Earthquakes in Japan and devastating floods in China were the most expensive catastrophes of 2016.

Ford's decision to can a planned factory in Mexico stems more from its long-term goals than Donald Trump or devotion to US workers, analysts say. 

Top executives in Britain were set to make more money by Wednesday, January 4, than the typical worker would earn all year, new figures reveal.

The Coca-Cola Company is being sued by activists who compare the beverage giant's advertising tactics to the tobacco industry's past efforts in minimising the health effects of its products.

• COMMENT

Business leaders thinking about how they might want to better themselves in 2017 would be well advised to take an intensive course in managing climate risk.

Starbucks is poised to overtake McDonald's as the world's most valuable restaurant chain, and the coffee giant could ultimately have a staggering 50,000 locations.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday notched the biggest victory of his campaign to get automakers to keep jobs in the US when Ford cancelled a $US1.6 billion ($2.2 billion) Mexican expansion, saying it would add positions in Michigan instead.

A branch of the fast-food chain McDonald's has opened in Vatican City, the seat of the Catholic Church, despite protests from residents and cardinals.

• COMMENT

Markets are still behaving as if they will get the "good Trump" (tax cuts and fiscal stimulus) rather than the "bad Trump" (trade wars), despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

Has James Packer jumped the gun scrapping the international ambitions of his gaming empire Crown Resorts this month and selling out of Macau?

Three Chinese men have been charged in the US with making over $4m by trading on information they got by hacking into top NY law firms.

A Chinese court has jailed Sun Zhaoxue, the former president of state-owned metals producer Chinalco for 16 years for graft

Toshiba's shares tumbled after the company announced it may have to book several billion dollars in charges related to a US nuclear acquisition.

As the inauguration nears, Trump has shown no signs of curbing his willingness to criticise brands that draw his ire.

Donald Trump's new trade chief has urged Britain's rivals to take advantage of the "God-given opportunity" of Brexit to take business away from the UK, according to a report.

Sometimes, as can be the case with online daters themselves, online sites are not all they make out to be.

Deutsche Bank said it has reached an agreement to resolve a year's-long US investigation into its dealings in mortgage-backed securities, removing a major legal hurdle for the bank.

The Italian government has agreed to bail out Monte dei Paschi di Siena after the world's oldest bank failed to to get a capital increase.

President-elect Donald Trump has shaken up years of Pentagon planning, tweeting he has asked Boeing to price a replacement of Lockheed Martin's F-35, the most expensive US weapon system ever.

Goldman is planning an initial public offering in Hong Kong, appealing to small investors - but it's not the Goldman they have know.

Even for a puppy, Kat Donatello's black lab, Austin, was hyperactive. But a special biscuit "took the edge off of him".

Frightening fact: Every Republican president since World War II has been in power during at least one recession.

Billionaire Carl Icahn, who bet $US1 billion on a Trump rally hours after his election victory, will advise the President-elect on rescinding "excessive regulation".

Morgan Stanley will pay $US7.5 million to resolve US Securities and Exchange Commission claims that the firm improperly used customer cash to lower its borrowing costs.

It's a place synonymous with conflict and is now on the front line of Britain's divisive push to leave the European Union.

The European Commission has charged Facebook with misleading it during its WhatsApp takeover, threatening a $247m fine.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde escaped punishment and kept her job on Monday despite a conviction on negligence charges over a state payout made while she served as France's finance minister in 2008.

In backing her, the fund's executive board avoids the task of having to select a new managing director.

​The US wants Credit Suisse to pay up to $US7 billion for its role selling toxic mortgage securities in the GFC. The bank says No.