HONG KONG Global financial markets looked set for another rough week on Monday, with stocks and commodities falling ahead of data that could give clues on when the U.S. will raise interest rates and surveys which are likely to point to further weakness in Chin... More »
BERLIN Returning from her summer break in mid-August, German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised some eyebrows by describing Europe’s refugee problem as a bigger challenge than the Greece crisis, which had overshadowed all else in the first half of 2015. No one in... More »
NEW YORK Citigroup plans to rebuild its long-neglected equities franchise seeking to capitalize on a retrenchment by rivals in the face of new rules designed to make the financial system less risky, according people familiar with the bank’s plans. A lack of in... More »
TOKYO Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T) said on Sunday it would buy back the 19.9 percent stake it sold to Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) after an international arbitration court ordered the German automaker to sell its holding. Their planned partnership soured wi... More »
ACCRA Ghana faced down the first major challenge to an IMF austerity program on Monday when doctors suspended a three-week strike but a bigger test of President John Mahama’s commitment will come next year as he fights for reelection. The International Monetar... More »
OSLO Only a third of Europe’s electronic waste is properly recycled, with vast numbers of cellphones, computers and televisions illegally traded or dumped, a study led by the United Nations and INTERPOL said on Sunday. Sweden and Norway were close to European ... More »
, Brussels – The European Commission will launch a study in September of the ride-hailing app Uber in an effort to settle legal disputes that have pitched the U.S. start-up against conventional taxis across Europe, three people familiar with the matter said on... More »
LONDON Rebekah Brooks will return to her old job heading Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper division, the Financial Times reported, just over a year after being cleared of criminal charges in a phone-hacking scandal. Her return to News Corp could be as soon as... More »
LONDON/BOSTON Investors are being poorly served by a haphazard approach from fund managers to the growing threat of cyber crime damaging the companies in which they invest, with a lack of clarity from the businesses themselves compounding the problem. Banks ha... More »
NEW YORK British actor Clive Owen swaps Hollywood for the stage in “Old Times”, making his Broadway debut in a revival of Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter’s 1971 play. The “Children of Men” and “Closer” actor, who has London theater credits to his name, will appea... More »
BERLIN Knut, the star polar bear who was hand-reared at Berlin zoo after his mother rejected him, had a type of auto-immune inflation of the brain that is found in humans, scientists said on Thursday. Knut, who was just four when he drowned at the zoo in 2011,... More »
LONDON The piano used to play the glissando that kicks off ABBA’s disco hit “Dancing Queen” will be one of the star attractions at a rock and pop auction at Sotheby’s next month where it is expected to sell for up to 800,000 pounds ($1.24 million). The instrum... More »
WARSAW U.S. media group Scripps Networks Interactive (SNI.N) bought nearly all remaining shares in Polish broadcaster TVN TVN.WA, planning to delist the company from the Warsaw bourse GPW.WA, a brokerage running the deal said on Thursday. SNI, which already ow... More »
BERLIN A Greek exit from the euro zone was a possibility and remains a threat if Athens does not fulfill the conditions of its third bailout agreement, the head of the European Stability Mechanism said on Thursday. “This threat as a possibility must always be ... More »
FRANKFURT European broadcaster RTL will focus on buying online businesses and content producers as it seeks to build itself into a video powerhouse that goes beyond traditional broadcast, its finance chief told Reuters on Thursday. RTL has TV and radio channel... More »
VIENNA The European Union might have had a better start, but in the end it was the Balkan countries who brought the game home in this unlikely diplomatic soccer match on Wednesday to kick off the Western Balkan summit in Vienna. Team “FC EU”, made up of Austri... More »
MILAN A 1896 film of a woman plucking babies from a cabbage patch marks a whimsical start to a Milan exhibition that examines artistic representations of motherhood, but the mood turns more sinister as the show moves into the 20th century. “The Great Mother” r... More »
LONDON Benedict Cumberbatch delivered a “Hamlet” for our time in London in a production that played to his strengths, dresses up Shakespeare for a younger crowd and had the British actor’s fans roaring in approval at the end. Ever since the 12-week run was ann... More »
AMSTERDAM A court in the Netherlands has ordered Russia to pay compensation for seizing the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise during a protest against an offshore oil platform two years ago. The Permanent Court of Arbitration, which resolves disputes between stat... More »
BERLIN French Economy Ministry Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday developments in China pose a risk that should not be underestimated. He was speaking at an event with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the German capital. (Reporting by Andreas Ri... More »
