TORONTO Serena Williams shook off some hard-court rust before rolling to a 2-6 6-3 6-0 win over Italy’s Flavia Pennetta at the Rogers Cup on Tuesday, but the home crowd failed to fire up local favorite Eugenie Bouchard, who slumped to another first round exit.... More »
NEW YORK A Russian art dealer accused by Polish authorities of illegally acquiring an 18th-century painting stolen during World War II by the Nazis cannot be extradited from the United States, a Manhattan federal judge ruled on Monday. U.S. District Judge Jed ... More »
LONDON/SYDNEY Economic headwinds facing Chinese manufacturers intensified last month, with conditions deteriorating to their weakest level in two years, while euro zone factories largely shrugged off Greece’s brush with bankruptcy. July was a fraught month for... More »
FRANKFURT/HELSINKI German carmakers BMW (BMWG.DE), Audi (VOWG_p.DE) and Mercedes (DAIGn.DE), will pay around 2.5 billion euros ($2.75 billion) to buy Nokia’s maps business, a transformational deal that will help them to develop self-driving cars. Daimler BMW a... More »
LONDON The dollar fell against a basket of currencies on Monday, weighed down by below-par wage growth data late last week that clouded the outlook over when U.S. interest rates are likely to rise. U.S. short-dated yields fell and the dollar was sold on Friday... More »
LONDON The Chinese slowdown is forcing many Western companies to take a hard look at their businesses there, leading many to reduce investments, costs and product lines and to tackle increasing bad debts. Double digit growth rates during the first decade of th... More »
BERLIN French finance minister Michel Sapin has criticized his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble for suggesting that Greece could temporarily leave the euro zone, but said the Franco-German relationship is “not broken”. In an interview with German business... More »
VIENNA The chief executive of BMW hinted in a German paper that there was potential for another of its “i” electric car models. “Between the i3 and the i8, there is space if you look at it from the number point of view,” Harald Krueger told Frankfurter Allgeme... More »
LONDON U.S. equities’ share in global portfolios fell to the lowest in at least five years and U.S. bond allocations were also cut as nervous investors started readying themselves for the first Federal Reserve rate rise in almost a decade. But while U.S. asset... More »
BERLIN/FRANKFURT The comet lander Philae may be uncommunicative at the moment, but the pictures and measurements it took after it touched down on a comet in November have shown scientists that the comet is covered with coarse material, rather than dust, and is... More »
ATHENS Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, struggling to contain a revolt in his left-wing Syriza party, said on Wednesday that his government would not implement reform measures beyond those agreed with lenders at a euro zone summit this month. Tsipras faces... More »
LONDON European pay-TV group Sky said on Wednesday it expects to perform strongly in its new financial year after better-than-expected 2014/15 profits prompted investors to rethink their growth forecasts for the newly-enlarged group. Sky, formed from the combi... More »
BERLIN A Greek exit from the euro zone would cause “utter chaos” but would have to be accepted if Athens was not willing to implement reforms, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian ally Horst Seehofer told German newspaper Die Welt on Wednesday. “No one can pred... More »
BERLIN The German government’s panel of independent economic advisers favors creating an insolvency mechanism for euro zone states and says countries should be able to leave the single currency as a last resort. The Greek crisis has called into question the fu... More »
BAYREUTH, Germany A renovated Richard Wagner Museum opening in Bayreuth this weekend to coincide with the Bavarian city’s annual Wagner opera festival puts the composer’s anti-Semitism and his family’s later ties to Adolf Hitler center stage for the first time... More »
LONDON/NEW YORK The global economy started the second half of the year on shaky ground with China’s factory sector activity contracting in July at the fastest pace in 15 months and euro zone manufacturing weaker than expected, although U.S. activity picked up.... More »
PARIS The prospect of Greece being forced to leave the euro zone has lifted, ECB governing council member Christian Noyer said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper published on Friday. Noyer, who is also governor of the Bank of France, said that Greece repr... More »
LONDON European shares retreated on Tuesday from their six-week high in the previous session, with the healthcare leading the market lower after Novartis (NOVN.VX) reported quarterly incomes below analysts’ expectations. The STOXX Europe 600 Healthcare Index .... More »
FRANKFURT/STUTTGART SAP’s order pipeline for the second half of the year is “very healthy” and will offset a decline in sales from its packaged software products, which will pose no threat to the company’s full-year operating profit target, its finance chief s... More »
FRANKFURT German business software maker SAP posted quarterly profit at the low end of forecasts, hit by weak sales of its traditional packaged software and a rapid shift by customers to lower-margin cloud software delivered via the Internet. Like established ... More »
