Milan / AFP Banco Popolare and Banca Popolare di Milano (BPM) said they would shed seven percent of their 25,000 staff as they merge to create Italy’s third-largest bank by assets. The 1,800 jobs are to be cut via voluntary departures, and 800 other employees will be reassigned to other jobs. The number of branches will be cut by 14 percent ...

  Tokyo / AFP As China’s leaders consider ways to improve market oversight and avoid the kind of boom and bust in equities that shook investors around the world last year, the nation’s central bank is already extending its oversight to areas beyond its traditional focus. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) this month expanded its powers to cap cross-border capital ...

  Sidoarjo / AFP Harwati forces a smile as she guides visitors around a bubbling mud volcano in Indonesia, pausing as they snap selfies on the bleak wasteland she once called home. These disaster tourists are a lifeline for the single mother who lost everything when the earth beneath a paddyfield near her village opened up without warning ten years ...