The rise of oil prices had brought positive growth to most of the Asian markets, except for Japan. On the other hand, European market had seen a drop. The oil prices increased overnight due to speculations that U.S Federal Reserve would possibly decide not to increase interest rates throughout 2016.
Legal & Regulatory
Iran Sanctions Lifted: PSA Peugeot Citroen Will Pay $446 Million in Compensation to Get Back to Iran's Markets
Peugeot suspended sales from Iran in 2012 following nuclear sanctions expansion to the automobile sector. Now that the sanctions are lifted, Peugeot immediately strives to reinstate partnership to come back to the markets that cost it 10 percent of global deliveries when the sales are suspended. It costs Peugeot $446 million in form of compensation and services.
Foreign Franchise: IKEA Lost Its Trademark in Indonesia After a Dispute With Local Furniture Company
The case was brought to Central Jakarta District Court in 2014, and the decision was ruled by the court last year. The plaintiff made the case by presenting the Indonesian trademark law which stated that a trademark could be deleted if the company had not used the name for commercial purposes in three years after registration or after the last use.
Citigroup Bans Financial Transactions of DFS Sites In New York While Some US States Observe ‘The Game of Skill’ As Legal
Terming the daily fantasy sports as illegal gambling, the New York Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against DraftKings and FanDuel. While the lawsuit proceeds in its own pace, banking giant Citigroup has imposed a ban on transactions to the DFS sites by the New Yorkers. Some US states express reluctance while some declare the sites as legal.
Twitter Removed More Than 125,000 Accounts In Fight Against Radical Islamic Millitants
The social media site, Twitter has disclosed for the first time removal of more than 125,000 accounts on allegation of aiding terrorism. ISIS has been using Twitter and other social media sites as platforms for spreading their ideologies and recruiting new members. Facebook is also adopting special measures in this regard due to growing concerns over poor policing by the sites against terrorism.
Latest News
VirnetX has been in the limelight for its achievement in realizing $223 million from Microsoft in out of court settlements. Now the patent litigation company has won a court verdict that instructs Apple to pay $625.6 million for patent infringement issues. VirnetX has claimed for $532 million initially, but Apple’s deliberate infringement over the patented products has reportedly increased the amount.
The case had been investigated since 2013, and the practices are believed to have been going on since 2011. U.S federal regulators claimed that African-American, as well as Asian/Pacific Islander borrowers, were charged more for auto loans. Toyota voluntarily agreed to pay the amount of compensation, but the company refuses to admit that the practice is a form of racial discrimination.
The US federal contracts are somehow still not won by the women-owned small companies in this day and age. Senator Jeanne Shaheen has openly expressed her disappointment regarding this sobering fact. But she is still optimistic that the changing laws would rectify the situation and empower women with the experience to bid for larger and more competitive federal contracts in the future.
The lawsuit is cast out by more than 40 customers, led by Chris Howe. The lawsuit stated that McDonald's aired unfair advertisements with the claim that its new menu item contains 100 percent pure mozzarella cheese, while according to Howe they contain filler. The lawsuit tests support the claim, but McDonald's has refuted the claim.
The Singapore's authority announced that it has seized a large number of bank accounts in a probe into alleged misappropriations related to 1MDB. Details regarding the bank accounts will be shared with investigators from Switzerland, United States and Malaysia.
The supplier's subsidiary units in China was convicted for selling substandard and expired meats to restaurants including McDonald's and KFC. However, the company argued that the verdict was unjust and inconsistent with the evidence presented in court.
21 people were arrested by the Chinese police on account of a huge online financial scam. The P2P online lender Ezubao had almost pulled off the biggest scam in wealth management product industry, with almost 900,000 investors losing around $7.6 billion (50 billion yuan).
US Dollar has been witnessed to gain some value against yen in both Tokyo and Japan on Monday. The appreciation of dollar has taken place due to BoJ’s surprise move for slashing the interest rate to (-) 0.1%. Even BoJ Governor has hinted further rate slashing events, if situation demands. But economists have referred the attempt as an attraction drawing stance aiming to prevent yen from rising to boost up the sluggish economic growth.
Lesser light falls on the small smart-phone image censor and thus the image quality appears better in larger cameras. But smart-phone industry is in the trend for getting slimmer. Apple has recently been awarded with a patent that is capable of providing better image quality through small, spherical curved lenses. The patented imaging gears are suitable for iPhones and iPads.