ATHENS Once again Alexis Tsipras was struggling to make a decision. For hours on July 13, the Greek prime minister and Europe’s leaders had been trying to thrash out a new deal to bail out bankrupt Greece and keep the country in the euro zone. Now a clean copy... More »
LONDON British publisher Pearson (PSON.L) is exploring the sale of its Financial Times newspaper after receiving interest from potential buyers, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Pearson was sounding out possible bidders for... More »
BERLIN German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel criticized Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in a television interview to be broadcast later on Sunday for suggesting that Greece could quit the euro zone temporarily. Schaeuble has said that Greece could take a ... More »
BRUSSELS The latest paroxysm of Greece’s debt crisis has exposed growing rifts in the euro zone which, unless addressed soon, could lead to the break-up of European monetary union, the EU’s most ambitious project. The most worrying sign for European leaders is... More »
BERLIN More than half of Germans think the planned deal with Greece is bad and many would have preferred that the crisis-stricken country left the euro zone rather than getting the chance for further aid, according to an opinion poll. Lawmakers in Germany, the... More »
LONDON Buckingham Palace scolded Rupert Murdoch’s top-selling Sun tabloid on Saturday for publishing a previously unknown film from 1933 that appears to show Britain’s Queen Elizabeth performing a Nazi salute as a young girl. The black-and-white film from the ... More »
BERLIN German lawmakers gave their go-ahead on Friday for the euro zone to negotiate a third bailout for Greece, but a warning from Chancellor Angela Merkel that the alternative was chaos failed to prevent a hefty rebellion in her own party. The Bundestag, the... More »
BERLIN German lawmakers gave their go ahead on Friday for the euro zone to negotiate a third bailout for Greece, heeding a warning from Chancellor Angela Merkel that the alternative to a deal with Athens was chaos. The Bundestag lower house of parliament, whos... More »
BRUSSELS Euro zone leaders clinched a deal with Greece on Monday to negotiate a third bailout to keep the near-bankrupt country in the euro zone after a whole night of haggling at an emergency summit. “Euro summit has unanimously reached agreement. All ready t... More »
VIENNA A senior Iranian negotiator voiced hope on Monday that a nuclear deal with six major powers would be completed but cautioned that there was work to be done and he could not promise the talks would finish by Tuesday night, Iranian media reported. “I cann... More »
BRUSSELS Euro zone leaders told near-bankrupt Greece at an emergency summit on Sunday it must enact key reforms this week to restore trust before they will open talks on a financial rescue to keep it in the European currency area. Leftist Prime Minister Alexis... More »
PARIS An attempt by Airbus to make history by crossing the English Channel in an electric plane ended in wounded pride on Friday after a French pilot claimed to have beaten it by hours. In a further twist, a Slovenian businessman said he might have beaten both... More »
TORONTO BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO), which has been coy about its ambitions to make a mainstream Android smartphone, fueled more speculation about its plans this week when it scooped up two Android-related domain names. Several blog posts in the last two days have ... More »
NEW YORK From rubber-soled footwear in the 1830s to a spike running shoe in the 1860s and luxury creations by designers Christian Louboutin and Prada, a new exhibit traces the history of sneakers from their humble beginnings to iconic status. “The Rise of Snea... More »
AMIENS, France After a three-year hiatus live coverage of the Tour de France is again being broadcast on public television in Germany and is enjoying increased attention buoyed by the success of their riders. German TV has had a troubled relationship with the ... More »
SYDNEY Nick Kyrgios has accused Olympic great Dawn Fraser of being a “blatant racist” after she said tennis players should “go back to where their parents came from” if they did not set a better example to Australian youth. The former champion swimmer, after i... More »
BRUSSELS/ATHENS Greece faces a last chance to stay in the euro zone on Tuesday when Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras puts proposals to an emergency euro zone summit after Greek voters resoundingly rejected the austerity terms of a defunct bailout. With Greek bank... More »
WASHINGTON Loss of U.S. Export-Import Bank financing would put Boeing Co (BA.N) at a “huge competitive disadvantage” since its rivals still have access to such financing support, the head of the company’s commercial aircraft division told reporters on Monday. ... More »
VIENNA A dispute over U.N. sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program and a broader arms embargo were among issues holding up a nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers on Monday, the day before their latest self-imposed deadline. “The Iranians want... More »
