OSLO (Reuters) – Eight candidates have applied to head Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the country’s central bank said on Tuesday, as its board prepares to decide who should steer the global portfolio of assets worth $1.1 trillion through a time of transition.... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The euro dropped back towards $1.08 on Monday and the Australian dollar tumbled to a new 11-year low as the rapid spread of the coronavirus outside China drove fears of a pandemic and sent investors to the safety of the U.S. dollar. The safe... More »
MASERU (Reuters) – Lesotho’s Prime Minister Thomas Thabane appeared in court on Monday to hear charges of murdering his estranged wife, a Reuters witness saw. Thabane, 80, is suspected of involvement in the murder of his then wife Lipolelo, who was shot dead i... More »
BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) – Fears of a coronavirus pandemic grew on Monday after sharp rises in new cases reported in Iran, Italy and South Korea but China relaxed restrictions on movements in several places including Beijing as its rates of new infections eased... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) no longer has a process for declaring a pandemic, but the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak remains an international emergency, a spokesman said on Monday. Fears of a coronavirus pandemic grew on Monday after ... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has submitted a letter of resignation to the country’s king, his office said on Monday, leaving the government in limbo amid talk of forming a new governing coalition. The fate of Malaysia’s ru... More »
ROME (Reuters) – A fourth person infected with the coronavirus has died in Italy, RAI radio reported on Monday, as officials struggle to contain an outbreak of the illness in the north of the country with around 150 cases reported since Friday. The dead patien... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – French junior transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said on Monday that he saw no need to close down transport borders between France and Italy, despite the spread of coronavirus. “Closing down the borders would make no sense, as the ... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s biggest bank UniCredit (CRDI.MI) said on Monday Chief Executive Jean Pierre Mustier had confirmed he would remain in his role, following media reports that he was being considered for the top job at rival HSBC (HSBA.L). UniCredit rece... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Global shares and oil slid on Monday while safe-haven gold surged as the spread of the coronavirus outside China darkened the outlook for world growth with infections and deaths rising in South Korea, Italy and the Middle East. The large spi... More »
(Reuters) – Towering American Reilly Opelka beat Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in three sets to win his second career ATP Tour title at the Delray Beach Open in Florida on Sunday. The fourth-seeded Opelka clinched victory in style, pounding his 27th ace of the ma... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain must not exclude its huge services industry from a planned trade deal with the European Union as the price for reclaiming control over its economy, a group representing British employers said on Monday. The Confederation of British I... More »
(Reuters) – Warren Buffett on Saturday called on corporate America to make their boards of directors more accountable to shareholders and less beholden to chief executive officers, perhaps by reducing their pay and requiring that they buy more stock. In his an... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s new finance minister Rishi Sunak will have to raise taxes rather than rely on tweaks to budget rules if he wants to really ramp up spending in a first post-Brexit budget next month, the Resolution Foundation, a think-tank, said. Su... More »
(Reuters) – Tyson Fury says he expects Deontay Wilder to take up the option of a rematch of their heavyweight championship bout but is ready for fellow Briton Anthony Joshua if the American declines. Speaking after his seventh-round TKO victory over Wilder in ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A French street artist’s interpretation of the Mona Lisa made of 330 Rubik’s Cubes sold for 480,200 euros ($520,680) on Sunday at a modern art auction in Paris, well above presale estimates of up to 150,000 euros, organizers Artcurial said. T... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Failure to reach a global deal on where and how much to tax digital giants such as Google (GOOGL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) or Facebook (FB.O) would result in many digital tax regimes emerging all over the world, France’s Finance Minister said on S... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Dolce & Gabbana prepared for the winter chill on Sunday, staging a Fall/Winter 2020 show featuring oversized chunky sweaters, woolly socks and furry slippers. The Italian fashion house’s presentation at Milan Fashion Week came shortly after G... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Raf Simons will join Prada as co-creative director, marking the first time the Italian fashion house has hired an outsider to work with renowned head designer Miuccia Prada. Belgian-born Simons, 52, will join Prada on April 2, the group said ... More »
