A royal commission into New Zealand’s Covid response has found it was one of the best in the world but acknowledged the period had left “scars”. The second of two inquiry reports on the pandemic was released on Tuesday and focused on the period between February 2021 to October 2022, when the government changed from an elimination strategy to one of suppression and minimisation of the virus. It als...
A royal commission into New Zealand’s Covid response has found it was one of the best in the world but acknowledged the period had left “scars”. The second of two inquiry reports on the pandemic was released on Tuesday and focused on the period between February 2021 to October 2022, when the government changed from an elimination strategy to one of suppression and minimisation of the virus. It also examined vaccine safety and the government’s immunisation programme, lockdowns and tracing and testing technology. The royal commission was established in 2022 by Jacinda Ardern’s Labour-led government, which was in power during the pandemic. New Zealand has recorded 5,641 Covid deaths since 2020. The country’s strict response, which included lockdowns, vaccine mandates and border quarantine helped to save tens of thousands of lives. But as the pandemic wore on, some anger over the restrictions set in and a small but vocal fringe of anti-vaccine and anti-mandate groups emerged, leading to a violent protest on parliament’s lawns. The first phase of the inquiry, released in late 2024, found New Zealand had one of the lowest rates of Covid deaths per capita among developed countries. It largely accepted the need for vaccine mandates, while acknowledging they had caused distress and economic harm to some New Zealanders. In the report released on Tuesday, the commission found that New Zealand did well in responding to the pandemic and the decisions and methods used in the response were “considered and appropriate” but also identified where the response was “lacking”. “New Zealand’s response strategy and settings weren’t always sufficiently responsive to changing circumstances; for example, they weren’t adapted early enough to deal with later variants of the virus,” it said. “At a time when speed was often critical, some decisions had to be made without enough information and data, or without sufficient consideration of all the impacts that might arise, or without important che...
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. is on the lookout for acquisitions as the billionaire Uday Kotak -backed lender seeks to deploy its excess capital to scale up amid a transformation of India’s financial industry. India’s fourth-largest private sector bank by assets is open to evaluating potential targets that would advance its strategy, according to Chief Executive Officer Ashok Vaswani . The firm has the...
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. is on the lookout for acquisitions as the billionaire Uday Kotak -backed lender seeks to deploy its excess capital to scale up amid a transformation of India’s financial industry. India’s fourth-largest private sector bank by assets is open to evaluating potential targets that would advance its strategy, according to Chief Executive Officer Ashok Vaswani . The firm has the capacity to do jumbo deals, he added in response to a question on whether transactions above $1 billion are possible. “Kotak today carries significantly more capital than what regulators require,” he said in an interview. “We’re not going to waste that capital.” Vaswani began his role in January 2024 after spending decades overseas in top positions such as heading Barclays Bank UK and Citigroup Asia Pacific. The Mumbai-based bank looks at three criteria when studying M&A — whether it adds to its agenda, if the valuation makes sense and the cost of management distraction, according to Vaswani. His comments come as consolidation gathers pace across India’s financial sector. Japanese and Middle East buyers are expanding in the world’s fastest-growing major economy, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is pushing to strengthen state‑backed lenders and also courting private and foreign capital. Read More: India’s Big-Bang Financial Reforms Target Foreign Money The bank had a capital-to-risk ratio of 22.6% at the end of December , well above peer levels and regulatory requirements, signaling it has ample firepower for potential takeovers. He added that while the financier will always remain “opportunistic” on inorganic expansion, internal growth is its primary focus. The lender has struck deals including buying a personal-loan portfolio from Standard Chartered Plc and acquiring micro lender Sonata Finance in 2024. Most recently, it expressed interest to acquire a $8 billion stake in IDBI Bank Ltd. but didn’t pursue it further. Separately, the firm is among the suitors...
開市話你知(10/03/2026) 港股跟隨外圍向好恒指高開331點，藍籌新貴寧德時代業績後股價跑出 To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 主持：黃皓琳 嘉賓：陳樂怡 信達國際研究部助理經理 開市焦點： 。恒指高開3...
