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Airbus Signs Draft Deal to Sell 250 Planes to India's IndiGo

European giant Airbus said Wednesday it had signed a draft deal to sell 250 of its next-generation A320neo planes to India's IndiGo, in what could be its biggest contract ever in terms of aircraft numbers.

The low-cost Indian operator is already a loyal Airbus customer, having previously ordered 280 planes from the European firm, and the latest agreement is worth around $25 billion (20 billion euros) at list prices.

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French Bank Allows Clients to Tweet Money

Money is now only a tweet away for French people, after a bank in the country on Tuesday launched a novel way to transfer money on the social networking platform.

Twitter users can link their accounts to the BPCE banking group's money-sharing application S-Money and fire off a tweet tagging the person they want to receive the money with the amount and hashtag #envoyer (send).

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German Inflation Stuck at 0.8% for Third Month in a Row

Inflation in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, remained stuck at an ultra-low level for the third month in a row in September, final data showed on Wednesday.

Confirming to a flash estimate released at the end of September, the federal statistics office Destatis calculated in final data that German inflation stood at just 0.8 percent year-on-year last month, unchanged since July.

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Saudi Billionaire to Join Euro Disney Bailout

Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal will join a financial bailout of the money-losing Euro Disney theme park, his Kingdom Holding Co said Tuesday.

"Yes we are confirming the story. At this moment there is nothing more to add," a company official told AFP in Riyadh.

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Eurozone Industrial Production Falls Sharply in August

Industrial output in the eurozone fell by 1.8 percent in August, official data showed on Tuesday, a steep drop and another sign that recession in the 18-nation currency bloc could return.

The fall in factory output data was a reverse from the previous month, when an unexpected one-percent rise in industrial activity brought hope that a fragile recovery in the eurozone could be taking hold.

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Singapore Economy Returns to Growth in Third Quarter

Singapore's economy returned to growth in July-September, reversing contraction in the previous three months, owing to a pick-up in the city-state's key manufacturing sector, the government said Tuesday.

Compared with the second quarter, gross domestic product expanded 1.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, advance estimates by the trade ministry showed. GDP shrank 0.1 percent in the three months to June.

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Hakim Voices Fears over Dwindling Investments, Employment of Syrians

The Minister of Economy and Trade Alain Hakim voiced fears on Tuesday over the economic situation and the current paralysis as a result of the difficult security situation and the vacuum at the country's top post.

“The weakness and dwindling of investments at the local and foreign levels are wearing away the labor market that is already experiencing pressure due to the employment of Syrian nationals,” the Minister told An Nahar daily.

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Oil Prices Hit New Multi-Year Lows in Asia

Oil prices fell to fresh multi-year lows in Asian trade Tuesday, with analysts citing concerns about a supply glut and the effects of weaker demand from Europe and China.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for November delivery was down 65 cents at a two-year-low $85.09 in afternoon trade and Brent crude retreated 71 cents to $88.18, its lowest since mid-2010.

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French Economist Tirole Wins Nobel for Work on Market Dominance

French economist Jean Tirole won the Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for groundbreaking work on the power of large companies in a range of key industries.

By providing a framework for governments' handling of major enterprises, the 61-year-old professor at Toulouse 1 Capitole University has become "one of the most influential economists of our time," the jury said.

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China's Li Discusses Russia Deals ahead of Putin Talks

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang met his Russian counterpart on Monday ahead of talks with President Vladimir Putin on a visit to Moscow that comes as Russia struggles with its most serious standoff with the West since the Cold War.

Li sat down with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, with a raft of economic deals on the table, ahead of a meeting with Putin scheduled for Tuesday.

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