A fresh dog food company is recalling nearly all of its fresh meals after receiving 192 reports of potential eye problems in dogs, including a condition that can lead to vision loss if severe and untreated.

Years, a U.K.-based subscription service which says it has served roughly 40,000 customers this year, said it is investigating buckwheat as a possible contributing factor, including whether part of its buckwheat supply may have been contaminated.

The company said no causal link between its food, buckwheat and the reported eye problems has been established, and laboratory and toxicology testing is continuing.

As of Tuesday, 192 customers have reported potential eye issues, including sudden bilateral dry eye known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS). The condition causes dogs’ eyes to stop producing enough tears, leading to irritation, redness and discomfort.

FROZEN DOG FOOD RECALLED OVER SALMONELLA CONTAMINATION THAT LED TO MULTIPLE PET ILLNESSES

Tears lubricate and protect the surface of the eye. If left untreated, KCS can cause corneal ulcers, scarring and other damage that can potentially result in permanent vision loss.

The company said reports of eye issues in dogs began a few weeks ago.

“In late July, we began receiving multiple reports of dogs experiencing sudden, bilateral dry eye,” Years said.

By Aug. 16, the company said it had identified 57 suspected cases, which it characterized as about 0.1% of roughly 40,000 customers served year-to-date.

Years said an independent veterinarian and specialist in small animal clinical nutrition initially advised on Aug. 1 that a link to the company’s food appeared unlikely based on the information then available, while recommending further investigation.

POPULAR PET FOOD RECALLED OVER POSSIBLE SHARP METAL AND PLASTIC CONTAMINATION

Years said it decided to issue the recall as a proactive measure affecting all of its fresh meals except those in its Chef’s Collection, the ultra-premium, limited-edition tier of dog meals offered by the brand.

The decision was made following “rising case numbers, input from customer advocates and ophthalmologists and growing evidence around buckwheat.”

Laboratory testing of the buckwheat supply is still ongoing. The company did not provide further details on how the buckwheat supply may be affecting dogs’ eyesight beyond the possibility of contamination.

Years said the affected fresh meal formulations contained 6.3% to 7.2% buckwheat, depending on the recipe.

KCS can have a number of causes in dogs, including immune-mediated disease, certain medications, infections, hereditary factors and trauma, meaning the reported condition alone does not establish a link to the food.

Customers’ subscriptions have been paused for an initial six-week period as the brand works to reformulate its recipes with quinoa in place of buckwheat. The company said it will also provide a thank-you gift with their next delivery for the inconvenience.

To help with the investigation, the company is also arranging a free collection of any unused meals.

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“Your help with our investigation would mean a great deal. We’ll arrange a free collection of any unused meals and apply a full credit to your account for the order,” Years said.

The company also urged dog owners who suspect their pets are experiencing eye issues to take them to the vet, stating that “early treatment makes a real difference.”

Asian stocks rose as pressure from the bond market eased after the US Treasury unveiled plans to buy back longer-dated debt to curb borrowing costs. Treasuries held their gains, while the dollar steadied after falling to a three-month low.

MSCI’s Asia Pacific equities gauge climbed 0.8%, led by shares in South Korea, which jumped over 2%. US equity-index futures also advanced in early Asian trading after the S&P 500 Index posted a modest gain Tuesday, even as chipmakers declined.

SK Hynix Inc. shares over 5% in early trading after the South Korean memory-chip maker unveiled plans to buy back 40 trillion won ($29 billion) of shares and return more profits to investors.

Read more: Nifty price-to-book ratio hits 6-year low, but market may not be cheap

The moves in stocks came after a rally in 30-year Treasuries drove yields down 10 basis points to 5.18% during the New York session. That was spurred by the US Treasury announcing plans to boost buybacks of securities dated from the 10-year to the 30-year after a surge in yields to multi-decade highs. Bonds in Australia and Japan tracked the moves in Treasuries.

Gold climbed to around $4,515 an ounce, after climbing to its highest level since early June in the prior session. Brent was steady at $91.60 a barrel, while Bitcoin rose to around $70,000 after President Donald Trump pressed Congress to pass a key crypto bill as the White House hosted industry executives.
Global bonds had been jolted in recent days as investors demanded greater compensation for inflation risks and rising government debt, while tensions in the Middle East added to inflation pressures. The selloff was also fueled by corporate borrowing to fund the artificial-intelligence boom and waning demand from traditional buyers of long-dated debt.“There is no question that the Administration has become very concerned about the bond market once again and thus they are giving it another injection of steroids,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. This is something that could “buoy risk assets over the near-term.”

