Reuters

Italy's parliamentary election on Sunday could make history, giving the country its first female prime minister at the head of its most right-wing government since World War Two.

Europe's decade-long experiment with negative interest rates, which ended on Thursday with the Swiss National Bank's return to positive territory, showed one thing: they can exist beyond the realms of economic science fiction.

The airline industry's record-breaking scramble to convert older passenger jets to freighters during the travel-starved years of the coronavirus pandemic threatens to bring a glut of cargo space as a dimming global economic picture hits demand.

When Stephanie Cheung bought a small, two-bedroom apartment for HK$7.7 million ($981,041) as an investment in April 2021, she booked a 6% gain by the summer as Hong Kong's property market boomed to historical highs.

European shares fell on Thursday, with tech stocks sliding after the U.S.

The Philippine central bank hiked its benchmark interest rates by half a percentage point on Thursday, and said it was ready to take further action as it raised its inflation forecasts for this year and next, and as the peso sank to a record low.

Swiss pharma giant Novartis said it would make growth in the United States its top geographic priority, even after laws were passed to rein in drug prices in the world's largest pharmaceutical market.

Inflation, looming recession and impossibly high energy bills are among the daunting economic problems awaiting whoever wins Italy's election on Sunday, and they are casting a particularly long shadow over the industrial city of Terni.

An ancient shipwreck found off the shore of Israel and loaded with cargo from all over the Mediterranean shows that traders from the West still came to port even after the Islamic conquest of the Holy Land, researchers say.

Xi Jinping is unlikely to abandon his "old friend" Vladimir Putin, even as the Russian leader's decision to send thousands more troops to Ukraine and his nuclear threats strain Beijing's "no limits" partnership with Moscow, experts said.

The Indian government is not averse to a weaker rupee in line with global market fundamentals, a senior official told Reuters, at a time when the central bank's intervention has tried to moderate the depreciation in the Indian currency.

Emmanuel Lefebvre produces thousands of tonnes of endives on his farm in northern France annually, but this year he may abandon his crop because of the crippling energy costs required to freeze the harvested bulbs.

HSBC Holdings Plc told Reuters on Thursday it will stop financing the expansion of thermal coal from funds it manages actively with immediate effect, marking an acceleration of a broader commitment it made last year.

SoftBank Group Corp founder and CEO Masayoshi Son said on Thursday he plans to meet with Samsung Electronics to discuss a potential "strategic alliance" between the South Korean tech giant and chip designer Arm.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will face off on Thursday with his Ukrainian and Western counterparts, including U.S.

A Federal Reserve dead-set on fighting inflation is leaving little hope that this year's rocky markets will end anytime soon, as policymakers signal rates rises faster and higher than many investors were expecting.

A Georgia county has validated 15,000 to 20,000 registered voters whose status was challenged ahead of the Nov.

Top U.S. bankers came under pressure from lawmakers on Wednesday to take a tougher stance on doing business with China amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan's sovereignty and China's human rights record.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol asked U.S. President Joe Biden to help address Seoul's concerns that new U.S.

European Union foreign ministers agreed on Wednesday to prepare new sanctions on Russia and increase weapons' deliveries to Kyiv after President Vladimir Putin ordered the country's first wartime mobilisation since World War Two to fight in Ukraine.

The U.S. dollar pushed to a fresh two-decade high versus major peers on Thursday, propelled by the Federal Reserve's hawkish outlook for interest rates and Russian President Vladamir Putin's mobilisation of more troops for the war in Ukraine.

Brazil's central bank on Wednesday chose to keep interest rates unchanged, pausing an aggressive monetary tightening cycle even as U.S.

The Bank of England looks set to raise interest rates by at least half a percentage point on Thursday in a bid to tame inflation that is just off a 40-year high, against a backdrop of a tumbling currency and a free-spending government.

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin on Wednesday released an energy permitting bill to speed approvals for natural gas pipelines and power transmission for renewable energy, legislation that some fellow Democrats criticized and will likely need to be amended in order to gain enough support.

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria on Wednesday reached $14.25 billion pledged as world leaders seek to fight the killer diseases after progress was knocked off course by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Russia on Wednesday released 10 foreigners it had captured in Ukraine, including five Britons and two Americans, in a prisoner exchange brokered by Saudi Arabia.

World Bank President David Malpass came under heavy criticism on Wednesday after he declined to say whether he accepts the scientific consensus on global warming

The Bank of Japan is expected to keep interest rates ultra-low on Thursday and reassure markets that it will continue to swim against a global tide of central banks tightening monetary policy to combat soaring inflation.

U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Liz Truss met in person for the first time on Wednesday and said they want to ensure the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland is protected.