Milan / AFP Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo reported earnings ahead of market expectations as bad loan risks on its books diminished. Net profit fell 24.2 percent in the first quarter to 806 million euros ($920.4 million), which compares with forecasts by analysts of around 708 million. Operating profit dropped on the back of falling interest income and earnings from ...

  MILAN / AP-BLOOMBERG Italian prosecutors are investigating top former Deutsche Bank management on suspicion of market manipulation related to the sale of €7 billion of Italian government bonds in 2011. News agency ANSA reported that financial police have taken depositions and seized documents in Deutsche Bank’s Italian headquarters in Milan in recent days. Deutsche Bank, based in Frankfurt, Germany, ...

  Bloomberg The Belarusian central bank warned that the financial industry is under increasing strain from a buildup in overdue loans as company profits suffer during an economic contraction. “We are facing an accelerated manifestation of accumulated credit risks,” central bank Chairman Pavel Kallaur said at a news conference in the capital, Minsk. “The difficult situation in the real sector ...

  Horn, Austria / DPA There is nothing very Asian about the quiet little Austrian town of Horn. It is surrounded by rolling hills and forests, and like any respectable central European town, it boasts a medieval church, old buildings with red-tile roofs, and the manor-house of a local noble family. But when you enter the stadium of the Horn football ...

  DPA A German electric locomotive from 1933 is one of five historic items of rolling stock recently added to the DB Museum, a Nuremberg, Germany museum that is paradise for trainspotters. The 1933 engine, which was built by the Wismar/SSW engine works and used to haul passenger and freight trains in southern and central Germany, is one of three ...

  DPA “A greener world” is the underlying theme at the just-opened world exposition in Turkey’s southern coastal city of Antalya, a place which, with its mass tourism industry and towering concrete hotel complexes, is not exactly known as an environmental paradise. Turkish officials hope this jaded image will be improved when visitors see the EXPO 2016 Antalya International Horticultural ...

  San Francisco/ AFP Netflix released a new tool to help people viewing streamed television shows on mobile devices avoid costly bills for high data use. The move comes shortly after Netflix expanded its service to nearly every country on the planet, wooing potential subscribers in vast array of places where smartphones are preferred devices for connecting to the Internet. ...

  San Francisco/ AFP Microsoft announced that its latest Windows operating system designed to work on laptops, desktops, smartphones, Xbox One consoles and more is powering 300 million devices around the world. “We’re seeing people at home, at schools, at small businesses, at large companies, and other organizations adopt Windows 10 faster than ever, and use Windows 10 more than ...

  Washington/ AFP IBM opened its quantum computer processor to anyone who wants to try what is expected to be a new kind of computing with enormously improved power and speed. The cloud-based computing system will allow users to explore the technology, which scientists say may solve certain problems that are impossible to solve on today’s supercomputers. “This moment represents ...

  DUBAI / EMIRATES BUSINESS Panasonic announced the launch of their new HJX20 and HJX5 high-end in-ear headphones. Along with a dual axial drive, a second coil and neodymium magnet are added to the speaker diaphragm of the RP-HJX20. Powerful magnetic forces from both front and rear effectively drive the diaphragm to produce powerful yet crisp, clear sound. An axial ...