By many accounts, as the economy adds jobs, more small businesses are looking to borrow money, and more banks are eager to lend it - at least to the right borrowers.
The European Union's top antitrust official has opened an investigation into the way countries including Ireland provide tax arrangements that enable big multinational corporations like Apple to reduce their tax bills worldwide.
Reacting to public outrage, Western retailers and apparel brands began a major push to improve safety at the Bangladeshi factories they do business with. It involves a sprint to inspect hundreds of plants each month and a commitment to help correct any safety problems found — all with an eye to preventing another catastrophic collapse or fire. But instead of joining forces, the Western brands have divided into two sometimes feuding camps.
The Food and Drug Administration proposed rules on Friday that would govern the production of pet food and farm animal feed for the first time.
The regulation would help prevent food-borne illness in both animals and people, officials at the agency said, as people can become sick from handling contaminated animal food and from touching pets that have eaten it.
The balance of world economic growth is tipping in another direction. Just as economists have begun lowering their forecasts for China and many other developing economies, the American economy is bouncing back. Japan appears to have turned a corner and is ending almost two decades of grinding deflation. Economic data out of Europe on Wednesday provided the first solid indication that many countries in the euro zone may be escaping the clutches of recession.
Bribery scandals have dominated headlines in several countries in recent months, among them India and Nigeria. International enforcement of anti-bribery laws has been increasing in the United States and major European countries.
A British supermarket chain has recalled a beef product after traces of the powerful veterinary drug phenylbutazone, which is banned from the human food chain, were found for the first time in an item that had been on sale in stores here.
European Commission delivered a bleak assessment Friday of Europe's economic prospects, saying that growth would be just 0.1 percent in the 27-nation European Union in 2013 and that the 17-nation euro zone would shrink 0.3 percent over the same period.
President Barack Obama is trying to persuade the United States to adopt a cap-and-trade system to curb greenhouse gas emissions. But the European Union's Emissions Trading System "” the world's flagship effort "” is sputtering. European carbon permits, which traded at about €30 ($40) per ton a few years ago, are now hovering at about €5 per ton or less.
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