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Brussels / AFP NATO on Thursday overcame sharp differences between long-time rivals Greece and Turkey to finalise an unprecedented mission to tackle migrant smugglers in the Aegean Sea. US-led NATO launched the operation two weeks ago, aiming to help the EU cope with its worst migrant crisis since World War II, but longstanding disputes between Athens and Ankara over Aegean ...

Bloomberg With no wins to show after the first four contests in the Republican presidential primary, Marco Rubio’s supporters are growing nervous that their candidate’s chances of becoming the party’s nominee may already be slipping way. “He’s got to do something, he’s got to stir up the mix a bit,” said Steve Hosheinz, a 55-year-old accountant from Houston who was ...

Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc surged after the lender increased its dividend payout and indicated it may have reached the end of charges for wrongly sold payment protection insurance that cost it 4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) last year. The firm’s shares climbed as much as 11 percent, the biggest intraday gain since October 2011. Pretax profit for 2015, excluding ...

Bloomberg China will allow domestic banks to issue up to 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) of asset-backed securities based on their non-performing loans, the first quota for such sales since 2008, people familiar with the matter said. The quota, which will initially be allocated mainly to China’s largest banks, will allow lenders to remove non-performing loans from their balance sheets ...

LISBON A Portuguese bank salvaged from the collapse of a major lender has reported losses of 981 million euros ($1 billion) in 2015, casting a cloud over the government’s attempts to sell it. Novo Banco, a so-called good bank that emerged from the surprise 2014 bankruptcy of Banco Espirito Santo, said Wednesday legacy debts soured its performance. The bank last ...

Frankfurt The German economy is “in good shape overall,” the head of the country’s central bank or Bundesbank said on Wednesday, waving away suggestions that clouds could be building over Europe’s biggest economy. Speaking at the Bundesbank’s annual news conference, president Jens Weidmann pointed to record high employment last year and falling unemployment. “While wage growth was marked, inflation remained ...

Bloomberg Euro-area consumer prices rose less than initially estimated in January, increasing the pressure on the European Central Bank to take steps to sustain the region’s recovery. The inflation rate was 0.3 percent, less than the 0.4 percent reported on Jan. 29, data from the European Union’s statistics office showed on Thursday. ECB policy makers will review their stimulus package ...

BLOOMBERG Barclays Plc cut the bonus pool for its investment bank by about 10 percent to 12 percent, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Individual employee variable pay for 2015 would have dropped more if the London-based bank wasn’t cutting 1,200 jobs worldwide and closing operations across Asia, said the people, who asked not to be identified because ...

Wellington / Bloomberg Air New Zealand more than doubled first-half profit and said it expects full-year earnings to surge at least 70 percent as lower fuel prices and growing passenger numbers boost revenue. Net income jumped 154 percent to NZ$338 million ($225 million) in the six months to December 31, the Auckland-based airline said Thursday. Pretax earnings climbed to NZ$457 ...

London / Bloomberg China’s HNA Group and a consortium led by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and Borealis Infrastructure are in the lead to buy London City Airport from its US owners, people familiar with the matter said. The central London airport, owned by Global Infrastructure Partners, could fetch more than 2 billion pounds ($2.8 billion), the people said, asking ...