The European Union insisted Tuesday that Brexit negotiations with Britain will not move on to the question of future relations until enough progress has been made on divorce issues, such as how much the country’s exit bill should be. Britain desperately wants talks to move on to future trade and …

After several years of struggling to make a living doing odd jobs in and around his village, 26-year-old Pushkar Singh came to New Delhi from the northern Uttarakhand state three months ago to hunt for a job. The high school dropout is willing to do anything — cook, work as a …

With more and more consumers shopping online, do brick-and-mortar stores stand a chance? At least for one pop-up shop in New York City, the future of retail is about embracing digital trends rather than resisting them. Mastercard and Marie Claire magazine have teamed up to create “The Next Big Thing” …

Even though gasoline-powered SUVs are what people are buying now, General Motors is betting that electric vehicles will be all the rage in the not-to-distant future. The Detroit automaker is promising two new EVs on Chevrolet Bolt underpinnings in the next 1 ½ years and more than 20 electric or …

U.S. factory activity surged to a more than 13-year high in September amid strong gains in new orders and raw material prices, pointing to underlying strength in the economy even as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are expected to dent growth in the third quarter. The economic outlook was also bolstered …

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a bid by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. to force customers who have filed proposed class-action lawsuits against the company to arbitrate their claims instead of bringing them to court. The justices left intact a lower court’s ruling that purchasers of certain …

Casinos in the world’s biggest casino hub of Macau extended a 14-month winning streak in September with revenue up 16.1 percent, priming for a bumper national holiday week, which is expected to see strong visitor traffic in the southern Chinese territory. Macau, a former Portuguese colony and now special administrative …

An official survey released Saturday said that China’s factory activity expanded in September at the fastest pace in five years, as the country’s vital manufacturing sector stepped up production to meet strong demand. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 52.4 in September, up from 51.7 in the previous …

Nearly all U.S. taxpayers say American tax law, which runs tens of thousands of pages, is an incredibly complicated, annoying mess. And there is no agreement on how to fix the problem. Republicans recently outlined a new effort they say will be clearer, fairer and helpful to the economy. Critics …

Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has a message for the world’s central bankers: Don’t be Luddites. Addressing a conference in London on Friday, Lagarde said virtual currencies, which are created and exchanged without the involvement of banks or government, could in time be embraced by countries …

The government has fined U.S. tree-trimming company a record $95 million for knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants. U.S. prosecutors said the fine against Philadelphia-based Asplundh Tree Expert Co. was the largest criminal penalty ever imposed in an immigration case. Prosecutors said company managers deliberately looked the other way while supervisors knowingly …

Senegalese start-ups are testing a fledgling market for online music platforms in French-speaking West Africa, where interest in digital entertainment is growing but a lack of credit cards has prevented big players from making inroads. Long celebrated in Europe for their contribution to “world” music – with Mali’s Salif Keita, …

What’s your dream car to drive? Saudi women are asking that question after the kingdom announced that females would be granted licenses and be allowed to drive for the first time. An Arabic Twitter hashtag asking women what car they want to drive already had more than 22,000 responses on …

A Supreme Court with a reconstituted conservative majority is taking on a new case with the potential to financially cripple Democratic-leaning labor unions that represent government workers. The justices deadlocked 4-4 in a similar case last year.   The high court agreed Thursday to again consider a free-speech challenge from …

Equifax Inc promised to make it easier for consumers to control access to their credit records in the wake of the company’s massive breach after the top U.S. consumer financial watchdog called on the industry to introduce such a system. Equifax’s interim chief executive officer, Paulino do Rego Barros Jr., …

Saudi Arabia’s decision to lift its ban on women driving cars may help to restore sales growth in an auto market dented by the economic fallout from weak oil prices, handing an opportunity to importers of luxury cars and sport utility vehicles. Carmakers joined governments in welcoming the order by …

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday a foreign leader told him at the United Nations last week that the country would soon announce plans to build or expand five automobile industry factories in the United States. “I just left the United Nations last week and I was told by one …

The South American trade bloc Mercosur could seek trade deals with Canada, Australia and New Zealand this year, an Argentine official said Wednesday, as largest members Brazil and Argentina seek to open their economies. Mercosur, which also includes Uruguay and Paraguay, is working with the European Union to finalize the …

Weather extremes and air pollution from burning fossil fuels cost the United States $240 billion a year in the past decade, according to a report Wednesday that urged President Donald Trump to do more to combat climate change. This year is likely to be the most expensive on record, with …

In Christchurch in New Zealand, the damage caused by a 2011 earthquake remains evident with metal girders and scaffolding on every street and a near constant beep of construction vehicles. The earthquake was devastating for the city: Nearly 200 people were killed and up to 100,000 buildings were damaged and …

A four-day Afghanistan trade-and-investment show, sponsored by the United States and aimed at providing new opportunities for businesses in the war-torn country, got underway Wednesday in New Delhi, but the mammoth challenge of that task was underlined even before the conference began. Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, who was scheduled …

The latest executive order signed by President Donald Trump would, in effect, amount to a full trade and financial embargo, squeezing all the revenue channels North Korea maintains to finance its weapons programs, a former senior counterterrorism official said. On Sept. 21, less than two weeks after the U.N. Security …

The United States, Canada, and Mexico said on Wednesday they had made some progress in talks to modernize NAFTA, but acknowledged that relations between Washington and Ottawa had become strained over a U.S. decision to impose preliminary subsides on Canadian jet manufacturer Bombardier. U.S. trade envoy Robert Lighthizer said Canada …

Algeria will implement a wealth tax for the first time next year as part of measures aimed at securing new sources of finance after a sharp fall in energy earnings, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said on Wednesday. State finances of the OPEC member North African nation have been significantly hit …

A blueprint of a Republican tax overhaul plan proposes tax cuts to wealthy Americans, businesses and the middle class while protecting deductions such as those for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. The sweeping plan was unveiled Wednesday, the beginning of negotiations to revamp the U.S. tax code. It lacks critical …