Investors in euro zone sovereign debt will have to share some of the burden of coping with any future crises affecting the European single currency, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday. "We need a mechanism so that in future crises we can get the creditors involved in solving the problems," said Schaeuble. "We

French trade unions launched the second 24-hour strike in a month on Thursday against President Nicolas Sarkozy's unpopular pension reform, seeking to force his government to go back on plans to end retirement at 60. Strikes and street protests were expected to cause widespread disruption to rail, air and urban transport, schools and postal services,

Britain's top shares fell on Wednesday, led by banks as worries over the economic recovery in the U.S. and lack of action taken by the Federal Reserve hit sentiment, offsetting gains in miners. The FTSE 100 ended down 24.28 points or 0.4% at 5,551.91, after falling 0.5% on Tuesday. The U.S. central bank's policy-setting panel

Container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd is set to seal its debt restructuring through a high yield bond, paving the way for German travel firm TUI AG to exit the business. Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest container shipper, is planning a refinancing package, approved by its board on Wednesday, that will allow it to repay part of the

Moody's Investors Service has changed the outlook for the French banking system to stable from negative, as the structural characteristics of the country's banks have contributed to their resilience during the crisis by helping them absorb losses and withstand related shocks. Moody's decision to change the outlook on French banks reflects its view that these

Brilliant but blunt-spoken White House economic adviser Larry Summers said on Tuesday he will leave his job, marking a major staff shake-up for President Barack Obama as he faces growing pressure to revive the sluggish economy. Summers, a former Treasury secretary who had grappled with the Mexican peso crisis and other global financial problems in

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao threatened more retaliation against Japan unless it releases a trawler captain whom Tokyo accuses of deliberately colliding with a Japanese coastguard ship near disputed islands. In the first comments by a senior Chinese leader on the issue, he told a meeting of overseas Chinese and Chinese Americans in New York on

Oil rose past $75 on Wednesday, as a weaker dollar allowed it to shrug off an industry report showing surprise gains in U.S. inventories. The outlook for oil demand in the United States remained sluggish after the Federal Reserve on Tuesday stopped short of laying out a timetable to provide more stimulus to the economy,

The dollar fell on Wednesday to its weakest level on the yen since Japan intervened last week, fuelling speculation of more intervention after the Federal Reserve raised expectations it would print more dollars to help the U.S. economy. The dollar hit its lowest in seven weeks against the euro and a basket of currencies, and