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Western Europe

RSC to stage Hilary Mantel adaptations
"Doctor Who" star David Tennant is returning to the Royal Shakespeare Company this year to play a troubled king in "Richard II." Tennant, who played ...
Lloyds Banking Group cuts 940 jobs
Part-nationalized Lloyds Banking Group says it is eliminating 940 jobs in a continuing reduction of its payroll. Lloyds announced Wednesday that it ...
Big bankers defend against critics amid crisis
Leading bankers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, are on the defensive amid demands to regulate their industry more closely following ...
Norway cheese fire shuts down road tunnel
A road tunnel in northern Norway will be shut for several weeks after a 27-ton truckload of sweet goat's milk cheese caught fire. Regional traffic ...
Unilever fourth quarter sales grow 7.8 percent
Unilever PLC, the maker of consumer products such as Dove soaps and Magnum ice cream, says sales rose 7.8 percent to €12.6 billion ($16.8 billion) in ...
UK unemployment rate falls to 7.7pct
Britain's unemployment rate has fallen to 7.7 percent, officials statistics showed, easing pressure on the Bank of England to inject more money into ...
Novartis Q4 net profit rebounds to $2.1 billion
Swiss drug maker Novartis AG reported a jump in fourth-quarter net profit to $2.08 billion on Wednesday, citing the lack of a $900-million one-time ...
Monte dei Paschi shares suspended from trading
Shares in the world's oldest running bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, have been suspended from trading after reports claimed that its profits will be ...
Siemens earnings down 12 percent in its Q1
Earnings at industrial conglomerate Siemens AG declined 12 percent in the October-December quarter after the company took charges at its transport ...
Shakira gives birth to baby boy
Shakira is a mama. A spokeswoman for the 35-year-old Colombian singer says Shakira Mebarak and 25-year-old soccer star Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona ...
Armani and Chanel draw in celebs at couture day 2
The red-carpet glamor of haute couture — with its dripping paillettes, glistening silks and exorbitant price tag — makes it a natural bedfellow for ...
CEOs head to Davos more pessimistic about 2013
As high-powered CEOs flock to the snowy Swiss resort of Davos, they are loaded down with baggage — not just skis and iPads but concerns about the ...
NASCAR satisfied with progress of new Gen-6 car
With just over three weeks remaining until the debut of the Gen-6 race car, NASCAR is convinced its product will be better this season. Much of the ...
Armani mixes classic couture with exotic panache
Only a few living designers can execute a couture show where almost every look glistens as much with classic timelessness as it does with innovation.
Dutch police: 3 arrested in high-priced art heist
Romanian authorities have arrested three suspects in last year's multimillion-dollar art heist from a Netherlands art gallery, Dutch police said ...
Schwarzenegger calls for wider gun debate
Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for American leaders to think beyond gun laws in seeking ways to stop shooting tragedies. The 65-year-old action star ...
Charlize Theron urges AIDS action from world VIPs
Film star Charlize Theron says the world's business and political leaders need to do more in the fight to eradicate AIDS. She accepted an award ...
Prince Harry's wartime role draws reprisal fears
Prince Harry's admission that he killed Taliban fighters while working as a helicopter gunner in Afghanistan drew intense British media coverage ...
Remains of last Yugoslav king returned to Serbia
The remains of Yugoslavia's last king — Peter II Karadjordjevic, who died in the U.S. in 1970 — were flown back to Serbia in a solemn ceremony on ...
Opel may move up end of production at German plant
General Motors Co. is pressing employees in Germany to agree on a turnaround plan for its struggling European unit, warning if there is no deal it ...
EU pilots, cabin crew call for fatigue protection
Pilots and cabin crew on Tuesday staged demonstrations in several European airports against planned EU legislation they say could force them to fly ...
EU grouping gets OK for financial transaction tax
A group of 11 European Union countries was given the go-ahead Tuesday to work on the introduction of a tax on financial transactions. The tax is ...
Barcelona, Messi fall from top of AP 10 rankings
Lionel Messi and Barcelona fell from the top of the Associated Press Global Football Rankings this week and were replaced by rivals Cristiano Ronaldo ...
Cyprus insists against privatizations in bailout
Cyprus insists it will resist privatizing state-owned companies, even if its public debt burden is deemed too heavy to bear once it receives an ...
Spain cheered by high demand for new 10-year bond
Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said exceptional demand for a new Spanish 10-year bond Tuesday showed there was renewed confidence in the ...