Surcharges for using a debit or credit card to pay for travel, theatre or cinema tickets will be banned by the end of 2012, the government plans.

Sichuan province in southwest China increases minimum wage by 23%, to try and attract workers amid a rapidly rising cost of living.

A US federal judge rules that Texan financier Allen Stanford is mentally fit to stand trial for allegedly operating a $7bn (£4.5bn) Ponzi scheme.

The largest shareholder in Australia's Gloucester Coal agrees a takeover by China's Yanzhou Coal Mining, clearing the way for the deal.

Top US Republican John Boehner bows to pressure from within and outside his party to accept a short-term extension of a tax cut for workers.

Singapore's factory output falls after a drop in electronics manufacturing caused by slowing demand and supply chain issues.

Blacks Leisure says it is still in talks over the sale of the business after receiving offers from a number of parties.

The French economy's growth rate is revised down to 0.3% in the three months to the end of September.