FRANCE faced a wave of protests Wednesday against deeply unpopular labour reforms that have divided an already-fractured Socialist government and raised hackles in a country accustomed to iron-clad job security.

SAUDI Arabia is seeking a bank loan of between $6 billion and $8 billion, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, in what would be the first significant foreign borrowing by the kingdom's government for over a decade.

SAUDI Arabia's plans for economic reform foresee winding down 'jobs for life' in an inefficient state bureaucracy and replacing them with new careers in a dynamic private sector.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics on Wednesday said it will launch a phone upgrade programme in South Korea this week that will allow subscribers to switch to a new premium handset every 12 months.

Spanish global clothing giant Inditex, owner of the Zara brand, reported Wednesday a sharp jump in profits in 2015 due to higher sales and its international expansion efforts.

Russia's biggest carmaker Avtovaz, majority owned by Renault-Nissan, said on Monday its chief executive Bo Andersson is to step down.

China's foreign exchange reserves fell $28.57 billion in February, slightly less than expected and easing from January's slump, suggesting the central bank is scaling back its interventions to support the yuan as capital outflows slow.

She fled Cuba with her bourgeois family as revolution brewed, and later married into one of Europe's royal dynasties.

CareersClub Pty Ltd Australia has recently started its operations in Bangladesh and organised a workshop in collaboration with the business school of Independent University of Bangladesh on its premises.

Chinese telecommunications equipment giant ZTE said on Monday that it is facing US government restrictions, after a media report that the company allegedly violated US export controls on Iran.

One of India's best-known whistleblowers, who exposed dangerous practices in the generic drug industry in 2013, is taking the country's drugs regulators to court, accusing them of failing to enforce rules on drug safety in the $15 billion industry.

Farmer Ram Pal Singh voted for Narendra Modi's promise of "better days" in India's 2014 general election, but he won't be backing the prime minister again even after last week's budget promised more aid to the countryside.

New York announced Monday that the city's employment figures had risen to a record 4.29 million jobs with 249,000 jobs added since progressive Democrat Bill de Blasio became mayor two years ago.

Despite a raft of different measures by the European Central Bank to kickstart sluggish consumer prices in the eurozone, inflation in the single currency bloc turned negative in February for the first time in five months.

THE Bank of Japan (BOJ) is expected to cut next fiscal year's economic and price forecasts at a quarterly review in April, sources say, reflecting growing gloom in the bank after its most recent stimulus measures fell on stony ground.

CHINA'S labour regulations harm workers by reducing job opportunities, the finance minister said Monday as Beijing tries to restructure its economy while avoiding mass layoffs and social unrest.

WEAK oil prices pose a threat to Gulf Arab states' currency pegs against the dollar, but the energy-rich region is unlikely to abandon the policy yet, analysts say.

CHAT show queen Oprah Winfrey, actress Meryl Streep and singer Elton John called on Monday for world leaders to put girls at the heart of anti-poverty efforts as a new index revealed Niger was the toughest country to be a girl.

WOMEN are among the most excluded groups in India, with almost 43 percent of working-age women confined to domestic work, while many who do work outside the home face exploitation and low pay, according to the India Exclusion Report.

Four more foreign banks have been given preliminary approval to operate in Myanmar, state media reported Sunday, the latest government attempt to attract overseas investment to the emergent nation.