Supermarket chain Asda has predicted another year of "intense pressure" for the struggling sector as the global economy remains "turbulent".

The European Union will take the first step on Wednesday towards refashioning its trade ties with Beijing, torn over how to lower its defences to avert Chinese retaliation while protecting key industries against a damaging flood of cheap imports.

Japan pressed Singapore to ease its ban on Fukushima food imports, following the European Union's move to relax restrictions on imports from the area, according to media reports on Sunday.

German carmaker Volkswagen has posted its first drop in VW brand sales in 11 years as the company continues to cope with its emissions scandal.

Workers at an Italian factory were delighted by an unexpected Christmas bonus, receiving cheques for thousands of euros bequeathed to them by their late boss who died in June, reports said Saturday.

Chinese conglomerate Wanda is venturing into healthcare, it said Wednesday, with a $2.3 billion investment in three hospitals in China, to be managed by a British company.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd may be due for another profit drop in 2016, as slowing demand for consumer electronics saps momentum for the less-glamourous components businesses that offset last year's smartphone struggles.

Saudi Arabia is expected to save $7 billion a year after it introduced unprecedented energy price rises in a bid to offset the low cost of oil, a report said on Wednesday.

China's central bank on Wednesday set the value of the yuan currency against the US dollar at its lowest since April 2011, according to the national foreign exchange market, raising worries over the health of the world's second-largest economy.

Huawei Technologies Co became the first Chinese handset vendor to ship more than 100 million smartphones in a year when its 2015

OIL prices hit their lowest in over 11 years on Wednesday, as the row between Saudi Arabia and Iran was seen making any cooperation between major exporters to cut output even more unlikely.

APPLE Inc is expected to cut production of its latest iPhone models by about 30 percent in the January-March quarter due to mounting inventories, the Nikkei reported, rattling the nerves of investors in the US giant's Asian suppliers.

STANDARD Chartered is among three lenders that China's central bank last week suspended from conducting some foreign exchange business until the end of March, two sources with direct knowledge told Reuters on Wednesday.

EVERYONE talks about physical infrastructure as a prerequisite for higher economic growth and prosperity, but an internationally renowned human development analyst puts similar importance on social infrastructure for sustainable growth and progress.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said Wednesday that markets could expect three to four increases in the Fed's benchmark interest rate this year.

A battle for the title of best new television opened Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show, with titans fielding new slim, smart, ultra high-definition models.

India's coal imports fell for a sixth month in December, a government official said Wednesday, as the world's third-biggest buyer of the fuel expands domestic mines to boost output and expand power generation.

Singapore's trade and industry minister has called for a resumption of free trade talks between the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations now that problems over Myanmar have been removed, a German newspaper said.

Russia's finance minister predicted Wednesday that 2016 would be a difficult year for his country's recession-hit economy, already reeling from low oil prices.

China could run its biggest budget deficit in perhaps half a century next year as leaders turn to government spending to arrest the slowdown in the economy, policy advisers say, after disappointing returns from a year of monetary policy easing.