The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked Purdue Pharma from going forward with bankruptcy proceedings, which the Biden administration has called an "unprecedented" arrangement that would ultimately offer the Sackler family broad protection from opioid-related civil claims.

After a three-and-a-half year pandemic-era pause, US federal student loans start accumulating interest again from Friday, with repayments set to cut the monthly take-home pay of millions of Americans by hundreds...

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he’s encouraged by a recent slowing of economic activity, which may indicate

European Union regulators have hit Google with fresh antitrust charges, saying the only way to satisfy competition concerns about its lucrative digital ad business is by selling off parts of the tech giant’s main moneymaker

Another prominent podcaster is leaving Spotify Technology SA, as the company reverses many of its biggest investments in

FRANKFURT Mercedes-Benz is making China, the world's top auto market, central to its next electric vehicle (EV) campaign

By Samuel Shen and Ankur Banerjee SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Investors are making a tentative return to China's beaten-down stock markets as

High street fashion retailer H&M has joined other companies in charging shoppers who return items purchased online. Customers must now pay £1.99 to return parcels either in store or online, with the cost of the return being deducted from their refund. Rival high street stores including Zara, Boohoo, Uniqlo and Next already charge for online returns, with retail experts predicting that even more are likely to follow suit. During the pandemic, when online shopping inevitably soared in popularity, customers became increasingly more reliant on returning items when they did not fit. However, this also led to a rise in people buying items in bulk and returning almost all those items, some of them worn. While most online and high street retailers do not formally announce the move to charge for returns, many have introduced the change under the radar, with H&M implementing the return fee this summer. Business analysts have told the BBC that other retailers are likely to do the same. "It’s interesting that companies seem to be doing it by stealth, but it’s a sensible thing to be doing," retail expert Jonathan De Mello told the outlet. "It makes economic sense, as it discourages shoppers from bulk buying online products and then returning the majority of them. That’s been a real problem for companies." While H&M shoppers might be disappointed in the extra returns fee, added De Mello, most might understand why a company would need to make this decision, especially when it comes to the environment. Many shoppers are increasingly aware of the environmental impact of deliveries and returns, from courier vans to wasted packaging. Retail expert and analyst Natalie Berg wrote on Twitter/X that retailers have “created a monster” with free returns. “​​H&M charging for returns. Retailers have created a monster with free returns. It makes financial and environmental sense to put an end to this ‘buy to try’ mentality.” But Berg pointed out that customers who have signed up to H&M membership would be exempt from the extra fee for returning items. “This is actually a really delicate way to tier your customers,” Berg said of the membership scheme. “Slowly climb down from costly promises by limiting those benefits to loyalty members. Retailers have become too generous over the past decade. Save that generosity for your most valuable customers.” Read More Inside London’s first Vogue World: Thong leotards and Anna Wintour’s VIP assembly line Voguewashing London Fashion Week won’t pay the wages of Britain’s young fashion designers Bridesmaid who “didn’t love” her dress spends 35 years wearing it around the world Meghan Markle praised for mixing high-fashion with affordable pieces Vogue World wowed but won’t pay the wages of young fashion designers Ukrainian designers prove beauty can come from darkness at London Fashion Week

Poland’s nationalist government will put a question about selling public assets to voters in October, evoking a politically

Serbia will probably leave borrowing costs unchanged as inflation continues to ease and the central bank extended its

FORT LIBERTY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 18, 2023--

Perpetual dollar bonds sold by several Hong Kong-based companies have recently suffered their largest weekly declines in years,