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  Berlin / AFP German state rail operator Deutsche Bahn said on Thursday it planned to significantly ramp up cargo transport to China following a record year, using the world’s longest train line in a modern-day revival of the Silk Road route. More than 40,000 containers were transported between the two countries in 2016, up from 35,000 a year earlier ...

  Reuters Most Middle Eastern stock markets closed higher on Thursday after a tumultuous year in which many bourses were hit hard by low oil prices, then recovered in the final few months as the economic outlook improved. Fund managers generally expect a stronger performance in 2017 because of the rebound in oil prices over the past couple of months, ...

  Bloomberg The dollar dropped the most in two weeks while oil retreated from its highest close in 17 months as investors prepared to close out a volatile year for financial markets. US stocks rebounded from the biggest slide in two months. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell for the first time in four days after reaching the highest level ...

  Bloomberg Many investors in retail stocks will be happy to see the back of 2016. But not those who bet on Boohoo.com Plc. The online fashion merchant’s shares have soared about 260 percent in 2016 as fashion-conscious youngsters snapped up garments such as bomber jackets and shoulder dresses for 15 pounds ($18.42) apiece. The stock’s rise is the biggest ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, has taken delivery of its first Rolls-Royce engine-powered Airbus A380 superjumbo and has resolved its dispute with the engine maker over a technical issue. The A380 jet arrived in Dubai on Thursday morning, two days after Airbus said it would delay the delivery of 12 A380s to the airline over ...

  Bloomberg Kate Spade & Co. shares surged the most in more than two years after Dow Jones reported that the luxury handbag maker is working with bankers to explore a sale of the company. The company has been under pressure from shareholders to find an acquirer amid a failure to boost profit margins. It is working with an investment ...

  Bloomberg US fast-food giant Yum! Brands Inc. plans to refranchise its KFC restaurant business in Turkey as part of a global shift away from owning its own outlets. KFC Turkey will increasingly grow through its franchisees, the Louisville, Kentucky-based company said in an e-mailed response to questions, without providing details. Yum, which also owns the Pizza Hut and Taco ...

  Santiago / AFP Qatar Airways bought a 10-percent stake in LATAM, the largest airline in Latin America, the Chilean-Brazilian company said. The investment, first announced last July, amounts to 60.8 million shares at a price of $10 each, LATAM said in a statement. The airline — the product of a 2012 merger between Chile’s LAN and Brazil’s TAM — ...

  Bloomberg The board of India’s central bank approved the move to ban high-denomination notes less than three hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision in a televised address to the nation. Information on how many members favored or opposed the move isn’t ‘on record,’ the Reserve Bank of India said in response to queries from Bloomberg News ...

  Frankfurt am Main / AFP Lending to households and companies picked up in November in the eurozone, the European Central Bank said on Thursday, signalling that its efforts to encourage spending and investment are gaining traction. Loans to households in the single currency area grew by 1.9 percent year-on-year, compared to 1.8 percent a month earlier, the bank said. ...