MUNICH/FRANKFURT German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 and German publishing house Axel Springer have reignited talks for a merger, seeking to consolidate their push into digital media, two sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. Axel Springer, the publis... More »
LONDON Unbeaten British boxer Tyson Fury will get a shot at the world heavyweight title in October after agreeing terms for a meeting with champion Wladimir Klitschko. The 39-year-old Ukrainian’s WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO crowns will be on the line when the pair m... More »
FRANKFURT The euro may be facing an existential crisis but the giant 14-metre sculpture of the euro symbol that towers over downtown Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank, was still getting its biggest makeover in 13 years on Monday. Considered an eyeso... More »
SAO PAULO Swiss lender UBS AG made a whistleblower deal with Brazilian authorities investigating the suspected rigging of Brazil’s currency market and will receive no punishment in the case, a local newspaper reported on Friday. The investigation, which involv... More »
NEW YORK Investors pulled $3 billion in assets from Pacific Investment Management Co’s flagship fund in June, compared with $2.7 billion the previous month, in another sign Pimco is stabilizing since last fall’s departure of star manager Bill Gross. The Pimco ... More »
MEXICO CITY It could have been the height of diplomatic embarrassment for Mexico’s president. When Enrique Pena Nieto hosted towering King Felipe of Spain this week, it was a tongue-in-cheek paint ad ridiculing his 10- inch height deficit that grabbed the head... More »
ATHENS The head of the European Commission made a last-minute offer to try to persuade Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to accept a bailout deal he has rejected before a referendum on Sunday which EU partners say will be a choice of whether to stay in the e... More »
DUBAI Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, departed Tehran for Vienna with nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi and Hossein Fereydoon, a brother and close aide to President Hassan Rouhani, for nuclear talks, state news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday. Zari... More »
BRUSSELS The European Union reached a preliminary deal on Tuesday to scrap mobile roaming charges across the 28-country bloc by June 2017 as part of an overhaul of the continent’s telecoms market to boost growth and innovation. “Under the agreement, roaming su... More »
FRANKFURT Talks to resolve a pay dispute at German airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) have made enough progress to lift the threat of any immediate work stoppages, flight attendants’ union UFO said early on Tuesday. Lufthansa had faced a June 30 deadline to make conc... More »
PARIS Chris Froome struggled for form, then crashed but the Briton looks ready just in time to compete for a second Tour de France title although micro managers Team Sky will struggle to control the race like they usually do. Froome, who claimed the 2013 Tour ... More »
ATHENS Tens of thousands of Greeks rallied on Monday to back their leftwing government’s rejection of a tough international bailout after a clash with foreign lenders pushed Greece close to financial chaos and forced a shutdown of its banking system. With a po... More »
WASHINGTON The fuse may be lit for a Greek exit from the euro zone but the fallout in the United States is expected to be modest and not enough to throw the Federal Reserve’s likely September rate hike off course, said former Fed officials and outside analysts... More »
NEW YORK European shares fell broadly Monday as Greece edged closer to defaulting on its debt, yet some U.S. equity fund managers said that they were waiting for further declines before they considered it a buying opportunity. “We’re not in oversold territory ... More »
CANNES (This version of the story corrects figures on Publicis contract wins, paragraph 13) The reluctance of big companies to spend at a time of lacklustre global growth and fewer major sporting events this year are dampening demand for advertising, said the ... More »
FRANKFURT German media group ProSiebenSat.1 has agreed to buy 80 percent of German energy price comparison site Verivox from Oakley Capital for 170 million euros ($190 million). The price tag for Verivox, ProSieben’s largest digital acquisition so far, could r... More »
BERLIN The “blind insistence” on cutting Greek pensions will only worsen the country’s already dire financial crisis, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wrote in a German newspaper commentary on Thursday. In a guest column for Der Tagesspiegel newspaper in Be... More »
VIENNA An Austrian brothel is offering customers free sex in a summer-long protest over what its owner sees as punitive tax payments. “We are not paying taxes any more. Effective immediately: Free Entrance! Free Drinks! Free Sex!” the Pascha establishment in S... More »
BERLIN Germany would support Spain’s Economy Minister Luis de Guindos to succeed the Netherlands’ Jeroen Dijsselbloem as chairman of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance minister, a spokesman for Germany’s Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. “We have indicated o... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla Europe’s Airbus Group will design and build about 900 satellites for privately owned OneWeb Ltd, which plans to offer high-speed, space-based Internet access to billions of people worldwide, company officials said on Monday. About 700 of th... More »
