AFP 
The Australian government rejected Friday the Aus$3 billion (US$2.7 billion) sale of GrainCorp to American agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), saying it went against the national interest. Treasurer Joe Hockey said the sector was still…
Portugal may be mired in a debt crisis, but its 25 richest people got 16 percent wealthier in 2013, with fortunes equivalent to nearly 10 percent of the country’s GDP, rankings published Thursday showed. The 25 now have a combined wealth of 16.7 billion…
Luxury carmakers are falling over themselves to tap into a growing trend for crossover compact SUVs, targeting young urban professionals who want a sporty feel with high-end cachet. Porsche, Jaguar and Mercedes have all developed models of a car type…
A former top Credit Suisse trader was sentenced to two and a half years of prison in New York for inflating subprime mortgage-related bond prices during the housing market collapse. British citizen Kareem Serageldin, 40, was extradited by Great Britain…
Fisker Automotive, whose sleek, sporty electric cars caught the eye of Justin Bieber and other celebrities, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The California-based company also announced it had entered an asset purchase agreement with Hybrid Tech…
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World powers reached on Sunday an agreement with Iran over its nuclear programme, the powers’ chief negotiator and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said. “We have reached agreement between E3+3 and Iran,” Ashton’s spokesman Michael Mann quoted…
Federal Reserve policy makers expected at their October meeting that they would begin cutting the stimulus program “in coming months”, the minutes of that meeting showed Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee left the $85 billion a month asset…
Swiss-based giant Zurich Insurance Group announced on Wednesday that it had begun to sell its 9.4-percent holding in Hong Kong-listed company New China Life Insurance. Zurich said that it had reached a deal with an investor who would purchase about…
JPMorgan Chase has agreed to a $13 billion deal to settle complaints over mortgages and mortgage securities by the US government and several states, the New York attorney general said Tuesday. The deal includes $9 billion in payments to authorities…
The Bloomberg news agency said Tuesday it was cutting staff as it scales back its arts and culture coverage, saying it was seeking to position itself for “significant growth.” The cuts are expected to affect fewer than 40 positions out of more than…
US regulators have reached a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase to resolve numerous suits alleging poor mortgage practices, a person familiar with the matter told AFP Tuesday. The settlement, the latest in a string of agreements over allegations…
The Co-operative Group said on Tuesday that its chairman had resigned after the former head of its banking arm — which prides itself on ethical investments — was filmed allegedly planning to buy illegal drugs. Len Wardle, chairman of the supermarket…
Finnish telecom company Nokia announced Tuesday that its shareholders had approved the 5.44 billion euro ($7.35 billion) sale of its mobile phone division to US software giant Microsoft. According to Nokia — which will now become a telecom equipment…
Bitcoin supporters told a US Senate hearing the virtual currency unit should not be viewed negatively by authorities despite its links to crime. The currency has been linked to a series of high-profile criminal cases in recent months, most notably in…
Bad loans at Spanish banks struck a new record high in September, official data showed Monday, despite the near completion of a 41-billion-euro eurozone-financed bailout of the battered financial sector. Risky loans, mostly linked to the collapsed property…