LONDON Volatile global markets got some respite from the latest blood-letting on Tuesday as bargain hunters nudged up Asian and European stocks, though China, at the center of the rout, was smashed again. The dollar and oil prices saw their first rises in five... More »
SINGAPORE Crude oil markets recovered slightly on Tuesday after a 6 percent drop in the prior session, although prices held near 6-1/2-year lows as continued weakness in Chinese equities triggered fears of an economic tailspin in the region. While global marke... More »
ZURICH Syngenta AG, the Swiss agricultural chemicals maker, was seen opening up more than 7 percent after a source said Monsanto Co. had sweetened its takeover offer, according to premarket indicators in Zurich. U.S.-based Monsanto increased its offer to buy S... More »
United States captain Juli Inkster opted for both experience and a vocal locker room presence in announcing Paula Creamer and Brittany Lang on Monday as her two wildcard picks for this year’s Solheim Cup. Creamer, 29, will make her sixth appearance in the bien... More »
LONDON/LOS ANGELES One Direction member Niall Horan said Monday that the hugely successful British boy band will take a “well earned break” next year, but are not splitting up. Horan, 21, told his 23 million fans on Twitter that the group will continue to tour... More »
AMSTERDAM The national Rijksmuseum gallery in Amsterdam is close to finalizing a 160 million euro deal to purchase two portraits by the Dutch master Rembrandt from the French Rothschild family, museum director Wim Pijbes said on Monday. The portraits, which da... More »
LONDON British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca named Sean Bohen as its chief medical officer, in an appointment that it said could help accelerate the development of new oncology and immunology medicines. AstraZeneca, Britain’s second biggest drugmaker behi... More »
BENICASSIM, Spain An American Jewish musician who was controversially barred from a reggae festival in Spain before being invited back to play performed to catcalls from some pro-Palestinian protesters on Sunday, though the concert passed off peacefully after ... More »
COPENHAGEN European Tour journeyman Andreas Harto stole the show at the Made In Denmark event by proposing to his girlfriend during the tournament in Farso on Friday. The Dane celebrated sinking a five-foot birdie putt at the par-three 16th by going down on on... More »
FRANKFURT Between 50 and 60 euro zone banks will be included in next year’s stress test of top EU lenders, fewer than half of the number in the 2014 exercise, a European Central Bank spokeswoman said on Friday. The ECB is the supervisor for top banks in the si... More »
MEXICO CITY Archeologists have discovered a massive ceremonial skull rack from the heyday of the Aztec empire in the heart of Mexico City, a find that could shed new light on how its rulers projected power by human sacrifice, the team said on Thursday. The sku... More »
SEOUL His father was afraid to fly, but North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has taken to the skies, building a series of small runways long enough to land light, private aircraft next to some of his palaces, satellite imagery shows. Construction on Kim’s personal ... More »
ROME The museums that house masterpieces such as Michelangelo’s David and Botticelli’s Venus will soon be run by foreign directors for the first time as Italy overhauls what a senior official called its “sclerotic” museum management. Following an international... More »
JOHANNESBURG South African mobile phone operator Vodacom is in talks with pay-TV giant Naspers to deliver movies and television programs to mobile devices, it said on Monday, part of a search for new sources of income from fast-growing data consumers. “We are ... More »
Here is a list of euro zone parliaments that must approve the new 86 billion euro ($96 billion) Greek bailout this week. Here is a list: TUESDAY, AUG. 18 AUSTRIA – Parliament subcommittee to meet on the bailout. ESTONIA – Parliament holds extraordinary session... More »
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, Pa. Forensic archaeologists on Friday began excavating a highway embankment in eastern Pennsylvania, looking for more bones believed to be from impoverished victims of the worldwide Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. The state highway department, ... More »
HELSINKI Greece will be a headache for the euro zone for decades, Finland’s eurosceptic foreign minister said, and called for the International Monetary Fund to participate in the Greece’s new bailout package. “Unfortunately, this problem will be in front of u... More »
BRUSSELS/ATHENS Euro zone finance ministers have agreed to lend Greece up to 86 billion euros ($96 billion) after Greek lawmakers accepted their stiff conditions despite a revolt by supporters of leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Assuming approval by the ... More »
BERLIN/FRANKFURT European scientists have revised their plans for the comet lander Philae and are now focusing on getting images and drill samples if communications are restored. After coming to rest in the shadows when it landed on a comet in November, Philae... More »
NEW YORK Oil ended up on Wednesday as a weaker dollar and lower U.S. crude stockpiles provided a modest bounce off six-year lows hit the previous session, when worries about China’s plummeting currency and economic slowdown deflated prices. Concerns that U.S. ... More »