RIYADH/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Central bankers from the United States, Japan and the euro zone meeting in the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia this weekend had their own shifting sands to cross – those of elusive inflation. The problem facing all three is that pr... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Hundreds of people including Roger Waters, co-founder of the Pink Floyd rock group, and designer Vivienne Westwood, marched through central London on Saturday demanding that jailed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange be released. A London court... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Leading world economies must show unity in dealing with aggressive “tax optimization” by global digital giants like Google (GOOGL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Facebook (FB.O), G20 officials said on Saturday. The Organisation for Economic Cooperat... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece distanced itself on Wednesday from suggestions that it planned to drag a centuries-old dispute over the return of the Parthenon marbles into Brexit negotiations. Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said Athens would keep up its campai... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers discussed ways to pursue a more growth-friendly fiscal policy mix on Monday, in a potential nudge to Germany and the Netherlands to spend more as fears of a downturn grow in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic.... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The euro struggled near 3-year lows on Monday as investors worried about weakening growth in the region, while Chinese efforts to limit the damage from a coronavirus outbreak appeared to calm markets, with the yuan and Australian dollar gain... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French train maker Alstom (ALSO.PA) has confirmed it is in talks on the possible acquisition of the train business of Canada’s Bombardier (BBDb.TO), a potential $7 billion deal that could help it build scale in the increasingly competitive ra... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain does not need any special arrangements in its future relationship with the European Union, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said on Monday, adding that it wants a trade agreement similar to other deals the EU has struck. Prim... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers are set to discuss on Monday a document that calls for a more growth-friendly fiscal policy, a move that could lead to Germany’s spending more amid fears of a downturn. The 19-country euro zone has for years stu... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s own security standards will dictate which companies take part in its planned 5G rollout this year, its communications minister told Reuters on Monday, as the United States pushes countries to exclude China’s Huawei [HWT.UL].... More »
(Reuters) – British nanotechnology company Nanoco said on Monday it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co and affiliates in a district court in Texas relating to quantum dots. Nanoco, which produces quantum dots that are used t... More »
(Reuters) – 1/CHINA ON SICK LEAVE A leap in coronavirus cases in Hubei gave markets pause, for all of 24 hours. Then attention shifted back to the global case-count and the rally resumed. But while investors are focused on containment, the world’s second-bigge... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian headline inflation rate is forecast to ease in 2020 to 1.5 percent for the year from 2.2% in 2019, a publicly appointed commission said on Monday. With members from labor unions, employers’ federations and Statistics Norway, the comm... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A gauge of how Britons feel about their household finances hit its highest level on record this month, the latest sign of a confidence bounce since Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decisive election win in December. The IHS Markit Household Fi... More »
(Reuters) – European shares hit a record high on Monday, with automobile stocks leading gains amid fresh attempts by China to limit the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Automobile stocks .SXAP, which are highly sensitive to Chinese demand and indus... More »
(Reuters) – NMC Health (NMC.L) said on Monday its founder BR Shetty had resigned as the Emirati healthcare group’s joint non-executive chairman, leaving UK businessman H.J. Mark Tompkins as sole chairman. NMC, the United Arab Emirates’ largest private healthca... More »
(Reuters) – NMC Health (NMC.L) said on Monday its founder BR Shetty had resigned as joint non-executive chairman, months after the UAE healthcare group was thrown into turmoil by doubts over its finances. NMC is the largest private healthcare company in the Un... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A French soldier has died while on operations in Burkina Faso, the French Armed Forces Ministry said in a statement on Monday. The ministry said the causes of the death of Sergeant Morgan Henry were unknown for now and an investigation was un... More »
(Reuters) – British bookmaker William Hill (WMH.L) on Monday named cardboard maker DS Smith’s (SMDS.L) Chief Financial Officer Adrian Marsh as its finance head. Marsh will join William Hill later this year, taking over from Ruth Prior whose departure was annou... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Beleaguered Indian wireless carrier Vodafone Idea (VODA.NS) will pay 35 billion rupees ($490 million) in telecoms dues to the federal government by Feb. 21, a lawyer for the company said on Monday. Hopes that Vodafone Idea could outlive t... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Fast-growing British digital bank Monzo plans to hire up to 500 people and forecasts it will get 5.5 million users this year, as it prepares to have another crack at charging some customers to turn a profit. The loss-making firm has burned t... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A German court on Sunday ordered Tesla Inc to stop clearing forest land near the capital Berlin to build its first European car and battery factory, a victory for local environmental activists. The U.S. electric carmaker announced plans last... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Victoria Beckham chose black dresses paired with distinctive belts and chunky thigh-high platform boots for a collection she characterized as a “gentle rebellion” at London Fashion Week on Sunday. The former Spice Girl pop star turned design... More »
