Thursday, September 03
Firefighters battled a blaze at a high-rise apartment complex in Hong Kong for the second day on Thursday, as the death toll rose to 75 in one of the deadliest blazes in the city's modern history. Rescuers holding flashlights were going from apartment to apartment at the charred towers as thick smoke continued to pour out from some windows at the Wang Fuk Court complex, a dense cluster of buildings housing thousands of people in Tai Po district, a northern suburb near Hong Kong's border with the mainland. It was unclear how many people were missing or trapped. Hong Kong leader John Lee said contact had been lost with 279 people early Thursday. Authorities did not provide updates on the missing people or how many were still inside the ravaged buildings Thursday during a press conference. L
India's economic growth is expected to come in strong for the second quarter of the current financial year, with GDP likely to rise 7.5 per cent, according to a report by Union Bank of India.This would be significantly higher than the 5.6 per cent growth recorded in the same quarter of the previous financial year. The official GDP data for the 2nd Quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2026 (FY26) will be released on November 28.The report stated "GDP data for Q2 FY26..... likely clocked 7.5 per cent, sharply higher from the same period previous year (Q2 FY25: 5.6 per cent) but lower than 7.8 per cent clocked in the previous quarter"Gross Value Added (GVA) growth for Q2 FY26 is also expected to increase to 7.3 per cent, compared to 5.8 per cent in Q2 FY25, although it remains below the 7.6 per
India’s formal job creation numbers are down 20% on a year-on-year basis and 5.4% compared to last month, making it the second consecutive month of decline, according to a report by global job site Indeed.In the past three months, job postings fell in nearly three-quarters of all sectors, led by banking and finance, where postings dropped 25.6%, followed by legal (22.4%), retail (16.7%), and loading and stocking (15%), the report said.Indeed's APAC Senior Economist Callam Pickering told PTI that the Indian workforce is slowly transitioning towards more formal work arrangements. This means that the job creation in the formal sector will beat the overall employment growth nationwide.Pickering said that this is the reason why job posting has been stronger in comparison to other markets both
The domestic demand has remained steady even after the festive season, indicating a positive consumption trajectory for the economy, according to a report by Prabhudas Lilladher, a financial service firm. The report stated this based on the analysis of spending patterns during and after the festive period across FY2024 to FY2026 to understand whether the rise in spending was temporary or supported by broader momentum.It stated, "Post-festival demand remains on track."The report supported it with strong digital payment trends. It noted that the UPI transactions rose sharply from Rs 8,400 bn in FY2025 to Rs 11,500 bn so far in FY2026, reflecting continued strength in digital payments well beyond the festive period.Credit card spending also increased from Rs 527 bn in FY2025 to Rs 579 bn so f
