Most Asian stock markets rose on Monday, with Europe set to follow, as fears eased that Washington would draft a harsh bill for regulating the banking sector and after an unremarkable conclusion to a Group of 20 leaders’ summit.  G20 leaders meeting in Toronto agreed to take their own paths to ensuring economic growth and […]

Afghanistan’s untapped mineral deposits could be worth up to $3 trillion, the country’s mines minister said on Friday, higher than a recent U.S. estimate.  Officials from the U.S. Department of Defense said this month that Afghanistan’s mineral wealth could top $1 trillion, a finding that could reshape the country’s economy and help U.S. efforts to […]

Britain’s top share index fell early on Thursday as renewed doubts about the sustainability of a global recovery dented commodity stocks, and banks weakened as risk appetite ebbed. By 0759 GMT, the FTSE 100 was 33.54 points, or 0.7 percent, lower at 5,145.04 after falling 1.3 percent on Wednesday to its lowest closing level in […]

The question has puzzled leaders ranging from Henry Kissinger, said to have once asked who he should call to reach Europe, to Barack Obama. It has become all the more pertinent as the European Union tries to fill what is widely viewed as a leadership vacuum during the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis.  Two leaders […]

  Weak May U.S. housing data undercut stocks and sent U.S. Treasuries up, while Europe grappled with a fresh tremor to its banking system after Fitch downgraded French bank BNP Paribas.  The downgrade hit Europe’s banking stocks, leading to the end of a nine-day rally and pushed prices for gold higher on safe-haven flows.  The […]

The Council of Europe on Tuesday denounced a “climate of fear” in Chechnya, a decade after the Kremlin regained control of the mainly Muslim region in southern Russia from separatist rebels.  Kidnappings of opponents of Kremlin-appointed leader Razman Kadyrov regularly go unpunished, families of suspected fighters are targeted and the media and civil society are […]

Former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel used convincing lies to mask his risky, unauthorised bets, an ex-boss has told a Paris court. The 33-year-old Kerviel, whom SocGen blamed for a Ä4.9bn ($6.07bn) trading loss in 2008, made bets without bosses knowing, former supervisor Eric Cordelle added. “Jerome was always able to come up with reasons, […]

Japan’s ruling Democratic Party has vowed to fix the country’s tattered finances and pledged to seek a decision on tax reform quickly, paving the way for a likely hike in a politically sensitive consumption tax. In their campaign platform for a July 11 upper house election, the Democrats also vowed to do their best to […]

Thousands of creditors of bankrupt US investment bank Lehman Brothers owed about $22bn will be offered earlier cash payments if they are willing to accept lower valuations on their claims. PwC, which is in charge of the collapsed bank’s main European operations, said that the majority of claims should be agreed by the end of […]

New passenger car sales fell 9.3 percent in May in the EU as the effects of government support for the car industry slipped away and the economic environment remained difficult, industry association ACEA have announced. Governments helped carmakers hit by the crisis last year with scrapping incentive schemes that boosted demand for new cars, but […]

Acquisitions vehicle Resolution said it would fund its planned takeover of French insurer AXA’s British life operations by raising £2bn ($2.91bn) in a rights issue. The acquisition would cost a total of £2.75bn, Resolution said, adding that it hoped to announce a deal by the end of June. The company, founded by insurance tycoon Clive […]

Spain’s economy ministry has said it had not made a request for economic aid from the EU, after a newspaper report that the EU was preparing to activate a package in case Madrid asked for it. “This is lie. There’s no rescue. There’s nothing asked for, nor will there be, nothing, but nothing. I don’t […]

South Korea’s government, alarmed by the wild swings of the won in turbulent markets, is close to slapping new controls on currency trading, though a news report that banks will get two years to comply calmed investors nerves. As Europe’s debt crisis unfolded, the won’s gyrations exceeded swings of most other currencies and officials in […]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have urged European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to consider an EU-wide ban on short selling of shares and state bonds. In a letter published by the German government on June 9, the pair said the Commission should step up efforts to introduce tougher controls for […]

Prime Minister David Cameron has told Britons the scale of the country’s budget problems is even worse than he had anticipated and cited crisis-hit Greece as an example of the risk of failing to act. Cameron painted a bleak backdrop two weeks ahead of an emergency budget in which his coalition government will give more […]