Europe shares rose in early trading on Friday, ahead of a key U.S. employment report, with banks and miners gaining. At 0813 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.3 percent at 993.48 points. The European benchmark is up more than 53 percent from its lifetime low of March 9, as

Royal Bank of Scotland more than halved its operating losses to 1.5 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) in the third quarter as impairments fell, but less favourable trading battered investment banking profits. Part-nationalised RBS said impairment losses totalled 3.3 billion pounds, down 30 percent from 4.7 billion in the second quarter and were showing signs of

Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.7 percent on Friday as exporters climbed after good news on U.S. jobs renewed hopes about the pace of economic recovery and as tech shares rose after gains by their U.S. peers, but profit-taking weighed on gains. Pioneer Corp advanced nearly 9 percent after UBS upgraded the consumer electronics company

Asian stocks rose ahead of the latest U.S. payrolls report on Friday, expected to show the fewest job losses since August 2008, while oil prices recovered to $80 a barrel after a sharp drop on high U.S. fuel inventories. Stock indexes in Britain and France were expected to open slightly higher, while Germany's DAX was

Pavle Radonic has worked as assistant manager for Hotel Belvedere, overlooking the medieval city of Dubrovnik, for 18 years. Except for the first few months on the job, he has never welcomed a guest. How a five-star cliffside resort on the Adriatic has remained shuttered for so long — or how other prime seaside hotels

Greece's new government pledged in its 2010 draft budget on Thursday to save the country from bankruptcy by cutting the deficit while keeping electoral promises to weather the impact of the crisis and help the poor. Greece forecast on Thursday a 0.3 percent contraction of its GDP in 2010 whereas the EU sees most other

The European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold at 1.0 percent on Thursday and investors are now braced for signs that it will soon start weaning banks off cheap and abundant liquidity. All 78 economists polled by Reuters last week had expected the ECB to leave interest rates at a record low this month,

European stocks were down 0.3 percent by early afternoon on Thursday, with banks and miners among the biggest losers. Yet shares trimmed their losses after both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank kept rates unchanged. The BoE kept rates on hold and said it would expand its quantitative easing programme by 25