Germany's center-left candidate for chancellor Martin Schulz has called for bigger pay rises for workers, an unusual move in a country where wages are traditionally negotiated by managers and union leaders without political interference.

The German industrial conglomerate Siemens said Tuesday that full-year earnings would surpass previous estimates, after reporting a 25 percent jump in quarterly net profit.

Japan on Wednesday denied Donald Trump's accusation Tokyo "played the money market" to give it an unfair trade advantage, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the claims of currency devaluation were untrue.

Japan is hammering out plans to show US President Donald Trump its firms are ready to create US jobs, according to a document whose contents were revealed to Reuters, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares for a summit where automotive trade will be high on the agenda.

Italian banks have made little progress in reducing the mountain of bad debts which has curbed their ability to lend new money, fresh data showed on Tuesday.

India's natural rubber output in 2017/18 is likely to jump 15 percent to its highest in four years at 750,000 tonnes as a spike in benchmark prices prompts farmers to start tapping trees they had abandoned earlier, industry officials told Reuters.

Seeking to capitalize on US President Donald Trump's controversial new travel restrictions, companies and officials in Asia said they would target greater tourism and education ties with Muslims worried about the curbs.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations Tuesday following a pair of recent acquisitions.

Vodafone has dialed for backup in its India fight. The UK-based telco is talking to Aditya Birla Group about an all-share merger of its Indian business with Idea Cellular, part-owned by the cement-to-retail group. It could feel the benefits beyond the subcontinent.

Swedish ready-to-wear giant Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) said Tuesday annual net profit dropped by 11 percent due to higher purchasing costs from the rising dollar.

The government plans to construct a transmission line from Payra to Patuakhali to start supplying power to a 1,320MW coal-based power plant in Payra deep seaport area by 2018.

The dollar dipped on Monday as investors sought the traditional security of the Japanese yen after new US immigration curbs put the spotlight back on President Donald Trump's protectionist bent and the risks it poses for the economy.

Most US corporate bosses have stayed silent on President Donald Trump's immigration curbs, underscoring the sensitivities around opposing policies that could provoke a backlash from the White House.

The number of US companies using a budgeting tool made famous in the 1970s by former US President Jimmy Carter is surging as they turn their spending habits upside down to boost profits and to re-invest in their businesses.

Sony Corp said it booked an impairment charge of 112.1 billion yen ($976 million) on the goodwill value of its movie segment in the quarter ended December, as online streaming services sapped demand for movie DVDs.

German inflation is likely to have picked up further in January, surpassing the European Central Bank's official price stability target of just under 2 percent for the first time in more than four years, regional data suggested on Monday.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) does not expect oil demand to peak any time soon due to rising consumption in developing economies, Director Fatih Birol said on Monday.

India has surrendered its status as the world's top importer of coal back to China, with its overseas purchases in 2016 falling to less than 200 million tonnes.

Britain's Vodafone Group confirmed on Monday it was in talks to merge its Indian subsidiary with local rival Idea Cellular in an all-share deal that would create a new market leader better able to contest a brutal new price war.

Japanese trust banks are preparing to sue Toshiba Corp over its 2015 accounting scandal, a fresh headache for the conglomerate as it scrambles to offset a separate imminent multi-billion dollar writedown.