France's Socialist government is to maintain most of the existing restrictions on Sunday shopping, despite criticism that they are ill-suited to a country battling record unemployment.
Speaking after the publication of a government-sponsored report which called for a partial easing of the curbs, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the government would legislate to clear up anomalies in the patchwork of local and national rules governing Sunday trading.
Full StoryAustralia's largest ever consumer class action in which bank customers are fighting for the return of more than Aus$240 million (U.S.$220 million) in fees began in Melbourne on Monday.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn is representing some 43,500 ANZ Bank customers who believe a wide range of charges they paid were excessive, in the first of several trials planned as part of the case.
Full StoryThe second daughter of Samsung chairman Lee Kun-Hee has been made a president at the firm's de-facto holding company, it said Monday, cement his family's hold on the South Korean giant.
Lee Seo-Hyun will lead management planning at the Everland's fashion business, Samsung said in a statement.
Full StoryThe late President Hugo Chavez's dream of leveraging Venezuela's oil wealth to spread revolution across Latin America is crumbling under the weight of an economic crisis that is forcing his hand-picked successor to cut back on generous foreign aid.
Signs of the country's waning influence are becoming more apparent. In early November, Guatemala withdrew from the Petrocaribe oil alliance launched by Chavez, saying it didn't receive the ultra-low financing rates it had been promised by Venezuela when it first sought to join the 18-nation pact in 2008. Also in recent weeks, representatives of Brazil and Colombia have held meetings with their Venezuelan counterparts to collect overdue payment for food, manufactured goods and other imports.
Full StoryBritish Prime Minister David Cameron stressed his country is open to Chinese investment Monday on his first visit to China since meeting the Dalai Lama, keeping human rights to the sidelines.
Cameron, whose meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader in 2012 was condemned by Beijing and led to a diplomatic deep-freeze between the two nations, emphasized business ties as he began what embassy officials called the "the largest British trade mission ever to go to China".
Full StoryRebuilding areas devastated by a super typhoon that killed thousands in the Philippines will take up to five years and cost more than two billion dollars, officials said Saturday.
The comments came as the death toll from Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the country, continued to rise.
Full StoryU.S. shoppers officially kicked off the critical holiday shopping season with annual "Black Friday" promotions as a pressured retail sector competes over precious consumer dollars in the low-growth economy.
The shopping frenzy also triggered some violence. There was a shooting, a stabbing and a number of other disruptions, though no deaths reported as in prior years.
Full StoryVenezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed Friday to arrest shopkeepers who defy government price controls, the latest salvo in a populist "economic war" ahead of key municipal elections.
Maduro delivered the warning in a nationally televised address that laid the ground for tougher enforcement of a three-week crackdown on actions seen as fueling Venezuela's soaring inflation.
Full StoryRatings agency Moody's late Friday upgraded Greece's credit rating, citing improved results in the crisis-hit country's economic adjustment program.
The agency announced the two-notch upgrade from C to Caa3 — still well below investment grade — in a move seen as a boost for the government that has promised to end a crippling recession and return to international markets next year.
Full StoryEurozone inflation rose to 0.9 percent in November from a four-year low of 0.7 percent in October, easing concerns the bloc risks a damaging cycle of falling prices, official data showed Friday.
Eurostat data showed that energy prices continued to fall in November, down 1.1 percent after a drop of 1.7 percent in October, while food, drinks and alcohol rose 1.6 percent, compared with a gain of 1.9 percent.
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