Long-dated government yields surged globally this week, with the US 30-year yield reaching its highest level since 2007. A 10-year Treasury auction last week drew the highest financing cost for that maturity since 2007, while a 30-year sale a day later cleared at the highest yield since 2001.

While the Treasury didn’t indicate how the operations would be paid for, it typically relies on issuance of bills for its fluctuating funding needs. If officials are in effect replacing longer-dated debt with short-term securities, the maneuver amounts to a version of the Federal Reserve’s “Operation Twist.”

“This administration needs a win, and maybe that comes in the form of artificially trying to keep long Treasury rates contained,” said Jack McIntyre, a portfolio manager at Brandywine Global Investment Management. “They have to try something. Sentiment around the long-end globally is about as bearish as I have seen in a very long time.”

Meanwhile, in geopolitical developments, the US will begin what Trump said would be an unprecedented economic warfare operation against Iran, after faulting the country for failing to take its chance to make a deal with him.

Investors are also parsing minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting, which showed several officials favored raising interest rates last month and many thought further tightening may be needed if inflation failed to cool.

However, uncertainty hung over the meeting as participants’ inflation outlooks were clouded by the Iran war.

“Most participants anticipated that inflation would step down over the rest of the year as the effects of tariffs and earlier energy price increases wane, but many participants noted the possibility that inflation might be more persistently elevated,” the minutes said.

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This year, a subtle yet significant story is playing out across Asia, not captured in headlines about GDP growth or stock market trends, but in the more personal calculus of where the world’s richest individuals decide to call home.

Key Points

• Singapore and Japan remain top destinations for millionaire inflows due to their institutional stability and political predictability, while Hong Kong is seeing a surprising resurgence driven by tech sector connections to mainland China.
• While China and India still experience significant outbound wealth migration, the pace of these departures is slowing as domestic confidence and regulatory environments show signs of stabilization.
• Geopolitical tensions remain a critical factor, driving wealth outflows from regions like Taiwan and South Korea toward more secure jurisdictions in North America and Australia.

According to Henley & Partners’ 2025 Private Wealth Migration Report, Asia is no longer simply a source of outbound millionaires chasing safer shores abroad. It has become one of the most dynamic theatres in the global contest for capital and talent. That shift deserves more scrutiny than it has received.

Singapore’s edge is not an accident

Start with the obvious headline: Singapore remains Asia’s undisputed wealth magnet, expected to draw a substantial net inflow of millionaires this year even as that number has softened slightly from prior years. What is striking is why Singapore keeps winning. 

It isn’t simply low taxes or a favorable exchange rate. It is the compounding effect of political predictability, tightly regulated finance, and a standard of living that lets footloose capital feel at home. Global banks have cited the city-state’s continued push into fintech and premium wealth management as reasons for its enduring appeal. 

In an era when so much of the world feels combustible, Singapore has essentially monetized boredom, and that, frankly, is a savvy long-term strategy other jurisdictions would do well to study.

Hong Kong’s comeback is the year’s real surprise

If Singapore’s dominance was expected, Hong Kong’s resurgence was not. After years of watching wealthy residents flee amid the unrest and uncertainty of 2019 to 2022, Hong Kong has clawed its way back into the global top ten for millionaire inflows. 

The mechanics behind this reversal are worth dwelling on: executives from Shenzhen’s booming tech sector, sitting just across the border, are increasingly choosing to base themselves in Hong Kong rather than treat it as an afterthought. 

This is not nostalgia or sentiment at work. It is proximity, infrastructure, and Hong Kong’s enduring function as a financial gateway into mainland China reasserting themselves. It is a reminder that wealth migration trends are rarely permanent verdicts. They are responses to conditions that can, and do, change.

