India will consider merging some of its more than two dozen state-run banks, the finance minister said on Saturday, as the government seeks to improve efficiency at the ailing lenders that dominate the nation's banking sector.

As online deliveries surge and shop sales fall, Britain's retailers are looking to refit their once bustling superstores with new attractions such as rivals' fashion brands to fill empty spaces and keep shoppers coming through the door.

New rules to hold bosses responsible for wrongdoing at British banks is deterring some bankers from taking on senior management roles and even prompting big-hitters to play down their own importance, say legal and compliance experts.

German luxury carmaker BMW will throw a lavish 100th birthday party on Monday, looking back at its often troubled history and forward as it seeks to adapt to the age of "personal mobility".

China's National People's Congress has set the country's growth target for 2016 in a range of 6.5 percent -7 percent.

New car registrations in Germany, a key indicator of demand in Europe's top economy, rose strongly in February, data showed on Wednesday.

Spain's unemployment queue inched up slightly in February, the government said Wednesday, due mainly to a rise in the number of jobless in the agriculture sector.

"If you don't die by yourself, we'll help you," threaten the phone messages that Natalya, a 69-year-old Russian pensioner, has been receiving for months after falling further behind on her credit card payments.

US manufacturing appeared to stabilise in February, with production accelerating and new orders holding steady at higher levels, in another dose of good news for the economy after growth slowed in the fourth quarter.

The publisher of one of China's most respected business magazines, Caixin, said Wednesday it was seeking new investors following reports e-commerce giant Alibaba plans to take a stake in the company as it looks to expand its media empire.

India's transport minister Nitin Gadkari has cancelled a contract to build a $1.5 billion tunnel in the Himalayas, after opposition politicians alleged irregularities in the bidding for India's most expensive road project.

Federal prosecutors who uncovered a huge corruption scheme at oil company Petrobras are looking into whether Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva received undue favours from engineering firms they are investigating.

Canada's economy slowed at the end of 2015 as exports saw a downswing and businesses curtailed investments, the government statistics agency said Tuesday.

The United States overtook France to become Germany's most important trading partner last year for the first time since the mid-1970s, official data showed on Wednesday.

Toyota Motor Corp announced an overhaul of its corporate structure on Wednesday as the world's biggest-selling carmaker seeks to streamline decision-making and improve the way it manages its production as output hits record highs.

Ifad Autos, an automobile dealer, will sell Indian Farmtrac-branded tractors and spare parts in Bangladesh.

Oil prices fell Wednesday as traders awaited the release of US crude inventory data, which are expected to show a further rise in stockpiles.

ITALY recovered a record 14.9 billion euros in unpaid tax in 2015, helped by a new "no questions asked" appeal to suspected dodgers to put their affairs in order.

AUSTRALIA'S economy strengthened last year supported by consumer and government spending, data showed Wednesday, with the better-than-expected figures raising hopes the resources-dependent nation is emerging out of a recent slump.

EUROPE'S largest aircraft manufacturer Airbus started construction Wednesday on a new facility to deliver wide-body planes in China, as it faces off against bitter US rival Boeing for market share in the world's second-largest economy.