Turkey arrests dozens in Thodex crypto exchange fraud probe Turkish authorities are seeking a so-called 'red notice' from Interpol that would help them track down and arrest the founder of one of the country's biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, Thodex. Faruk Fatih Ozer, who's said to have fled to Albania, abruptly stopped payments to its 390-thousand active users. Turkish police have detained 62 people in eight cities including Istanbul, where Thodex is based, while 16 others remain at...

Turkey opens probe into cryptocurrency platform Thodex Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into Turkish cryptocurrency exchange platform, Thodex. That's after the exchange abruptly shut down while holding at least 2-billion dollars, leaving thousands of users unable to access their digital assets. A preliminary assessment by police suggests Thodex's founder Faruk Fatih Ozer had flown out of the country on Tuesday. US weekly jobless claims fall to lowest level of COVID-19 US...

UAE becomes second biggest buyer of US Treasury securities The United Arab Emirates surpassed China to become the second-biggest buyer of US Treasury securities in February after the UK. The oil-rich Gulf nation has added nearly 17-billion dollars' worth of US debt since January, raising its holdings to 50-point-6 billion dollars. The monthly haul was the biggest ever for the UAE. Australia scraps Victoria's Belt and Road deals with China Australia has scrapped agreements that the state of...

UK's unemployment rate falls unexpectedly to 4.9% The UK's unemployment rate fell unexpectedly in the three months through February, despite the country being in a tight lockdown. The jobless rate averaged 4-point-9 percent, edging down from 5-percent in the prior quarter. The Office for National Statistics linked the fall to a large number of people leaving the jobs market altogether. Johnson & Johnson reports 7% rise in Q1 net profit to $6.2B Johnson and Johnson has reported a...

Consumers stockpile $5.4T of savings since pandemic began Moody's has found that up to 5-point-4 trillion dollars has been stockpiled by consumers worldwide since the coronavirus pandemic began. That's as household incomes receive support from unprecedented government stimulus schemes designed to counter the economic downturn. The ratings agency expects a strong rebound in spending as more businesses reopen. GameStop chief executive George Sherman to step down US video-game retailer,...

Singapore's Grab to go public in $40B SPAC deal Southeast Asia's ride-hailing giant Grab has agreed to go public in the US through a merger with special purpose acquisition company, Altimeter Growth. The largest ever SPAC merger will value Singapore- based Grab at nearly 40-billion dollars. The deal underscores the frenzy on Wall Street involving so-called blank cheque companies that have raised around 99-billion dollars in the US so far this year. Ant Group to restructure as financial...

Microsoft agrees to buy AI firm Nuance for about $16B Microsoft has agreed to buy artificial intelligence and speech technology firm, Nuance Communications, for about 16 billion dollars. The deal marks the US software giant's largest acquisition since it bought LinkedIn for more than 26 billion dollars in 2016. Microsoft and Nuance partnered in 2019 to roll out AI systems that help doctors with administrative tasks. Alibaba shares jump after $2.75B anti-monopoly fine Shares in Alibaba have...

Private equity firm CVC makes $20B offer for Toshiba CVC Capital Partners has made a 20-billion dollar offer to buy-out Toshiba. The bid comes as the Japanese conglomerate faces scrutiny over a series of scandals. Luxembourg-based CVC is one of several private equity firms to submit a bid, and is reportedly planning to take Toshiba off the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Toshiba's shares surged 18-percent on the news. Samsung Q1 profit up 44% on early release of smartphone Samsung Electronics says...

Cryptocurrency market capitalisation tops $2T for first time The total value of the entire cryptocurrency market has topped $2 trillion for the first time, following a recent rally in prices of bitcoin and some other tokens. Bitcoin has surged by more than 100 percent this year with a growing number of financial institutions adding it to their portfolios. The world's most popular digital coin now represents over half of the market's total value. Credit Suisse removes two execs after $4.7B...

US court sides with Google in a copyright dispute with Oracle The US Supreme Court has handed Alphabet's Google a major victory in a long-running copyright battle with Oracle. The court said Google engaged in legitimate "fair use" when it used Oracle's Java programming language for the Android mobile operating system. Oracle had claimed at points to be owed as much as 9 billion dollars. GameStop shares slide after plan to sell $1B in stock GameStop is planning to raise up to 1 billion...

US unemployment claims fall to 684,000 last week US jobless claims fell more than expected last week as economic activity rebounded following weather-related disruptions. Another 684-thousand people filed for unemployment benefits, down from 781-thousand in the week prior. Claims are now at the lowest level since mid-March last year, when the coronavirus pandemic began. Mastercard faces $19B class action lawsuit in UK US credit card giant Mastercard is facing a historic 19-billion dollar...

Turkey's exports rose 9.6% in February, imports up 9.4% Turkey's exports rose by 9.6 percent on an annual basis to $16 billion last month, as economies around the world gradually reopen. Imports were also up 9.4 percent to $19.3 billion, bringing the foreign trade deficit to $3.3 billion. The top destination for Turkish goods during the month was Germany, followed by the UK and the US. Huawei's profit growth slows sharply as US sanctions bite Huawei's annual profit growth slowed sharply in...