Japan’s quiet reinvention

Japan, too, deserves more credit than it typically gets in these conversations. Despite a demographic profile that should, in theory, make it a less attractive destination for global capital, Japan is drawing meaningful millionaire inflows on the strength of economic stability, cultural depth, and a deliberate loosening of immigration and investment rules. Wealthy individuals from elsewhere in Asia increasingly see Japan not as a curiosity but as a legitimate place to plant roots or diversify holdings. 

That a country wrestling with an aging population can still outcompete flashier destinations says something about how much weight investors now place on institutional stability over pure growth potential.

China and India: cautious optimism, not capitulation

The most nuanced, and arguably most important, story in the report concerns China and India, the two countries that have long dominated outbound wealth migration statistics. Both are still seeing millionaires leave in significant numbers, but the pace of departures from each is easing. 

In China’s case, improving domestic market conditions and clearer regulatory signals appear to be restoring a measure of confidence among the country’s elite, even if geopolitical tensions continue to give many a reason to hedge their bets abroad. India tells a similar story, buoyed by a thriving technology sector and financial liberalization, even as regulatory complexity and infrastructure gaps continue to nudge some wealthy Indians toward jurisdictions with more predictable legal systems. 

Neither shift should be read as a reversal of fortune. The outflows have not stopped, but the deceleration itself is a meaningful data point, and one that global wealth managers would be unwise to ignore.

Geopolitics is the wildcard nobody can price in

Not every Asian economy is riding this wave of retained confidence. South Korea’s outflow of millionaires is projected to double this year, driven by economic pressure, demographic strain, and the ever-present tension on the Korean Peninsula, with many looking toward North America for second homes and new ventures. 

Vietnam has seen a similar exodus, largely toward Thailand and the West. Taiwan presents perhaps the starkest illustration of how geopolitics can override even strong fundamentals: its semiconductor-driven economy is thriving, yet rising cross-strait tension with Beijing is pushing some of its wealthiest citizens to look toward Australia and Canada for the kind of personal and political security that economic success alone cannot guarantee.

The bigger picture

Zoom out, and the decade-long trend is unambiguous: China and India have seen extraordinary growth in their millionaire populations, ranking among the fastest-growing wealth markets globally, with Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand not far behind. This is not a story of Asia losing its wealthy to the West. It is a story of Asia generating wealth at a pace the rest of the world is struggling to match, even as that wealth remains highly mobile and acutely sensitive to political risk.

The lesson for policymakers, in Asia and beyond, is straightforward but easy to ignore: capital increasingly follows stability, regulatory clarity, and credible institutions, not just tax incentives or growth headlines. 

Singapore and Japan have understood this for years. Hong Kong appears to be relearning it. And how China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan respond to that lesson over the next decade will likely determine which of Asia’s cities become the world’s next great wealth capitals, and which get left behind.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee closed at a three week low of 95.75 on Wednesday, marginally weaker from its previous close of 95.68, with traders attributing the modest retreat to substantial central bank interventions that prevented further losses for the local monetary unit.

The RBI has consistently intervened for the past nine trading sessions, arresting weakness in the rupee, as oil prices soared. Indian equity indices have also continued to fall through most of last week and this week, reflecting the impact of soaring energy costs.

Read more: Goldman Sachs backs D-street debutante Shiprocket, buys over 40 lakh shares

Kolkata: India needs to make gold recycling more attractive to unlock household stocks and reduce dependence on imports, said Samit Guha, managing director of MMTC PAMP, the country’s only gold-refining unit accredited by the London Bullion Market Association.

Indian households are estimated to hold 31,000 tonnes of gold. The country imports about 800 tonnes annually

Read more: Indian jewellers may earn up to 1% incentive under revamped Gold Monetisation Scheme: IBJA

A more lucrative gold monetisation scheme could bring some of that metal into the formal market, boosting recycling and helping revive underused refining capacity, Guha said. India has about 1,800 tonnes of installed gold-refining capacity, much of which remains underutilised. The government is working with all stakeholders to develop a revamped gold monetisation scheme (GMS), after the earlier programme launched in 2015 made little headway.

MMTC PAMP currently recycles around 22 tonnes of gold and plans to increase this by 10-15% annually, he said. “If an attractive GMS is launched, then it can go up substantially.” The company has the capacity to refine 300 tonnes of gold and 600 tonnes of silver annually, leaving significant headroom to scale up recycling.

