Electric cars are poised to arrive en masse in European showrooms after years of hyped concept-car launches and billions in investment by automakers and suppliers. Now comes the hard part: selling them at a profit.

As doubts grow over China's vast "Belt and Road" trade infrastructure project, the EU is launching an alternative plan for Asia that it says will not saddle countries with debt they cannot repay.

Qatar announced Wednesday plans to boost natural gas production for the second time since a Gulf diplomatic crisis erupted last year pitting the energy-rich emirate against a rival Saudi-led bloc.

India will start international road shows next month seeking potential investors for the second phase of its strategic oil reserves estimated to cost nearly $2 billion, the head of the operator of country's reserves said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia's malls and bazaars are changing as retailers embrace a shift in shopping habits brought about by reforms to diversify the economy away from oil.

Economic activity in the United States could fall more than two percent within a year if Washington launched a trade war on a wide front, European Central Bank researchers suggested Wednesday.

China on Wednesday pledged to expand its $3.8 trillion digital economy and create jobs in new sectors such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI) as the world's second-biggest economy looks to shift away from a reliance on polluting heavy industries.

Economy Minister Giovanni Tria said on Wednesday Italy's 2019 budget would include a basic income for the poor and allow people to retire earlier, meeting demands from the ruling coalition parties.

The worsening Sino-US trade war has battered China's stocks and currency this year but that hasn't stopped foreign investors rushing into the country's capital markets, which are increasingly opening up despite rising protectionism.

Confidence among American consumers in September rose unexpectedly for the second month in a row, hovering near an 18-year high, according to a survey released Tuesday.

India's cabinet on Wednesday approved incentives to encourage cash-strapped mills to export sugar in the 2018/19 season, a government statement said on Wednesday, part of efforts to trim bulging domestic stockpiles.

Although CEOs for large US companies remain broadly confident on the economy, sentiment took another hit in the third quarter over concerns about US trade confrontations, according to a survey released Monday.

South Africa on Tuesday announced visa reforms aimed at luring investment and tourists to help lift the continent's most advanced economy out of recession.

Germany's economic institutes will lower their 2018 growth forecast for Europe's largest economy to 1.7 percent from their spring prediction of 2.2 percent, two government sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday he expects India's economy to sustain an annual growth rate of around 8 percent on the back of measures taken by the government such as a unified tax code and a new bankruptcy law.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Tuesday the central bank has entered a phase where it must consider not just the merits but the side-effects of its massive stimulus programme in a “balanced manner”.

The world's wealthiest families plan to allocate more money to private equity after the asset class helped drive an average 15.5 percent rise in the value of their investments in 2017, according to a survey.

A senior Chinese official said on Tuesday it is difficult to proceed with trade talks with the United States while Washington is putting “a knife to China's neck”, a day after both sides heaped fresh tariffs on each other's goods.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday urged the US businessmen to invest more in Bangladesh as the country's strategic location is making it an emerging hub for regional connectivity, foreign investment and global outsourcing.

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday the government is ready to ensure credit is available to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), just a day after the market regulator and the central bank sought to calm skittish investors.