KABUL (Reuters) – After a busy afternoon walking the catwalk in a luxury hotel in Kabul on Friday, Salma Hussaini was named Afghanistan’s first “Ms Valentine”. The 20-year-old from Bamiyan province took a final walk down the runway clad in a pink and yellow to... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone economic growth slowed as expected in the last three months of 2019 as gross domestic product shrank in France and Italy against the previous quarter, but employment growth picked up more than expected, official estimates showed ... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgarian prosecutors have pressed new charges including unlawful possession of antiques of historical value against fugitive gambling tycoon Vasil Bozhkov, one of the country’s richest men, officials said on Thursday. Bozhkov, owner of sever... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Residents of a luxury London block who were trying to stop visitors to the neighboring Tate Modern art gallery from peering into their glass-walled apartments lost their case in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday. The dispute began in 2016 whe... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – David Hockney’s Los Angeles pool painting “The Splash” fetched 23.1 million pounds ($29.9 million) at a sale on London on Tuesday, auctioneers Sotheby’s said, compared with a pre-sale estimate of 20 to 30 million pounds. The 1966 work is a s... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices slipped lower on Monday as traders assessed China’s oil demand following the coronavirus outbreak and waited to see if major producers will cut output further to balance markets. Oil is off more than 20% from peaks struck in Ja... More »
(Reuters) – European shares inched lower on Monday as concerns over the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak weighed on sentiment, while markets also came off a rally from last week. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.3% by 0803 GMT, with the trave... More »
(Reuters) – Automakers including Daimler, Tesla and Ford are likely to restart production in China on Monday after being forced to shut factories for more than a week following a widespread outbreak of the coronavirus. However, some have further delayed reopen... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s consumer prices rose sharply in January from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday, strengthening the crown currency ahead of a major policy speech by the central bank governor on Thursday. Core inflation, a key measure for m... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian shares fell on Monday as the death toll from a coronavirus outbreak exceeded the SARS epidemic of two decades ago, though Chinese shares gained as authorities lifted some work and travel restrictions, helping businesses to resume opera... More »
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems Ltd (ESLT.TA) said on Monday it won contracts worth $136 million to provide customers in Asia-Pacific with airborne laser direct infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) systems. These systems are designed to prot... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Monday that the new coronavirus was a serious and imminent threat to public health, a step that gives the government additional powers to fight the spread of the virus. “The Secretary of State declares that the incidence or t... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Gathered in a German mountain castle last November for an evening retreat that ended with a whiskey-tasting, rebel European Central Bank policymakers and Christine Lagarde, their newly confirmed president, made a pact. Lagarde pledged to ... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Britain takes U.S. concerns about its use of Huawei equipment seriously but is confident a trade deal with the United States will be among its first after leaving the European Union, its foreign secretary said on Monday. U.S. officials ha... More »
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – With residents and courts ringing the alarm about depleted water supplies in Chile’s Atacama salt flat, the world’s top lithium miner Albemarle (ALB.N) quietly filed a proposal in December for a network to monitor flows beneath the parched... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The UK firm OneWeb launched 34 satellites from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early on Friday as part of its effort to provide global high-speed internet access using satellite communications by 2021. The Russian Soyuz rocket left Baikonu... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A lost portrait of Charles Dickens and 25 of his unpublished letters will go on display for the first time after a major acquisition from a private collector. The Charles Dickens museum in London has bought a huge collection of objects belon... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – The 29th edition of the Varna International Ballet Competition, the oldest ballet competition in the world, has been postponed due to insufficient financial support, organisers said on Thursday. A new date for the outdoor event, known in the ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – An image of the Mona Lisa made of 330 Rubik’s Cubes is going on sale in Paris, just down the road from Leonardo da Vinci’s original. The 2005 work by French urban artist Invader is expected to fetch up to 150,000 euros ($165,000) at the moder... More »
