The Vatican said on Friday it had sold the luxury London building at the centre of an ongoing corruption trial to Bain Capital in recent days for 186 million pounds ($223.6 million).

KABUL (Reuters) -The reclusive supreme leader of the Afghan Taliban hailed the Islamists' 2021 takeover of Afghanistan during a meeting on Friday called to forge national unity and attended by religious leaders from around the country.

When it comes to Russia’s view on Western investors, Rosneft looks like the exception that proves the rule. Moscow confirmed on Thursday it would allow the $73 billion oil giant to pay a dividend, having stopped $93 billion peer Gazprom from doing the same. The nature of their respective share registers may explain why.

Inflation is back, and along with it a widespread obsession about the future direction of interest rates. This is hardly surprising. In the past, a dose of tight money has brought prices under control. However, interest’s role in ensuring price stability is just one of its many functions. Our neglect of those other functions explains why the financial markets are in such a jumpy state today.

The digital brokerage is worth less than a quarter of its $32 bln IPO value. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists argue that its $7 bln cash pile and ample user base make it an attractive target. Also, Western leaders’ plan to restrict funds to Moscow may backfire.

Germany will cut the red tape required for changing a person's name and gender under a plan presented by the government on Thursday that seeks to abolish a controversial 1980 law regulating the process.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Lev Parnas, a onetime associate of Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, was sentenced to 20 months in prison on Wednesday for violating U.S. campaign finance laws during the 2018 elections and for wire fraud conspiracy.

A large gathering organised by the Taliban of Afghanistan's religious scholars and tribal elders will address issues of national unity and will be without female participants, the acting deputy prime minister said on Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain on Wednesday announced sanctions on oligarch Vladimir Potanin, described by London as Russia's second-richest man and who has been buying assets from firms exiting Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

The European Union’s gas headache hasn’t gone away. Despite strong progress in hiking liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases, the bloc is some way off its self-imposed year-end target of cutting Russian gas imports by two-thirds, or about 100 billion cubic metres (bcm). That leaves key member states like Germany vulnerable to an economic shock should Russian President Vladimir Putin turn off the taps. They shouldn’t wait until the weather turns cold to implement robust energy-saving measures.