Christian Lacroix, a top French design house, files for protection from creditors as luxury-goods companies worldwide struggle with weak demand.

When the Obama administration reveals its plan for overhauling the U.S. financial regulatory system, it may include a proposal to consolidate authority for regulating banks under one agency, a newspaper reports.

The global economic downturn and the recent H1N1 flu outbreak have undoubtedly put a damper on numerous summer travel plans. But while families in the U.S. are hunkering down for home-centric “staycations,” it seems that Chinese outbound tourism is on a definite upswing.

Despite being in the middle of the National Basketball Association playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers agreed over the weekend to let a Chinese investor group purchase 15% of the franchise and its arena. What’s in it for the team and its star player, LeBron James?

India’s biggest mobile phone company, Bharti Airtel, has renewed its effort to buy a large stake of South Africa’s largest carrier, MTN. Their previous round of talks collapsed a year ago this week.

Wall Street’s pay practices encouraged excessive risk-taking and helped precipitate the financial crisis, Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner tells Bloomberg News. He promises to offer by mid-June a set of broad standards to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Xerox chief executive Anne Mulcahy will retire in July. She was a hero on Wall Street for turning her company around — even as she criticized the market for its short-term thinking.

In Spain, yesterday’s urban panacea is today’s white elephant, according to new research described in Universia Knowledge@Wharton.