Italy's long-term borrowing costs edged up at an auction on Thursday for the first time in three months, adding to signs that a 10-month-long rally in vulnerable euro zone bonds may be faltering. They remained well below levels that triggered concern during the height of the euro zone debt crisis, however. The rise in long-term

Airlines found guilty of breaking noise limits at Heathrow airport will face bigger fines and will be named and shamed by the London hub as it seeks to win more public support for a controversial expansion. Europe's busiest airport plans to "significantly increase" the fines it imposes on airlines that break its day and night

Russian economists warned the government on Thursday a new law that might force their research centres to register as "foreign agents" could have a disastrous impact on the economy. In a letter published by business daily Vedomosti, 15 academics said their funding and cooperation with the government was threatened by the law, which President Vladimir

The European Commission will say it is taking Britain to court later on Thursday over the way it hands out welfare benefits, arguing the current UK system discriminates against other European Union nationals, said an EU source. The EU executive told Britain in 2011 to end what is said was the unfair practice of asking

A privately owned asteroid mining firm, backed in part by Google Inc's founders, launched a crowd-funding project on Wednesday to gauge public interest in a small space telescope that could serve as a backdrop for personal photographs, officials said. Planetary Resources, based in Bellevue, Washington, plans to build and operate telescopes to hunt for asteroids

Imposing losses on creditors will help resolve banks without the use of taxpayer money. But this alone won't be enough in a systemic crisis.   By GUNNAR HÖKMARK Swedish member of the European Parliament, vice president of the European People's Party Group and rapporteur for the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive. The European crisis –

From faking marriage certificates to get honeymoon discounts in the Maldives to letting children defecate on the floor of a Taiwan airport, Chinese tourists have recently found themselves at the centre of controversy and anger. Thanks to microblogging sites in China, accounts of tourists behaving badly spread like wildfire across the country, provoking disgust, ire

Australia will ease access restrictions on the world's largest weapons test range in the remote outback – an area larger than England – to unlock an estimated $35 billion in untapped mineral resources, with legislation for the change unveiled on Thursday. The Woomera Prohibited Area covers 127,000 square km (49,000 sq miles) of mostly barren