NEW YORK The U.S. dollar fell on Wednesday to its lowest in about a month against a basket of major currencies, on doubts over whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in September given China’s devaluation of the yuan. The euro hit its highe... More »
BERLIN British artist and anti-surveillance activist James Bridle is illuminating Germany with artwork exploring the darkest state secrets, cover-ups and information blackouts. Bridle’s “The Glomar Response”, showing this month at the newly opened Nome gallery... More »
MUMBAI/ NEW DELHI The Indian government has filed a lawsuit against Swiss food firm Nestle’s Indian unit, seeking 6.4 billion rupees ($99 million) in damages on behalf of consumers after the country’s worst packaged food scare in a decade. Nestle, the first fo... More »
MUMBAI The Indian government has filed a class action suit for 6.4 billion rupees ($99 million) against Nestle’s Indian unit on behalf of the country’s consumers, citing unfair trade practices and the sale of defective goods. Nestle is the first foreign firm t... More »
Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.VX) is in talks to settle allegations related to its Crossfinder “dark pool” trading venue, which could result in a fine running in the high tens of millions of dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with... More »
SEOUL South Korea’s Chung Mong-joon will formally launch his bid to become president of world soccer’s scandal-hit governing body FIFA on Aug. 17 in France, the home of rival Michel Platini. Chung, a former FIFA vice president and fierce critic of outgoing pre... More »
(Corrects fifth paragraph to delete reference to President Barack Obama acting by executive order) By Jeff Mason and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama challenged America and the world to step up efforts to fight global warming on ... More »
MOSCOW A pair of Russian cosmonauts began their working week on Monday by cleaning the windows of the International Space Station (ISS), floating 250 miles (400 km) above the Earth’s surface. Station commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineer Mikhail Kornie... More »
EPIDAURUS, Greece On a stiflingly hot summer night, the ancient Greek amphitheatre of Epidaurus is packed to capacity for a performance of a 2,400-year-old play by Aristophanes — testimony to Greeks’ enduring love of theater despite years of grinding economic ... More »
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) said on Friday its second-quarter profit fell 37 percent, reflecting a significant decline in investment gains and an underwriting loss from insurance operations, which include Geico. Net income for the... More »
GENEVA The remains of two young Japanese climbers missing on the Matterhorn mountain since a 1970 snow storm in the Swiss Alps have been identified through DNA testing of their relatives, police said on Thursday. Human bones spotted by a climber last September... More »
ATHENS Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday that Greece was close to concluding a deal with lenders on a multi-billion-euro bailout, which he said would end doubts over its place in the euro zone. The comments were the latest in a series of unusuall... More »
ATHENS Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday Greece is close to concluding a deal with lenders on a multi billion euro bailout, which he said would end doubts over the country’s presence in the euro zone. “We are in the final stretch of conclud... 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 »
ATHENS Greece’s stock market closed with heavy losses on Monday after a five-week shutdown brought on by fears that the country was about to be dumped from the euro zone. Bank shares plummeted 30 percent before loss limits kicked in to stop investors selling a... 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 »
ATHENS Greece’s stock market plunged nearly 23 percent on Monday when it opened after a five-week shutdown brought on by fears the country was about to be dumped from the euro zone. The main Athens stock index .ATG plunged in its worst ever one-day performance... More »
SYDNEY Barnacles encrusted on a piece of plane debris that washed up on the French island of Reunion might help unravel the mystery of missing Malaysia Airlines (MLYAF.PK) flight MH370 that disappeared last year with 239 passengers and crew on board. Malaysia ... More »
KUALA LUMPUR The head of world athletics vigorously defended the IAAF’s anti-doping record on Monday, as global sporting bodies called for a thorough probe of the latest allegations to plunge international sport into crisis. Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper an... More »
KUALA LUMPUR FIFA President Sepp Blatter was relieved of his International Olympic Committee ex officio membership on Monday, seven months before he will be replaced as the head of soccer’s governing body, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Monday. Blatter woul... 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 »
SINGAPORE Oil extended losses to multi-month lows on Monday on worries of oversupply as OPEC pumped at record levels in July, while weak China data stoked concerns about slower growth at the world’s second largest oil consumer. Oil output by the Organization o... More »
KUALA LUMPUR The head of world athletics said on Monday that any suggestion his organization had been negligent in drug testing of athletes was “laughable”. “There are allegations made, no evidence,” IAAF president Lamine Diack told Reuters in the Malaysian ca... More »
