A Russian court on Wednesday unexpectedly delayed the verdict in the trial of jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who faces an additional six years in prison. The verdict, which Judge Viktor Danilkin was supposed to have started reading out at 0700 GMT, is viewed as a test of President Dmitry Medvedev's promises to reform Russia.
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European car sales fell 7.1% in November, industry association ACEA said on Wednesday, as economic woes and austerity measures dampened customers' demand for new cars. European carmakers are looking to Asia and Latin America as demand stagnates at home as the scrappage schemes which boosted demand for cars during the crisis run out and fears
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. U.S. businesses are heartened by President Barack Obama's push to extend Bush-era tax cuts, but they are not ready to declare a breakthrough in an often-tense relationship with the White House. Obama's first two years in office have been characterized by conflict with companies over policies ranging from his controversial healthcare law to financial
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. Shanghai native Wu Xiaodong has a solid job as a human resource supervisor in a technology company and earns around 4000 yuan ($600) a month. But he is still single at 28 and lives with his parents. "At this age, things we would be looking at would be marriage and children," he said, adding
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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao begins a three-day visit to India on Wednesday, trying to boost trade and soothe tensions between the two fastest-growing major economies in the world. Wen's visit is the first by a Chinese premier in five years. He will be accompanied by more than 400 business leaders, underscoring the growing commercial ties
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A British judge granted bail of 200,000 pounds on Tuesday for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, wanted in Sweden for alleged sex crimes and the target of U.S. fury over the release of secret diplomatic cables. Prosecutors, representing Swedish authorities, quickly said they would appeal against the bail decision and Judge Howard Riddle
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Fancy new features like 3D screens and Internet connectivity have failed to inspire U.S. television shoppers, dashing a hoped-for recovery in the global consumer electronics industry. TV manufacturers such as Sony Corp, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Sharp Corp are learning that features such as razor-thin LED TVs are just not enough to stage a
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Protesters set fire to cars, threw paint and smoke bombs at the Italian parliament and clashed with riot police on Tuesday in Rome's worst violence for years after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi survived a confidence vote. Via del Corso, the main street stretching through the historic centre, near Berlusconi's office and home to some of
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The airline industry body IATA unveiled a plan on Tuesday to replace lengthy and sometimes intrusive passenger security checks at airports with a new system aimed at finding "bad people, not bad objects." Under the project, an early version of which could be in place within 2-3 years if governments cooperate, travellers would be directed
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A total of 26 flights to and from airports in Cyprus will be affected by Wednesday`s 24-hour strike in Greece, in which air traffic controllers are participating. Adamos Aspris, spokesman for Hermes airports in Larnaca and Paphos, said that due to the strike “all flights to and from Greek airports are postponed.” “These are Cyprus
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