to $21 billion from the former colony.
For the third time this year, Greece’s coalition government has invoked an emergency law allowing for compulsory civil mobilisation, in order to prevent secondary school teachers from going on strike ahead of important university entrance exams, reported Reuters.
Acclaimed director Zhang Yimou is under investigation and could face a multi-million dollar fine after it was claimed that he had violated China’s strict one-child policy to father seven children. The policy was introduced more than 30 years ago as a temporary measure to curb a surging population but continues today, despite increasing calls for change.
U.S. federal prosecutors on Thursday charged eight cyber-criminals accused of stealing $45 million by hacking into a database of prepaid debit card, scrapping withdrawal limits and helping themselves from cash machines across 26 countries.
Prosecutors also highlighted the “surgical precision” of the hackers and the global nature of their crime network, adding that the entire heist unfolded “in a matter of hours”.
Following separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called for both parties to make “joint efforts” towards peace, promising the “necessary assistance” to restart peace talks as soon as possible.
In a bid to halt falling sales in emerging markets, Finnish mobile giant Nokia on Thursday unveiled a $99-touchscreen smartphone for the Indian market, which the company claims will “reinvent the affordable smartphone” line.
According to Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop, the Asha 501, which comes with built-in social media applications and Internet access, will target consumers looking to move up from no-frills handsets; and become the bedrock for future affordable smartphone.
Most of China’s high net worth individuals have used their wealth to obtain residency rights abroad and are increasingly looking to move their assets overseas to diversify risk, according to a joint report by U.S. consulting firm Bain & Co. and China Merchants Bank.
Mainland China had more than 700,000 high net worth individuals (HNWI) with at least 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) in investable assets at the end of last year, more than double the number in 2008.
U.S. multinationals boosted their offshore earnings by 15 percent last year to $1.9 trillion, avoiding hefty tax bills by keeping their earnings overseas, according to a report by research firm Audit Analytics.
The U.S. corporate overseas cash stockpile has grown by 70 percent over the past five years, said the company whose data covers the Russell 3000 index of the largest U.S. corporations.
According to the report, General Electric had the most indefinitely reinvested overseas earnings at $108 billion, while pharmaceutical giant Pfizer came in second with $73 billion.
Inspired by recent efforts by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to lift the economy, the Japanese division of lingerie maker Triumph International on Wednesday unveiled a special edition bra, dubbed the “Branomics Bra” after “Abenomics”, which promises to give a “boost” to women.
China’s second largest lender, the state-owned Bank of China, announced on Tuesday that it will be suspending its dealings with the Foreign Trade Bank of North Korea, North Korea’s main foreign exchange bank, following growing displeasure in Beijing over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
According to a BOC statement, the Chinese bank will be suspending all of FTB’s accounts in China; and also halt all fund transfers related to these accounts.