FRANKFURT A robotic space lander has surprised scientists by waking up and sending a signal to Earth, seven months after straying into the shadows of a comet where they feared it might be marooned for ever. The European Space Agency said on Sunday that it had ... More »
FRANKFURT The incoming head of the European Space Agency said in a published interview that the International Space Station should be opened up to astronauts from India and China. The $100 billion space station, visible from Earth to the naked eye, is a habita... More »
OTTAWA Striker Orathai Srimanee scored two first half goals to lead World Cup debutants Thailand to a pulsating 3-2 comeback win over fellow minnows Ivory Coast in their women’s World Cup Group B match on Thursday. The result was tough luck on the Africans, th... More »
KRUEN, Germany Group of Seven (G7) leaders vowed at a summit in the Bavarian Alps on Sunday to keep sanctions against Russia in place until President Vladimir Putin and Moscow-backed separatists fully implement the terms of a peace deal for Ukraine. The Ukrain... More »
KRUEN, Germany British Prime Minister David Cameron sought to quell fresh signs of rebellion in his Conservative Party over Europe, warning ministers they will have to back his European Union strategy or leave his government. Speaking on the sidelines of a mee... More »
FRANKFURT Germany’s largest lender Deutsche Bank purged its leadership on Sunday, appointing Briton John Cryan as chief executive to replace Anshu Jain just two weeks after Jain was given more power to reorganize the bank. Deutsche Bank has struggled to restor... More »
FRANKFURT Anshu Jain spent 20 years building Deutsche Bank into a global investment bank that rivalled Wall Street’s giants. But once ensconced as co-chief executive in 2012 – a time when regulators and voters raged against the financial industry – he struggle... More »
BRUSSELS Greece wants to restructure its huge public debt through cheaper refinancing, longer maturities, a write off of some principal and turning some debt into perpetual or GDP-linked bonds, but the plans have no support in the euro zone so far. The Greek g... More »
BERLIN As Greece stumbles towards bankruptcy, a Eurosceptic party bent on breaking up the euro zone should be enjoying its golden hour- but instead the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is mired in such bitter personal feuding it teeters on the verge of collapse i... More »
ATHENS Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday spurned “absurd” terms of proposed aid from lenders and delayed a debt payment to the International Monetary Fund, prolonging an impasse that threatens to push Greece into default and out of the euro zone. I... More »
MASADA, Israel Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, composed in the Nazi era, will be showcased at an Israeli opera festival against the backdrop of a towering desert plateau that stands as a symbol of Jewish resistance and sacrifice. Orff’s cantata comprising 24 poems... More »
TOKYO The dollar ascended to a new 12-1/2-year peak against the yen on Tuesday, while Asian shares fell for a second day as the stronger greenback pressured commodity prices. But financial spreadbetters predicted a brighter day in Europe, with Britain’s FTSE 1... More »
TOKYO/SYDNEY The dollar scaled a fresh 12-1/2 year high against the yen on Tuesday, breaching a key threshold along the way as it extended a strong run after upbeat U.S. data. Dollar bulls latched onto a survey showing a pick up in U.S. manufacturing activity ... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived back in the United States on Monday aboard a special military flight from Europe after breaking his leg in a cycling accident. After landing at Boston’s Logan airport at 8:50 p.m. EDT, Kerry headed to Massa... More »
BERLIN/BRUSSELS The leaders of Germany, France and Greece’s international creditor institutions agreed late on Monday to work with “real intensity” in the coming days as they try to clinch a deal in debt negotiations with Athens. Athens and its creditors from ... More »
LONDON, Euro zone factory growth was weaker than previously thought last month as the bloc’s core countries continued to struggle, a survey of businesses showed on Monday. That is likely to disappoint the European Central Bank, which is battling to get inflati... More »
BRUSSELS Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Some euro zone countries are accusing the European Commission of giving Greece false hope of new loans for less reform effort, but they still want Brussels to find a way to keep a defiant Athens in the euro. Afte... More »
TOKYO Asian shares edged higher on Monday but gains were capped by concerns that market volatility may intensify as the U.S. central bank prepares to raise interest rates for the first time in six years. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated on Fri... More »
MONACO Germany’s Nico Rosberg celebrated a surprise hat-trick of Monaco Grand Prix victories on Sunday after Mercedes blew championship-leading team mate Lewis Hamilton’s chances with a needless pitstop. The result, with Hamilton finishing third after leading ... More »