HONG KONG/TOKYO An index of Asian shares outside Japan fell close to this year’s lows on Monday thanks to a deepening selloff in commodities and fresh concerns over slowing growth in China, while the dollar held its ground against a basket of currencies. In li... 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 »
ROME Italian police stopped California rapper Snoop Dogg on Friday as he prepared to board a private plane bound for Britain with $422,000 in cash in his Louis Vuitton luggage, said an Italian lawyer representing the entertainer. In the European Union, the max... More »
WASHINGTON The cybersecurity issues that led Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to recall 1.4 million vehicles this month could pose a problem for cars and trucks from other automakers, the top U.S. auto safety regulator said on Friday. Mark Rosekind, who heads the ... More »
LONDON/GENEVA The world is on the verge of being able to protect humans against Ebola, the World Health Organization said on Friday, as a trial in Guinea found a vaccine to have been 100 percent effective. Initial results from the trial, which tested Merck... More »
LONDON Best-selling boy band One Direction released a surprise first single as a foursome on Friday, two days after former member Zayn Malik announced a new record deal as solo artist. “Drag Me Down” follows November’s “Night Changes” and is the first single t... 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 »
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 »
ATHENS Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday that his government would not implement reform measures beyond what was agreed with lenders at a euro zone summit earlier this month. “I know well the framework of the deal we signed at the euro zone... 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 »
PARIS European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Wednesday that talks on a third bailout plan for Greece were taking place in “good conditions” and that the risk of an exit of Greece from the euro zone was gone. “Grexit is beh... 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 »
NEW YORK Global equity markets dropped on Friday and copper fell to a six-year low as weaker-than-expected data from China and the euro zone exacerbated concerns over global economic growth. Brent and U.S. crude oil futures settled at their lowest since March ... 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 »
TORONTO Cheating spouses website AshleyMadison.com, facing hackers’ threats to leak clients’ nude photos and sexual fantasies, said it is heartened by some initial public response that sees the site as a victim. The website’s Canadian parent, Avid Life Media, ... 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 »
ATHENS The Greek government submitted legislation to parliament on Tuesday required by its international lenders to start talks on a multi-billion euro rescue package. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has until Wednesday night to get those measures adopted in the... More »
LONDON Lloyds (LLOY.L) is due to set out its dividend plans next week, including how and when it might return surplus capital to shareholders, making the stock more attractive ahead of a planned sale of some of the government’s shares to retail investors, indu... More »
LONDON Britain’s government is asking some departments to prepare to cut day-to-day spending by as much as 40 percent by the 2019/20 tax year, in a major spending review launched by Conservative finance minister George Osborne on Tuesday. The finance ministry ... More »
ST ANDREWS, Scotland No one should be surprised if Zach Johnson goes on to win several more majors because, even though he is approaching 40, the new British Open champion is working harder than ever and is performing at his peak. The American waited a long ti... More »
BRATISLAVA Slovakia will be among the first to ask Greece to leave the euro zone if it fails to adhere to agreed conditions of further, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Tuesday. Fico told reporters that Slovakia was fundamentally against allowing any ... 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 »
BANGKOK/HONG KONG U.S. fund giant BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) has won a special new licence that will allow it to raise funds in China directly for the first time, a senior executive told Reuters, paving the way for the world’s largest money manager to expand in the... More »
SYDNEY A visibly shaken Mick Fanning arrived home in Australia on Tuesday saying he would not turn his back on surfing despite needing a “miracle” to survive a shark attack off the coast of South Africa at the weekend. The three-times world champion was paddli... More »
HUSSEIN LOOKOUT, Israel As U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter walked along an Israeli lookout near the border with Lebanon, Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon turned to him and said: “Probably Hezbollah is watching us.” Israel warned during Carter’s visit o... 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 »
PARIS French President Francois Hollande called on Sunday for the creation of a euro zone government and for citizens to renew their faith in the European project, which has been weakened by the Greek crisis. Reviving an idea originally put forward by former E... 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 »