ALSO READ | India’s gold headache far from cured after 60 days of breather
A greater flow of recycled gold into the domestic market could also help address pressure on India’s current-account deficit by substituting a portion of imported bullion with domestically sourced metal. With gold accounting for a significant share of India’s merchandise imports, recycling household gold could reduce the need for fresh imports and, consequently, the outflow of foreign exchange. “Recycling complements imports; it does not replace them,” Guha said, adding that India’s next gold story should be about how efficiently, transparently and responsibly the country circulates and monetises the gold it already owns.

Southeast Asian nations are close to finalizing the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), a landmark regional pact designed to govern their digital economy, projected to reach $2 trillion by 2030. This agreement, supported by the World Economic Forum, aims to harmonize digital trade rules, facilitate cross-border data flows, and establish coherent regulations for e-commerce and digital payments across the region.

DEFA seeks to move from fragmentation to integration, fostering a seamless digital ecosystem that benefits businesses of all sizes, including MSMEs, and promotes inclusive growth. The agreement is expected to be signed by the end of 2026, promising significant economic benefits through digital integration.

• Southeast Asian nations have come a step closer to cementing the world’s first regional agreement on digital economy governance.
• The ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), due to be concluded and signed in 2026, aims to bolster a digital economy that could reach $2 trillion by 2030.
• The World Economic Forum’s ASEAN Digital Economy Agreement Leadership project has supported the DEFA negotiation process since its inception.

Southeast Asian nations have reached a critical milestone in negotiations for the world’s first comprehensive regional digital economy agreement, setting the stage for digital integration across a market of nearly 680 million people.

At a gathering in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced it reached the “substantial conclusion” in negotiations for the region’s Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA). The announcement marks a major step in more than two years of talks, which included 14 rounds of negotiations.

ASEAN DEFA is now poised to become the world’s first region-wide agreement focused exclusively on digital economy governance. Unlike digital provisions embedded in broader trade agreements, the pact stands out as a dedicated framework designed to harmonize digital trade rules, enable trusted cross-border data flows and establish coherent regulations for paperless trading, e-commerce, cybersecurity and digital payments across ASEAN.

A $2 trillion digital future

The economic stakes involved are significant as ASEAN’s digital economy continues to grow rapidly. Currently valued at around $300 billion, it is projected to reach $1 trillion by 2030, a figure that could potentially double to $2 trillion with DEFA’s successful implementation.

Indonesia, which leads the region’s digital economy with a $90 billion valuation in 2024, could reportedly see its digital economy triple to $360 billion by 2030, with e-commerce contributing $150 billion.​

In 2023, 71% of all venture capital deals across ASEAN were digital economy-related, 11% higher than the global average. Meanwhile, annual announced investments in communication, data processing and hosting services have increased nearly sixfold in the past ten years, from $777 million in 2015 to $4.4 billion in 2024.

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Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has planned a comprehensive review of rules governing IPOs by small and medium companies, its chief, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, said Wednesday. Separately, he said the new system for determining the closing prices of most frequently traded securities detects manipulation much faster than was possible with the earlier mechanism. “Issues such as market making were adding to the cost for small-company IPOs,” Sebi chairman said at an industry event.

The underwriting system is another area that needs attention, he said, adding that it is not working effectively and companies are having to bear significant costs.

A working group formed by Sebi to examine issues related to the SME platform has recently submitted its report to the regulator. Sebi will be coming out with a consultation paper soon on the SME platform. “If someone is on the SME platform, obviously we do not want them to incur higher costs. But the cost is significantly higher compared with the mainboard,” Pandey said.
Read more: Sebi flags manipulative trades during CAS on Sensex expiry day, fines two entities
He added that increasing the trading lot size and application size to control retail participation has not achieved the intended purpose. Sebi is also looking to support global fund management activity from India. The changes to the portfolio management services regulation would enable trading from onshore, Pandey said.

The share of fund managers who said they are overweight equities is at its highest level since November 2021.

When asked what they expected the world economy to do in the next 12 months—a soft landing (a gentle slowdown) or a hard landing (a sharper slowdown)—most respondents chose neither. Instead, a record 56% of fund managers predicted “no landing,” or continued growth.

Some 72% of respondents said they didn’t expect the Fed to hike interest rates before the November midterm elections.