SYDNEY/MONTREAL (Reuters) – Some aerospace companies including business jet manufacturers Textron Inc and General Dynamics Corp’s Gulfstream division said they no longer planned to attend the Singapore Airshow due to the new coronavirus epidemic. The trade por... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Brent crude prices fell on Monday to their lowest in more than a year, dragged down by worries about lower demand in China, the world’s largest oil importer, following a coronavirus outbreak there. There are signs fuel demand has plunged ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Initial tests carried out on around 20 people who were repatriated to France from China presented negative results for coronavirus, French junior health minister Adrien Taquet told BFM TV on Monday. More than 250 people from 30 countries arri... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Credit card firms must review how they treat customers that have been in persistent debt to help them save up to 1.3 billion pounds a year in lower interest charges, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority said on Monday. New rules came into f... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Nine years after a devastating crash in property prices catapulted the party of Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to power, a housing market recovery too rapid for many threatens to dump it into opposition at this week’s general election. Th... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Tamara de Lempicka’s “Portrait de Marjorie Ferry” is expected to fetch up to 12 million pounds ($16 million) when it comes up for auction in London next week. The painting was commissioned in 1932 by the husband of British-born cabaret star ... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece will step up its campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from Britain and expects to win more support from European peers as Brexit sees British influence wane, the Greek culture minister said. Since independence in 1832, Gre... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Thieves stole bronze sculptures and etchings by surrealist artist Salvador Dali from a gallery in Stockholm in a smash and grab raid in the early hours of Thursday. The Couleur gallery, in Stockholm’s upmarket Ostermalm district, was hold... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – It’s 2023. Britain’s brightest and best drug researchers are packing their bags as clinical trials start to dwindle, leaving a nation renowned as a global leader in pharmaceutical development to face a future in the slow lane. This is a wors... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Sovereign wealth funds’ investment moves are becoming more closely aligned with the global asset management industry as they mature, and their growing size makes it harder for them to make contrarian bets, a report showed. But the move to mo... More »
PLOVDIV, Bulgaria (Reuters) – Stamen Karamfilov bends low over a canvas, adding the finishing touches to a woodland landscape – no mean feat considering the Bulgarian artist is almost totally blind. He initially gave up all hope of painting again when he sudde... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – The Swiss National Bank appeared to remain on the sidelines as the Swiss franc surged to its highest level in nearly three years on Monday, driven by concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. The franc fell to 1.069 versus the euro EURCH... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, Britain’s Duchess of Sussex, said on Monday that he was prepared to face his daughter in court and that she and her husband Prince Harry had hurt Queen Elizabeth by abruptly stepping back from royal dutie... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Crude prices fell more than 2% to multi-month lows on Monday as the rising number of cases of the new coronavirus in China and city lockdowns there deepened concerns over oil demand. Brent crude LCOc1 fell by $1.28 a barrel, or 2.1%, to $59.4... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Highlights of the eighth day at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, on Monday (times AEDT- GMT+11): 1633 MUGURUZA MARCHES INTO LAST EIGHT Unseeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza continued her charge toward a third... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s right-wing League leader Matteo Salvini failed to overturn decades of leftist rule in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna on Sunday in an election that brought relief to the embattled center-left. With 98 percent of the ballots count... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the European Union will have the upper hand in post-Brexit trade talks with the United Kingdom and questioned Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s timetable of striking a deal by the end of the year, the BBC ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – New York remains the world’s top financial center, pushing London further into second place as Brexit uncertainty undermines the UK capital and Asian centers catch up, a survey from consultants Duff & Phelps said on Monday. Britain will leav... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Roger Federer continues his quest for a 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Tuesday but for his journeyman opponent Tennys Sandgren their quarter-final meeting is the latest chapter in a story of survival in professional tenni... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares tumbled on Monday as investors grew increasingly anxious about the economic impact of China’s spreading virus outbreak, with demand spiking for safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen and Treasury notes. Japan’s Nikkei average .N225... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Some 9,000 workers at Finnish paper mills will start a three-week strike on Monday after wage talks broke down, their labor union said in a statement, the latest in a series of labor conflicts to hit Finland. Another 6,000 employees at sawmill... More »
