China blamed US export restrictions for its record trade surplus with the United States, but expressed hope that a solution can be found to settle trade issues between the world's two biggest economies as US tariffs loom.

China gingerly raised a key short-term interest rate on Thursday following the US Federal Reserve Bank's move overnight, in a symbolic reminder that Beijing is keeping an eye on global market trends even as it cracks down on financial risks at home.

Rice export prices slipped this week across most Asian hubs, with easing demand weighing on rates in India, and a peaking harvest hurting Vietnamese rates, although inquiries from Bangladesh could trigger fresh activity.

BMW has held back the mass rollout of electric cars until 2020 because current fourth generation electric car technology is not profitable enough for volume production, Chief Executive Harald Krueger said.

Britain's unemployment rate dipped in January, reverting to the lowest level since 1975 after a brief rise the previous months, official data showed on Wednesday.

The EU unveiled Wednesday proposals for a digital tax that targets US tech giants, heaping more problems on Facebook after revelations over misused data of 50 million users shocked the world.

Google on Tuesday launched a new initiative, committing $300 million to help news publishers get more paid subscribers while stemming the flow of misinformation.

A digital revolution is reshaping India's $34 billion gold market, with smartphones, e-wallets and flexible investment schemes drawing new buyers into a business dominated by traditional, face-to-face transactions.

US President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminium risk escalating into a threat to the international trading system, a highly-regarded group of German economists said Wednesday.

German sportswear brand Puma expects to boost underlying sales by around 10 percent a year up to 2022 and bring its profitability closer to that of larger rivals Adidas and Nike, it said on Tuesday.

British inflation was weaker than expected in February as the impact of the 2016 Brexit vote faded, easing some of the squeeze on households' spending power but doing little to change bets on a Bank of England rate rise in May.

World financial leaders pleaded for an endorsement of free trade on Monday amid worries about US metals tariffs and looming trade sanctions on China, but Trump administration officials said they would not sacrifice US national interests.

The Indian government yesterday withdrew the 20 percent export duty on sugar in a bid to boost sales abroad and lift domestic prices amid surplus production in the world's second largest producer of the sweetener.

Logistics investments, new technology... Faced with fierce online competition from the likes of Amazon, affordable fashion giants Zara and H&M are shoring up their defences, trying to use their stores to boost internet sales.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed overcapacity in world steel markets and agreed on Saturday to work on solutions within the framework of the G20 group of industrialised nations, Merkel's spokesman said.

Germany's new finance minister Olaf Scholz warned on Sunday that protectionism could harm future economic prospects and said Germany would continue talks to dissuade the United States from imposing planned punitive steel and aluminium tariffs.

Abu Dhabi state energy company ADNOC said Sunday it had awarded French oil giant Total stakes in two offshore oil concessions, as it looks to boost production by year's end.

With sales stagnating and high rent and manpower costs eating away at his profits, Azan Tengku, the director of Singaporean gift company Kalms, decided to close down his stores and move all his products into vending machines.

Germany's top lender Deutsche Bank said it quadrupled bonus payouts to staff in 2017, despite booking a bigger-than-expected net loss for the year.

The US Commerce Department said it will begin accepting requests from today for product exclusions from President Donald Trump's