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German Luxury Store Brings Back Israeli Wine after Uproar

Berlin luxury department store KaDeWe said Sunday that it would resume selling Israeli wines it had pulled from its shelves over new EU labeling guidelines for products from Jewish settlements.

The decision to stop carrying the wines, reported Friday in the German media, had sparked fury in Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasting a "boycott" by the German company.

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Britain to Boost Counter-Terror Spending by 30 Percent

Britain is to increase its counter-terrorism funding by 30 percent in the wake of the Paris attacks, finance minister George Osborne said Sunday.

The chancellor of the exchequer would not rule out cuts to frontline police numbers but said he was confident Britain would be able to deal with a major terror assault.

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Retailers Cautious ahead of U.S. Holiday Shopping Season

Lackluster earnings reports from retailers have raised questions about whether the 2015 holiday shopping season will bring as much of a boost to the U.S. economy as hoped.

Apparel giant Gap and kitchen and home furnishings chain Williams-Sonoma late this week became the latest big U.S. retailers to slash their profit forecast for the critical December quarter.

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Swiss Alternative Bank Breaks Negative Rates Taboo

A tiny Swiss bank specialized in financing social and environmental projects will on January 1 go where no retail lender has gone before, applying negative interest rates on individual clients.

The Alternative Bank Schweiz (ABS) caused shockwaves with a letter sent to all clients in mid-October informing them that it would begin imposing interest charges on deposits in 2016.

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Brazil's New Middle Class Faces Plunge back to Poverty

Brazilian Monica de Oliveira thought she'd forever left behind those days of worrying about getting her daughter new clothes.

As part of a wave of poor Brazilians to enter a basic sort of middle class in recent years, de Oliveira was a Latin American success story. But for how much longer?

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France Economy to Shake off Paris Shock

France can withstand the financial shock of the Paris attacks, analysts say, despite people deserting big stores, shunning concert halls and cancelling hotel bookings.

Beyond the incalculable human cost, the experience of attacks in New York in 2001, Madrid in 2004, London in 2005, and Mumbai in 2008 shows the economic impact may be fleeting.

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S&P Raises the Netherland's Back to Top AAA Credit Rating

Standard and Poor's raised The Netherlands back to its top AAA credit rating on Friday, saying the eurozone nation's economic recovery has gained traction.

"The upgrade reflects our view of the strengthening of the economic recovery in The Netherlands, with domestic demand growing strongly as a result of increases in real disposable income, employment, and investment activity," the ratings agency said in a statement.

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China Busts Biggest ever 'Underground Bank'

Chinese authorities have uncovered an "underground bank" which illegally transferred money overseas in a case valued at $64 billion, said to be the country's largest ever, according to a police statement.

Police in the eastern city of Jinhua found that the chief suspect, whose surname was given as Zhao, set up shell companies in Hong Kong and then made transfers from the mainland through a network of more than 800 bank accounts, said a Jinhua police statement posted on Friday.

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Rich, Famous to Get Special Terminal at Los Angeles Airport

Los Angeles International Airport officials have approved opening a special terminal for the rich and famous to wait for their flights far from the paparazzi and riffraff.

The lounge, which was given the green light on Thursday, eclipses even the business class and first class areas available at major airports.

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Draghi: ECB Will 'Do What we Must' to Lift Inflation

ECB chief Mario Draghi said Friday the bank will "do what we must" to lift inflation as quickly as possible, in a new sign it could boost its anti-deflation defences.

In a speech at the Frankfurt European Banking Congress, Draghi warned that inflation was stubbornly way below the target of close to 2 percent even though the bank has deployed a 1.1 trillion euros ($1.2 trillion) scheme to help lift consumer prices.

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