European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said he expects banks to increase credit supply after its next three-year operation as confidence returns to financial markets, making the currency a “safer place.” While banks used an initial offering of three-year loans “to repurchase their bonds coming due in the first quarter of this year,” banks will now be “more inclined to use this money ― which was our primary expectation really ― to expand credit into the real economy,” Draghi said after a me

Rupert Murdoch’s Sun on Sunday tabloid rolled off the presses for the first time, with the tycoon saying he wanted the paper replacing the scandal-hit News of the World to sell over two million copies. Stacks of the first Sunday edition of the Sun newspaper, The Sun on Sunday, are displayed at a sup

DAMASCUS (AP) -- Syria defied international calls to halt attacks on rebel enclaves as at least 89 people were killed nationwide Saturday on the eve of a constitutional referendum that the opposition sees as a ploy by President Bashar Assad’s regime.Assad presented the revised charter -- which allows for at least a theoretical opening of the country’s political system -- as an effort to placate critics and quell the 11-month uprising against his rule.But the vote is unlikely to overshadow a new

Global brands from L’Oreal SA to Gucci face new competition in their race for a share of the $33.7 billion Chinese luxury market: homegrown Chinese brands. Shanghai Jahwa United Co., established more than a century ago, sells a revamped line of products, including 1,000 yuan ($159) perfumes, whose package is designed by Demos Chiang, great grandson of the nationalist leader and Taiwan’s first president Chiang Kai-Shek. Eve Group has more than 400 boutiques which sell its own brand of luxury mens

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Consumer prices rose modestly in January on higher costs for food, gas, rent and clothing. But economists downplayed the increase, saying inflation will likely ease in the coming months as prices for raw materials level off. Separately, a gauge of future economic activity rose in January for the fourth straight month, adding to evidence that the economy has strengthened in the New Year. The consumer price index increased 0.2 percent last month, after a flat reading in December,

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced Saturday that a successor has been chosen to lead his Berkshire Hathaway holding company, although he did not identify the person.Buffett, 81, wrote in a letter to investors that Berkshire Hathaway’s board of directors chose his successor and two back-up candidates.“When a transfer of responsibility is required, it will be seamless and Berkshire’s prospects will remain bright,” Buffett wrote.“Do not, however, infer from this discus