Repaid baggage feesAmerican travelers have grudgingly grown accustomed to paying for checked bags on flights.

A French government plan to aid the French automobile industry as it struggles with sagging vehicle sales in France and Europe will come with strings attached, Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg said Wednesday.

Crude-oil futures fell in Asian trading Wednesday from a seven-week high as hopes for further monetary stimulus faded while investors awaited weekly U.S. oil inventory data.

LG Chem Ltd. (051910.SE), South Korea's biggest chemical company by sales, Wednesday posted a 40% decline in second-quarter net profit, weighed by sluggish demand for petrochemicals and a decline in product prices amid weak global economic conditions.

Three Polish state-controlled companies will team up to build Poland's first nuclear power plant, daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reports Wednesday.

Swedish network equipment vendor Ericsson (ERIC) Wednesday reported a bigger-than-expected drop in second-quarter earnings with profits stunted by a high number of low-margin sales in Europe and slow demand in some markets, but said it expects improvement towards the end of the year.

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German sportswear maker Puma AG (PUM.XE) said Wednesday it expects first-half net earnings to decline 13% on the year and lowered the full-year guidance due to one-time costs of expanding the company's transformation program.

European stock markets opened higher on Wednesday, inspired by gains for Wall Street overnight and helped by well-received earnings from Credit Suisse AG , with those shares up 4%.