Top headlines: AirAsia CEO quits, companies see Budget helping CV sales

From AirAsia CEO, chairman quitting over bribery scandal to Malaysia saying that palm oil dispute with India is temporary, here are the day's top headlines

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes, chairman quit over Airbus bribery scandal

Fernandes, one of the aviation industry's best-known faces, on Monday stepped aside as chief executive of Asia's biggest budget airline for at least two months, as authorities investigate allegations that Airbus paid a bribe of $50 million through sponsorship of the Caterham F1 team to win orders from AirAsia. Read More

Companies see Budget 2020 farm, infra push helping commercial vehicle sales

The Union Budget will perk up commercial vehicle (CV) sales held up by a slowing economy and transporters saddled with surplus capacity, said industry representatives as companies reported their latest figures. Read more

Oil ministry seeks nod to split GAIL; pipeline business may be sold later

The Oil Ministry has moved a cabinet note seeking approval for hiving off state-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd's pipeline business into a separate entity for a possible sale to a strategic investor at a later date, sources privy to the development said. Read more

Malaysia says palm oil dispute with India is 'temporary', will be resolved

Last month, India restricted imports of refined palm oil and asked importers to avoid purchases from Malaysia after its criticism of India's actions in Kashmir and a new citizenship law. Read more

Twitter says state-backed actors may have accessed users' phone numbers

In a statement published on its privacy blog, Twitter said it had identified a "high volume of requests" to use the feature coming from IP addresses in Iran, Israel and Malaysia. It said, without elaborating, that "some of these IP addresses may have ties to state-sponsored actors." Read more

Coronavirus: Mass cancellation of hotel bookings in Kerala, says Minister

Hong Kong reported its first coronavirus death on Tuesday, a 39-year-old male who had been suffering from an underlying illness and had visited China's Wuhan city in January, hospital staff said, marking the second death outside mainland China. Read more