BRUSSELS — European car makers say vehicle production in 2009 was at the lowest level in 14 years. A Thursday report from auto makers' group ACEA says some 15.2 million cars, trucks, vans and buses were turned out in Europe last year, the lowest level since 1996. Car output was 13.4 million, down...

PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are leading a proposal that calls for mandatory reporting of all derivatives trading in Europe as a way of clamping down on the type of speculation that has undermined the euro in recent weeks as a result of the Greek debt...

BERLIN  — A leading German think-tank says it expects the country's economy — Europe's biggest — to contract in the first quarter because of an unusually harsh winter. The IfW group said Thursday that the economy should make up for the expected contraction in first-quarter gross domestic...

GENEVA  — Information on 24,000 HSBC customers with Swiss accounts has been stolen, the British bank said Thursday, potentially exposing large numbers of international clients to prosecution by tax authorities in their home countries. A former IT employee of Swiss subsidiary HSBC Private Bank...

FRANKFURT  — German carmaker BMW AG said Thursday its 2009 net income fell 36 percent to €210 million ($286 million) because of lower demand for its cars and motorcycles during the economic downturn as well as a higher tax rate. BMW, the world's biggest luxury car maker, said it earned €330...

FRANKFURT  — Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen AG says its 2009 net income declined 80 percent to €960 million ($1.3 billion), confirming its preliminary estimate released in February. The Wolfsburg-based carmaker earned €4.8 billion in net income in 2008. Revenue in 2009 was down nearly...

GENEVA — British bank HSBC says information on 15,000 customers with accounts in Switzerland has been stolen. HSBC says a former employee stole the information in late 2006 and early 2007. The accounts were all opened before October 2006. The bank says it has contacted the affected customers and...

TOKYO  — Sony has a new message for Nintendo Wii gamers: Come join us. The Japanese maker of the PlayStation 3 unveiled Thursday its highly anticipated motion controlling system, as it takes aim at Nintendo's dominance in the gaming sector. With the "PlayStation Move," Sony hopes to lure...

ATHENS — Greek public transport was halted, flights grounded and state hospitals left with emergency staff only on Thursday as workers held yet another general strike to protest painful spending cuts. Debt-plagued Greece has faced a new wave of labour discontent since the Socialist government's...

MUMBAI — Just how fast can India grow? Ask Manal Farooq, who can't make gloves quickly enough. "We are facing a major problem," said Farooq, a senior executive at Marvel Gloves Industries, which produces 3 million pairs of gloves a month, most used in industrial production in India. "Despite...