China had four million millionaire households in 2014, the second-highest in the world after the United States, as the country's stock market boom boosted private wealth, an independent survey showed Tuesday.
One million new millionaires were created in the country last year, the highest increase among all nations, U.S.-based research firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said in a report.
Full StoryIsrael has approved the reopening of around 70 Palestinian shops which it closed 15 years ago in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, its mayor announced on Monday.
"The Israeli army's leadership allowed the reopening of stores on Sahla Street, which runs from the area near the Ibrahimi mosque" through Hebron's old town, Dawud al-Zaatari told journalists.
Full StoryFrench President Francois Hollande on Monday urged a quick restart of talks to save Greece from financial disaster after negotiations in Brussels collapsed at the weekend.
"We now have extremely tight deadlines. We are getting into a period which could be turbulent if no agreement is found. This message is for Greece. It should not wait and should restart discussions with the institutions," Hollande told reporters.
Full StorySaudi Arabian Airlines has ordered 50 passenger planes from Airbus with a total catalogue value of some $8.0 billion (7.1 billion euros), the aviation giant announced Monday at the Paris Air Show.
The order consists of 20 Airbus A330-300 Regionals and 30 A320ceos, Airbus said, adding that the Saudi flagship airline would be the first to fly the Regionals.
Full StorySaudi Arabia's stock market allowed foreign investors to trade shares for the first time Monday, further opening up the conservative Islamic kingdom and oil powerhouse to the global economy.
But analysts did not expect a sudden rush of funds after the Tadawul All-Shares Index, the Arab world's largest exchange, began trading under the new rules at 0800 GMT.
Full StoryJapanese automaker Honda has reported a new death linked to an exploding air bag crisis -- bringing the global total to seven fatalities and scores more injuries -- which sparked the recall of millions of vehicles.
The company on Monday confirmed that a woman in Louisiana died in April after the faulty inflator in her 2005 Honda Civic's airbag ruptured, firing metal shrapnel at her.
Full StoryEvidence is piling up that the U.S. economy is rebounding from the past few months' stall, with consumers spending more, a rebound in job creation, and wages beginning to rise.
But analysts believe the Federal Reserve will want to see more when it meets in the coming week to again weigh hiking interest rates.
Full StorySlovakia has been a star performer in Central Europe with a boom in car manufacturing driving brisk economic growth, but ghost villages haunt the countryside as people leave in search of jobs.
A white church has watched over Harakovce since villagers erected it in the century after the Black Death swept across Europe.
Full StoryIraq's oil revenues are even lower than projected in the country's already austere 2015 budget, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Saturday, spelling more financial trouble for cash-strapped Baghdad.
"So far, our oil revenues are below what was passed in the budget," Abadi said in televised remarks, without providing exact figures on the shortfall.
Full StoryGreek premier Alexis Tsipras warned that Greece must be ready for a "difficult compromise" in its talks with creditors as his closest advisers arrived in Brussels on Saturday to thrash out a last-minute deal.
Cash-starved Greece is under huge pressure to strike an agreement to unlock vital bailout funds in the coming days, if not hours, after top eurozone officials turned the screws Friday and said they were preparing the ground for an Athens default.
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