British employers added 184,000 staff to their payrolls in December, monthly tax data showed on Tuesday, taking total staff numbers to 1.4% above their level in February 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Reuters) -Larry Fink, chief executive of the world's biggest asset manager BlackRock Inc, has defended a shareholder movement that pushes companies to focus on the interests of society as well as profits.

(Reuters) -Larry Fink, chief executive of the world's biggest asset manager BlackRock Inc, has defended a shareholder movement that pushes companies to focus on the interests of society as well as profits.

BEIJING (Reuters) -Starbucks, which has seen sales slow in China due to COVID-19's fallout, is attempting to widen its reach in its second-biggest market globally by distributing its coffees through the country's dominant food delivery firm, Meituan.

Property developer shares rose on Tuesday after a Chinese lender unveiled a plan to issue debt to fund real estate acquisitions - the first bank to do so - while Beijing sought to reassure investors about the broader impact of defaults on bond markets.

Private equity firm Affinity Equity Partners is this week launching the sale of its Burger King fast-food businesses in South Korea and Japan, in a deal that could fetch more than $1 billion, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.