The top U.S. trade official told lawmakers on Tuesday an ambitious Pacific trade pact could be wrapped up within months as he urged Congress to back the administration's trade agenda.
Government
France aims to facilitate Greece-euro zone talks: finance minister
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Wednesday France wanted to facilitate talks between Greece's new leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the rest of the euro zone, and would meet his Greek counterpart in Paris on Monday.
Greek PM Tsipras freezes privatisations, markets tumble
Leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras threw down an open challenge to international creditors on Wednesday by halting privatisation plans agreed under the country's bailout deal, prompting a third day of heavy losses on financial markets.
Brazil's Rousseff urges cabinet to back belt-tightening
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff urged her cabinet on Tuesday to embrace fiscal belt-tightening and other measures aimed at restoring business confidence and growth in her second term.
In Russia, crisis deepens slide in living standards for pensioners
For Boris Lisitsyn, Russia's financial crisis means less meat, cheese and sausage - hardships the 86-year-old says won't kill him anytime soon.
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EU finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to loan Ukraine 1.8 billion euros ($2.0 billion) to help save it from bankruptcy, leaving open the option of increasing aid at a later stage.
Ratings agency S&P cut Russia's sovereign credit rating to junk status on Monday, bringing it below investment grade for the first time in a decade.
China's Premier Li Keqiang pledged to create at least 10 million new jobs in 2015, the state run China Daily newspaper said on Tuesday, despite economic growth that slowed to its weakest pace in nearly a quarter of a century last year.
Euro zone finance ministers said they were ready to work with the new anti-bailout government Greek government, but warned the country that its deep economic problems had not changed because of an election, the chairman of the ministers said on Monday.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Monday Greece's leader Alexis Tsipras would have to "find a different way" to solve Greece's problems if he says he does not want money from the euro zone bailout program.
Britain's economy recorded its fastest annual growth since 2007 last year despite a bigger-than-expected slowdown in the final three months of 2014, giving a mixed message just 100 days before Britons go to the polls.
U.S. President Barack Obama ended a landmark day in India on Monday with a pledge of $4 billion in investments and loans, seeking to release what he called the "untapped potential" of a business and strategic partnership between the world's largest democracies.
European shares fell and borrowing costs for the euro zone's most indebted states rose on Monday as the leftist Syriza party looked set to take on Greece's international lenders after a crushing victory in early elections.
Italy is considering setting up a state-backed "bad bank" to help clean up its banking sector, Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.
