News Headlines - 19 December 2019
Prosecutors have questioned a ruling party lawmaker over his alleged ties with a Chinese company that showed interest in joining a casino project and is suspected of violating the foreign exchange law, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.
Tsukasa Akimoto, 48, a House of Representatives member of the Liberal Democratic Party, was interviewed on a voluntary basis by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the Chinese company, which allegedly brought into Japan a large amount of cash without notifying customs authorities, the sources said.
▽Hedge funds eavesdrop on vital Bank of England briefings | The Times
Hedge funds have been eavesdropping on the Bank of England’s press conferences before they are officially broadcast after its internal systems were hijacked.
Following inquiries by The Times the Bank has discovered that one of its suppliers has been sending an audio feed of its press conferences to high-speed traders who hope to profit by acting on the governor’s comments before the rest of the world.
Hearing what Mark Carney, the governor, and other senior Bank officials say mere seconds before others can be highly lucrative for speed traders, who make fortunes from early access to information. Mr Carney’s comments at Bank press conferences frequently move the value of the pound and gilt markets.
▽Tata Coup Sequel as Indian Court Says Sacking Mistry Was Illegal - Bloomberg
But the appeals judge of India’s corporate law arbiter thinks he can reverse time. Or so it would appear from his order declaring that Cyrus Mistry, deposed three years ago as executive chairman of the holding company of India’s leading conglomerate, must be reinstated because ousting him was illegal.
Here’s the messy business in a nutshell: The closely held Tata Sons, which sits in control of the $111 billion global empire spread across more than 100 firms, is 66% owned by Tata Trusts, charities run by Ratan Tata, the group patriarch. Mistry’s family owns an 18%-plus stake in Tata Sons. That equity has its origin in an unpaid $200 million loan the Tata family took in 1925 to save its then-fledgling steel business. The core dispute is whether the holding company is a quasi-partnership between the Tata Group and the 154-year-old Shapoorji Pallonji, or SP, Group, which is now run by Shapoor Mistry, the elder brother of Cyrus.
▽South Sudan's Kiir and Machar finally agree to form government - Vatican News
President Salva Kiir and Opposition leader, Riek Machar signed a peace deal last year under pressure from the United Nations, United States and countries in the region to end a five-year civil war and agreed to form a unity government by 12 November 2019.
However, the two leaders pushed the deadline back by 100 days, prompting Washington to recall its ambassador and raising fears the civil war that created the worst refugee crisis in Africa since the Rwandan genocide might resume.
▽One dead in shooting at Russian intelligence agency in Moscow | The Guardian
One person has been shot dead after an unidentified gunman opened fire on the office of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s main intelligence agency, in the heart of Moscow.
According to Russian media reports, the man attacked the reception of the Lubyanka building, home to the FSB and its communist-era predecessor the KGB. The victim was described as a traffic police officer. Other FSB guards were injured in the shooting, with two in a critical condition, officials said.