FRANKFURT Carmaker Daimler on Saturday announced a partnership with mobile technologies company Qualcomm Inc. to explore wireless recharging of mobile phones in cars as well as recharging of electric cars without cables. The move forms part of a broader push b... More »
BERLIN German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said there is no need to consider disbursing more aid to Greece because Athens has already promised reforms and must tackle the problem itself. In a radio interview to be aired on Sunday, Schaeuble said: “G... More »
FRANKFURT German drugmaker Bayer expects the world’s largest economies to pool billions of euros in funding for the development of antibiotics against the growing threat of drug-resistant superbugs, its chief executive said on Friday. “I expect a multinational... More »
BERLIN German police detained a 25-year-old prostitute for keeping a three-week-old lamb named Birke as a pet in a Munich brothel, police said in a statement. The woman was also briefly detained for drug possession – she and her lamb were discovered during a n... More »
BRUSSELS A slowdown in Germany weighed on the euro zone in the first quarter, but the bloc’s economy still grew at its fastest in almost two years as cheap food and fuel boosted spending and a central bank stimulus program kicked in. Gross domestic product in ... More »
NEW YORK German bond yields climbed on Tuesday on optimism that inflation may have bottomed in the euro zone, lifting demand for the euro, while volatility in global bond markets weighed on stock indexes. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields hit six-month highs before... More »
ATHENS Greece emptied an emergency IMF holding account to repay 750 million euros ($839 million) due to the international lender, a Greek central bank official said, avoiding default but underscoring the dire state of the country’s finances. With Athens close ... More »
LONDON Government bonds sold off again on Tuesday, driving down stocks and helping push the euro sharply higher against the dollar. Traders struggled to explain fully the latest lurch higher in yields, which drove those on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries US1... More »
MADRID Spain’s Defence Minister Pedro Morenes said on Tuesday that flight permission for Airbus (AIR.PA) A-400M planes currently in production in Spain has been temporarily withdrawn until the reasons for Saturday’s fatal crash were determined. “It’s obvious t... More »
BRUSSELS German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Tuesday that although the atmosphere in debt talks with Greece had improved, that had not been matched by similar progress on matters of substance. He told a news conference after a meeting of EU fina... More »
MUNICH, Germany Adidas (ADSGn.DE), which has hired advisers to help fend off any potential hostile takeover bid, said it had not been approached by activist investors seeking to build a stake, Germany’s manager magazin reported last September that hedge funds ... More »
LONDON With optimism building that the United States is already recovering smartly from another horrible start to the year, focus will shift this week to reports that may show the euro zone is finally shaking off half a decade of torpor. The 19-member currency... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Maya Plisetskaya, a star of Russia’s Bolshoi ballet who overcame a legacy of Stalinist oppression to redefine her art and be feted as the greatest ballerina of her generation, has died in Germany aged 89. Plisetskaya died of a heart attack i... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – If fear of Europe-wide financial wildfire was Athens’ trump card in its standoff with euro zone creditors – then the card has now turned up a dud. The merits of ruling socialist party Syriza’s demands aside, its brinkmanship in renegotiating... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday he was confident of an outline deal with international creditors within two weeks, after shaking up his negotiating team and sidelining his finance minister who has infuriated euro zone par... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – A rally in Chinese stocks led Asian equities to 7-year highs thanks to expectations of more stimulus from Beijing with stellar earnings from a few U.S. hi-tech giants further underpinning a broadly positive mood. Some markets were slightly mo... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A German government spokesman confirmed on Monday that Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had a telephone conversation on Sunday but declined to comment on the contents of their conversation. “I can confirm the ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar started the week on the defensive on Monday after more disappointing U.S. economic data reinforced expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will not hike interest rates any time soon, while concerns about Greece’s debt talks pressured... More »
BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Ferdinand Piech, who resigned as chairman of Volkswagen over the weekend, sowed the seeds of his own demise by reneging on a deal to support CEO Martin Winterkorn and secretly plotting to oust him instead, according to sources clos... More »
