GERMANY

German real estate fund manager Union Investment said on Tuesday it has bought the Mercado shopping mall in Hamburg for 164 million euros ($235.5 million) in Germany's largest individual property deal so far this year.

Germany's consumer electronics trade show IFA may lack the glitz and glamour of other fairs, but this year it will attract more attention than usual as the tech world turns to Berlin for any signs of an upturn.

Drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp lost a bid for a refund of taxes paid on $690 million in profits earned offshore and repatriated, when a U.S. court sided with the Internal Revenue Service.

The leaders of Germany and France took aim at the banking sector on Monday, pledging to check banks' power and push for limits on bonus payments at a Group of 20 summit next month.

German election officials said on Monday they were investigating whether exit poll data were made public on Twitter before polls closed on Sunday and there might be an appeal against the result if laws had been broken.

France wants to launch an expanded international effort to find the missing wreckage and flight recorders of the Air France jet which crashed in the Atlantic in June, the country's top crash investigator said on Monday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel dismissed criticism of her campaign on Monday after heavy losses in weekend state votes brought calls from some conservatives for a more aggressive approach before a September 27 election.

The roughly 370,000 employees of Volkswagen and Porsche are striving initially to acquire a stake of up to 5 percent in the automotive group, VW's labor chief told a German newspaper.

People who are heavily in debt are more likely to be heavy themselves, too, according to new research from Germany.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's second-largest mobile phone maker, said on Monday it would open an online store for smartphone applications on September 14 in Europe.

A member of German chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party has pushed for a delay of the decision about the fate of General Motors' European unit Opel until after Germany's federal elections, a newspaper said.

Voters in three German states headed to the polls on Sunday for regional elections that are seen as a key test of sentiment before a federal vote next month in which Chancellor Angela Merkel hopes to win a second term.

The chief executive of insolvent German retailer Arcandor said its department store business Karstadt could survive independently and may not need to merge with rival Kaufhof, a German magazine reported.

The roughly 370,000 employees of Volkswagen and Porsche are striving initially to acquire a stake of up to 5 percent in the automotive group, VW's labor chief told a German newspaper.

General Motors may be dragging out a decision on the sale of Opel until after German federal elections in 30 days time, calculating that a new government in Berlin may drop its backing for Magna (MGa.TO).

The German government said on Friday its talks with General Motors on the sale of carmaker Opel would take some time yet and made clear it still favored a bid from Canadian supplier Magna.

A debate is emerging over how curbs on energy market speculation may impact oil prices, with at least one major bank boldly expecting the new rules will trigger a 30-percent price plunge.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government is committed to its negotiating stance over carmaker Opel, which has strongly favored auto parts maker Magna's bid, a newspaper reported.

French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) sees total car demand in Europe in the second half of the year falling less than expected, its head said on Wednesday.

Volkswagen's (VOWG.DE) Portuguese unit said on Thursday it was cautiously optimistic about a recovery trend in car sales in Europe and cancelled planned temporary layoffs of several days over the next two months.

The U.S. economy has been improving, and dollar investors are starting to take notice. But punters who bet on more greenback gains from stronger U.S. economic data and interest rate hikes could be disappointed.