U.S. consumer spending rose a solid 0.4 per cent in July, the sixth straight month of healthy gains. At the same time, a key gauge of inflation posted its sharpest annual gain in six years, likely keeping the Federal Reserve on track to keep raising interest rates gradually.

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Pimpa Panlao, 31, is struggling to pay off an 80,000 baht ($2,440) bank loan and spends a third of her income from selling women’s accessories at a Bangkok market to repay the loan.

“Business is bad and it’s very tough when you have debt,” Pimpa told Reuters, who used part of the loan to finance her business. She is not alone.

Action follows reports of students suffering palpitations as they go through high-pressure education system

South Korea is set to ban the sale of coffee in schools in an effort to promote healthier choices among pupils and teachers.

All vending machines and snack kiosks in primary and secondary schools will stop selling all coffee products by 14 September, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

INDIA is expected to have the world’s greatest demand for oil by 2024, replacing Chinas as the biggest global oil driver.

Floods devastate Kerala as threat of drought hangs over other parts of India, and wildfires burn in British Columbia

Controversial effigy of Turkish PM was part of Wiesbaden art Biennale

The German city of Wiesbaden has removed a large gold statue of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after it sparked clashes between his supporters and opponents.

Back in 2015, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc cast doubt over the future of aging oil fields offshore Norway. A crash in crude prices and high operating costs threatened to shut them early, leaving millions of barrels in the ground.

Nio, a Chinese company that makes electric cars, has filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. The company said in a filing on Monday that it’s looking to raise as much as $1.8 billion in the initial public offering.

Arianespace’s lightweight Vega rocket has deployed the European Space Agency’s Aeolus climate science satellite Wednesday in an evening launch from the Centre Spatial Guyanais at Kourou, French Guiana. The mission set sail at the instantaneous launch opportunity timed at 18:20:09 local time (21:20 UTC).

Chinese smartphone firm Xiaomi has posted a $2.1 billion profit for its first quarter of business as a public company on account of growing smartphone and hardware sales.