The president of Britain's main business lobby on Wednesday warned that the country's car industry risked "becoming extinct" outside the EU's customs union.

Indian airlines are turning to the international market in search of better returns as the intensifying fight for a bigger share of the world's fastest growing domestic market - where price is king - drives down profits.

Although World Cup teams will be as boldly emblazoned with logos as ever, sportswear makers see little hope this year of repeating sales leaps that greeted past tournaments in iconic football nations like Germany and Brazil.

Firms involved in Islamic finance are lobbying the British government for tax reforms, arguing that the treatment of some sharia-compliant structures is hindering their growth.

India's cotton exporters have signed contracts to ship 500,000 bales (85,000 tonnes) of their new season harvest to China as the world's biggest consumer of the fibre looks to raise its imports in the next crop year, industry officials told Reuters.

The DIW economic institute has slashed its growth forecast for Germany due to an unexpectedly weak start to 2018 and risks from abroad including concerns about Italy's new government and the escalating trade conflict with the United States.

Bitcoin fell to a two-month low on Tuesday, sliding in three of the last four sessions on nagging regulatory and security concerns after the weekend hacking of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail.

Britain's Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a plumber employed in the so-called gig economy had "worker" status in a landmark case that could have major implications for the booming sector.

The French government has announced the first major privatisations under President Emmanuel Macron which will be used to finance a new innovation fund and pay down the country's public debt.

Electric car maker Tesla Inc is cutting several thousand jobs across the company as it seeks to reduce costs and become profitable without endangering the critical production ramp-up for its Model 3 sedan.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, hit by rising supplies in the United States and expectations that producer group Opec could relax voluntary output cuts.

The Indian rupee will erase some of this year's losses against the dollar over the coming 12 months but high volatility in the run up to general elections in 2019 could send it off-piste, a Reuters poll found.

Toyota Motor Corp has agreed to invest $1 billion in Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab as a lead investor in the company's ongoing financing round, which was launched after it bought the regional business of Uber Technologies Inc.

Investors wiped about $3 billion off embattled Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp's market value as it resumed trade on Wednesday after agreeing to pay up to $1.4 billion in penalties to the US government.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi plans to raise up to 30 percent of its blockbuster $10 billion IPO by selling shares in mainland China while offering the remainder in Hong Kong, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday.

Honda Motor Co Ltd's sales in China slumped for a fourth consecutive month in May, due to the lingering impact from a quality issue associated with the automaker's popular CR-V sport-utility vehicle.

Greece's economy grew for a fifth straight quarter in January-to-March and at a faster pace than in the previous three months, helped by stronger exports, the statistics service (ELSTAT) said on Monday.

Hyundai Motor on Monday conducted due diligence on a contract car manufacturing plant site for possible investment, as the South Korean firm seeks ways to cut costs and conserve capital to develop new technologies such as electric vehicles.

Airlines are locking in fuel hedges, lowering capacity, raising fares and retiring older jets to cope with rising costs alongside the highest oil prices since 2014, industry executives say.

Microsoft on Monday said it will buy software development platform GitHub, in a deal worth $7.5 billion.