Reuters

By Jessie Pang, Joyce Zhou and Edward Cho

HONG KONG (Reuters) - When Jacky Yu, 48, opened his Japanese gift shop in Hong Kong more than a decade ago, the tourist and shopping district of Mong Kok was a bustling hub packed with stalls, street food and tourists.

Fast-forward 12 years and parts of the area are struggling to stay afloat, a combination of customers emigrating, locals heading across the border to shop in China or travelling to... (continue reading...)

By Nick Carey

LONDON (Reuters) - Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis all posted lower sales and first-quarter revenue on Tuesday as they geared up to launch new models and faced weaker consumer demand for new cars as interest rates remain high.

The news hit the automakers' stocks. In early trading Mercedes shares were down 3.6%, Stellantis nearly 1.5% and Volkswagen 2.1%.

Mercedes was the worst performer on Europe's... (continue reading...)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah have expressed the political will to seek reconciliation through dialogue at unity talks in Beijing, China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The two factions have failed to heal political disputes since Hamas fighters expelled Fatah from the Gaza Strip in a short war in 2007, and their talks took place against the backdrop of Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza.

"The Palestinian... (continue reading...)

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will step up its support for the economy, flexibly using policy tools, including banks' reserve requirement ratios (RRR) and interest rates, the Politburo, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party, was quoted by state media as saying on Tuesday.

China will continue to implement a prudent monetary policy and proactive fiscal policy, Politburo said, according to the official Xinhua news agency, after a meeting... (continue reading...)

By Maria Martinez

BERLIN (Reuters) -The German economy skirted a recession at the start of the year, growing modestly but more than expected thanks to investment in construction and exports.

The economy grew slightly in the first quarter, with gross domestic product rising 0.2% on the previous three-month period in adjusted terms, preliminary data from the statistics office showed on Tuesday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had... (continue reading...)