Turkey to take Saudi boycott to World Trade Organization Turkey's lodging a complaint with the World Trade Organisation against Saudi Arabia for forcing businesses to boycott Turkish goods. Riyadh has been ramping up pressure on Ankara after a Turkish court began hearing a case against Saudis accused of murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A decision against the kingdom would force it to compensate Turkish businesses for the lost revenues. Growth in South African labour costs slows to 3.9%...

J&J agrees to supply 400M vaccine doses to African countries Johnson and Johnson has agreed to supply up to 220-million doses of its single-shot coronavirus vaccine to the African Union this year. The US drugmaker says the delivery of the jabs to the 55 AU members will begin in the third quarter of 2021. A further 180-million doses could then be delivered next year. Vietnam's economy grows 4.48% in the first quarter Vietnam's gross domestic product grew nearly 4-and- a-half percent in...

Pfizer begins human trials of oral COVID-19 drug Pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, has begun early-stage US trials on a coronavirus oral anti-viral drug. The pill is designed to be taken early in an infection to prevent the virus from replicating in cells before patients get very sick. The drugmaker says there haven't been any unexpected problems in the study so far, and that it could generate results within weeks. Intel to invest $20B to build two semiconductor plants in US US chipmaker, Intel,...

UK unemployment falls to 5% in three months to January Unemployment in the UK has fallen for the first time since the pandemic began, with the jobless rate slipping to 5-percent. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the number of workers on company payrolls climbed by almost 200-thousand in the three months to February. But the ONS says people aged under 25 continue to bear the brunt of job losses during the crisis. Microsoft reportedly in talks to buy Discord for...

CEO Leon Black quits Apollo over Jeffrey Epstein scandal Wall Street billionaire Leon Black has quit his leadership positions at Apollo Global Management, the investment giant he co-founded. Black's departure comes amid scrutiny over his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself while facing federal sex trafficking charges. Apollo co-founder Marc Rowan has taken over as CEO Canadian Pacific to buy Kansas City Southern for $25B Railway group, Canadian Pacific, has agreed...

New Zealand's economy unexpectedly shrinks 1% in Q4 New Zealand's economy suffered a surprise contraction in the fourth quarter, denting hopes of a swift recovery from the pandemic. GDP shrank by 1 percent in the final three months of 2020, following nearly 14 percent growth in the third quarter. Economists expect the economy to shrink further in the current quarter, which would put the Pacific nation in a technical recession. Credit Suisse suspends bonuses over Greensill collapse Credit...

Four US states join Texas-led lawsuit against Google Four more US states have joined a Texas-led lawsuit against Alphabet's Google, bringing the number of plaintiffs to 15 states and territories. The lawsuit accuses the internet giant of breaking antitrust laws to boost its already dominant advertising business. Filed in December, the complaint is one of three ongoing antitrust cases against the search giant. Greensill family reportedly cashed out before collapse Australian businessman Lex...

Sackler family increases opioid settlement offer to $4.3B Members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma, have offered 4-point-3 billion dollars to resolve thousands of lawsuits linked to their powerful painkiller, OxyContin. Purdue is accused of fueling America's deadly opioid epidemic through the deceptive marketing of the drug. A group of around half of all US states has rejected a previous settlement offer of 3-billion dollars. Encrypted messaging app Signal blocked in China The...

China's industrial production and retail sales surge China's industrial output has surged sharply in the first two months of the year, underscoring the country's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Official figures show industrial production jumped 35-percent from a year ago, marking its biggest bounce in decades. Meanwhile, retail sales also rose nearly 34-percent in January and February, beating analysts' expectations. Stripe valuation soars to $95B after latest funding round Online...

OECD revises up global growth forecast for 2021 The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development has revised up its forecast for global growth this year because of the relatively rapid rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. The OECD now predicts a 5.6-percent expansion, led by a recovery in the US, China and India. It has also increased its growth forecast for the Turkish economy by 3-percentage points to 5.9-percent this year. Zoom founder transfers stock worth more than $6B Zoom founder...

Microsoft hack tied to China leaves thousands vulnerable Microsoft is blaming the Chinese- government backed hacking group, Hafnium, for an attack on its servers that has so far compromised at least 60-thousand accounts. Most of the victims are small and medium sized businesses but some government institutions have also been affected. This is the eighth time the software giant has been targeted by hackers from the mainland in the past 12 months. Oil prices jump after attack on Saudi energy...

US suspends tariffs on UK goods seeking to resolve dispute The United States has agreed to suspend retaliatory tariffs imposed on UK goods over a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies. The tariffs on a range of products including Scotch whisky, biscuits and clotted cream will be halted for a period of four months. The UK had earlier dropped its tariffs on some US goods, as it looks to seal a post-Brexit trade deal with Washington. Lufthansa reports record loss of $8.1B in...