開市話你知(10/03/2026) 港股跟隨外圍向好恒指高開331點，藍籌新貴寧德時代業績後股價跑出 To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 主持：黃皓琳 嘉賓：陳樂怡 信達國際研究部助理經理 開市焦點： 。恒指高開331點報25740點 。國指和科指高開1.11%及2% 。寧德時代績後高開近6%開市最佳藍籌 。油價回落，中海油和中石油低開近4.6%及3.7%開市跌幅首兩大藍籌 。阿里和騰訊高開1.8%及1.7%，京東、百度及快手高開2% 。滙控高開2.6%，友邦高開2.4% 。美格智能首日掛牌高開0.6%
Suspected Missile Fuel Precursor Materials Sail From China To Iran, Even As US Bombs Fall A pair of cargo ships tied to a sanctioned Iranian state shipping line have quietly departed a Chinese chemical hub and are now sailing toward Iran carrying what analysts suspect is missile fuel precursor , according to fresh Washington Post analysis of ship-tracking data and satellite imagery. The vessels ha...
Suspected Missile Fuel Precursor Materials Sail From China To Iran, Even As US Bombs Fall A pair of cargo ships tied to a sanctioned Iranian state shipping line have quietly departed a Chinese chemical hub and are now sailing toward Iran carrying what analysts suspect is missile fuel precursor , according to fresh Washington Post analysis of ship-tracking data and satellite imagery. The vessels have been identified as Shabdis and Barzin, which operate under Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), the state carrier sanctioned by Washington and many allies. The IRISL has long been accused of shipping materials tied to Iran's ballistic missile program - something which the US and Israel say they are trying to currently eliminate in the ongoing Operation Epic Fury. via Reuters Both ships recently docked at Gaolan port in Zhuhai on China’s southeastern coast, a major chemical-handling facility that processes large volumes of industrial compounds, including sodium perchlorate - which is critical for producing solid rocket fuel, the report says. Officials and and analysts were cited in the Post as concluding the cargo likely includes sodium perchlorate destined for Iran’s missile program. "Given the track record, the most parsimonious explanation is that they're loading the same commodity they've been shuttling for the past year-plus," Isaac Kardon, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, pointed out. So in a way this is nothing "new" for Beijing-Tehran 'illicit' trade, however what is new is seen in the following : While a dozen other IRISL ships have visited the port since the start of the year, experts emphasized that China's allowing a ship to depart for Iran with weapons-related material during a war in which they have called for restraint would be extremely notable . Indeed, as Kardon continues, "China could have held these vessels at port, imposed an administrative delay, invented a customs hold – any number of bureaucratic tools,...
The cost of credit protection fell by the most in over eight months in Asia, after President Donald Trump signaled the Iran war may be nearing an end. Credit default swaps on the region’s investment-grade debt fell four basis points Tuesday, according to traders. The move marks the biggest decline since late June, according to a Markit iTraxx index . The drop followed a rally in US credit markets ...
The cost of credit protection fell by the most in over eight months in Asia, after President Donald Trump signaled the Iran war may be nearing an end. Credit default swaps on the region’s investment-grade debt fell four basis points Tuesday, according to traders. The move marks the biggest decline since late June, according to a Markit iTraxx index . The drop followed a rally in US credit markets after Trump said the war would resolve “very soon,” remarks that have triggered a rebound in global stocks and risk sentiment in general. Asian CDS had jumped more than seven basis points in the previous two sessions, as surging oil prices and concerns about a prolonged conflict in the Middle East stoked fears of slowing economic growth and resurgent inflation. Read More: Oil Slides After Trump Seeks to Ease Concerns Over War’s Length “Trump’s ‘war could be over soon’ comment raised hopes for a quick end to fighting in the Middle East and gave risk assets a considerable boost,” said Mark Reade , head of credit strategy at Mizuho Securities Asia. “However, we suspect the volatility in rates and credit will continue until the missiles stop and oil transit re-starts.”