FRANKFURT/ZURICH (Reuters) – The Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) spying debacle risks tipping the bank into a crisis that could engulf its top executives. Switzerland’s market supervisor is scrutinizing Credit Suisse’s oversight of chief executive Tidjane Thiam and his... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Renault’s (RENA.PA) engineering boss will meet his counterpart at Nissan (7201.T) in Japan this week, two sources close to Renault said, as the carmakers seek to revive projects crucial to an alliance left reeling by the Carlos Ghosn affair. ... More »
MALAGA, Spain (Reuters) – Pedro Almodovar’s Oscar-nominated “Pain and Glory” was the big winner at the 34th Goya Awards, Spain’s top film honors, held in Malaga on Saturday night, going home with seven awards including best actor for Antonio Banderas, best dir... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Digital currency could be useful as cash transactions dwindle in some countries but central banks should be in charge of issuing it, not private companies, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Saturday. Spurred by the r... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany on Wednesday returned three art works to a descendant of a Jewish French collector who owned them until his death in 1941 in Nazi-occupied France. Two of the pictures came from a trove of works held by Cornelius Gurlitt, which was di... More »
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday he will create an “Amazon Council” to protect and ensure the “sustainable development” of the world’s largest rainforest, following intense criticism of his environmental polici... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A rare Vincent van Gogh self-portrait, which had been contested as a forgery for decades, is a genuine work by the Dutch master, researchers have concluded after six years of study. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam said on Monday that it ... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday that it had not closed the “door to negotiations” in efforts to resolve a dispute over its nuclear agreement with world powers that has escalated steadily since the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018. Foreign Min... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Coco Gauff shone on her Australian Open debut on Monday as she knocked Venus Williams out of the first round in a repeat of her stunning victory over the seven-times Grand Slam champion in the Wimbledon opener last year. The 15-year-old A... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French telecoms and media group Iliad formally launched on Monday its previously announced plan for a 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion) capital increase, which will be used to finance a share buyback offer. Iliad, which runs the Free telecoms ... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Dan Evans, urged to “miss a few meals” earlier this month by Britain captain Tim Henman, patted his stomach after completing a brave five-set comeback win over American Mackenzie McDonald to reach the second round of the Australian Open o... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Canadian young gun Denis Shapovalov raged at the chair umpire before succumbing to nerves as he crashed out of the Australian Open first round 6-3 6-7(7) 6-1 7-6(3) to unseeded Hungarian Marton Fucsovics. Shapovalov, seeded 13th and widel... More »
MUNICH (Reuters) – European regulators have imposed 114 million euros ($126 million) in fines for data breaches since tougher privacy rules came into force in mid-2018, with approaches varying widely from country to country. A report by law firm DLA Piper said... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – U.S. electric car pioneer Tesla (TSLA.O) has agreed to buy a property on the outskirts of Berlin, bringing it a step closer to opening its first European factory, local authorities said on Sunday. The U.S. carmaker last November announced pl... More »
PARIS/MUNICH (Reuters) – European industrial policy chief Thierry Breton dismissed claims that relying on European companies to build a 5G network would delay its rollout, weighing in on an increasingly tense debate in Germany over the risk posed by China’s Hu... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Authorities in the Italian town of Piacenza on Friday confirmed a painting found hidden in a wall of the local art gallery was by the Austrian master Gustav Klimt, ending doubts over its authenticity. Workers discovered the painting in Decembe... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – An 83-year-old former Spanish bank chairman was fined 52 million euros ($58 million) on Thursday after being convicted of smuggling a Pablo Picasso painting abroad after it was designated a national treasure. Jaime Botin, 83, ex-chairman of ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Spotify has made playlists and a podcast for dogs to listen to in their owners’ absence, after finding that nearly 74% of UK pet-owners play music for their animals. The Swedish audio-streaming business company said it has launched a podcast... More »
