Business
Rome: Tourists to face €2 fee to get near Trevi Fountain
EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockTourists in Italy’s capital Rome will soon have to pay a €2 (£1.75; $2.34) entrance fee if they want to see its famed Trevi Fountain up close.
The new barrier for visitors to view the Baroque monument will come into force from 1 February 2026.
While the coins tossed into the fountain are donated to charity, the fees collected will go to the city authority to pay for upkeep and managing visitors. The city expects to raise €6.5m a year from the fountain alone.
Announcing the move on Friday, Rome’s Mayor Roberto Gualtieri was quote by news agency Reuters as saying that “two euros isn’t very much … and it will lead to less chaotic tourist flows”.
The Trevi levy is part of a new tariff system for certain museums and monuments in the Italian capital.
Access to a number of sites that currently charge for entry will become free for Rome’s residents, such as the Sacred Area of Largo Argentina.
At the same time, tourists and non-residents will have to pay to see the Trevi fountain and five other attractions including the Napoleonic Museum.
Children under the age of five, and those with disabilities and an accompanying person, will be exempt from the fees.
Tourists will still be able to view the Trevi Fountain – built by Italian architect Nicola Salvi in the 18th Century – for free from a distance.
The site currently sees an average of 30,000 visitors per day, according to the City of Rome.
Following restoration work which took place last year, Gualtieri introduced a queuing system to prevent large crowds massing around the landmark.
Access is capped at 400 people at the same time.
Business
GST notice: UltraTech Cement gets Rs 782 crore notice; company says it will contest – The Times of India
UltraTech Cement on Saturday said it has received a demand notice of Rs 782.2 crore from GST authorities and plans to challenge the order before the appropriate forum, according to PTI.In a regulatory filing, the Aditya Birla Group company said it is reviewing the order and considering all legal options. “The Company is reviewing the Order, considering all legal options, and accordingly would be contesting the demand,” UltraTech Cement said, PTI quoted.The demand pertains to the period 2018-19 to 2022-23 and has been raised on account of alleged short payment of Goods and Services Tax (GST), improper utilisation of Input Tax Credit (ITC) and related matters, the company said.UltraTech added that the order was passed “without due consideration of the Company’s submissions”.According to the filing, the order upholds a tax liability of Rs 3,90,95,58,194, along with applicable interest on the tax demand, additional interest of Rs 27,68,289, and a penalty of Rs 3,90,95,58,194.The company said the order was issued by the Joint Commissioner, Central Goods and Services Tax and Central Excise, Patna, on Friday.UltraTech Cement is India’s largest cement manufacturer, with a production capacity nearing 200 million tonnes per annum.
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The value of the gold reserves increased by $758 million to $107.741 billion during the week ended December 12, as per the RBI’s latest ‘Weekly Statistical Supplement’ data.
India’s Latest Forex Reserves.
India’s forex reserves (forex) jumped $1.689 billion to $688.949 billion during the week ended December 12, according to the latest RBI data. The value of the gold reserves increased by $758 million to $107.741 billion during the week.
In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had increased by $1.033 billion to $687.26 billion.
For the week ended December 12, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $906 million to $557.787 billion, according to the data.
Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effects of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units, such as the euro, pound, and yen, held in the foreign exchange reserves.
The special drawing rights (SDRs) surged by $14 million to $18.745 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s latest ‘Weekly Statistical Supplement’ data.
India’s reserve position with the IMF rose $11 million to $4.686 billion in the reporting week, according to the apex bank’s data.
The price of the safe-haven asset gold has been on a sharp uptrend over recent months, perhaps amid heightened global uncertainties and robust investment demand.
After the latest monetary policy review meeting, the RBI had said that the country’s foreign exchange reserves were sufficient to cover more than 11 months of merchandise imports. Overall, India’s external sector remains resilient, and the RBI is confident it can comfortably meet external financing requirements.
In 2023, India added around $58 billion to its foreign exchange reserves, contrasting with a cumulative decline of $71 billion in 2022. In 2024, reserves rose by just over $20 billion. So far in 2025, the forex kitty has increased by about $47-48 billion, according to data.
Foreign exchange reserves, or FX reserves, are assets held by a nation’s central bank or monetary authority, primarily in reserve currencies such as the US dollar, with smaller portions in the Euro, Japanese Yen, and Pound Sterling.
The RBI often intervenes by managing liquidity, including selling dollars, to prevent a steep depreciation of the rupee. The RBI strategically buys dollars when the Rupee is strong and sells when it weakens.
The Indian rupee has been under pressure for a host of reasons. It has already weakened by nearly 6 per cent this year on a cumulative basis.
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December 20, 2025, 08:16 IST
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Build-A-Bear Workshop wasn’t always a retail winner.
The toy store, known for its interactive experience of building and accessorizing stuffed animals, has gone through a significant turnaround since CEO Sharon Price John took the helm of the company over a decade ago.
“When I first came in 2013, that assessment of the brand was strong,” she told CNBC. “We don’t have a broken brand, we have a broken business, and when you started doing interviews, you really understood how much this brand meant to people.”
The company found initial success in malls in the early 2000s, but Build-A-Bear’s stock plunged after the 2008 financial crisis, with the company reporting a $49 million loss in fiscal 2012.
Under Price John, the company began investing in e-commerce, shifting orders to stores instead of its distribution center and diversifying its sales beyond just malls to turn around the company.
“Our goal overall was to create sustained, profitable growth, but the profitable was first,” Price John said.
That strategy worked. Virtually all of Build-A-Bear’s stores are now profitable, and the stock experienced an Nvidia-like run earlier this year, hitting an all-time high of about $76 in September. The stock has come down some since then, but it’s still up more than 125% over the past two years.
But tariffs have taken a hit to the business. Build-A-Bear imports over 90% of its products from China and Vietnam, and the company said in its third-quarter earnings report in early December that it expects to take a roughly $11 million hit from tariffs for fiscal 2025.
Company executives also said on a call with analysts that the company experienced a slowdown in traffic in October during the government shutdown.
Small Cap Consumer Research analyst Eric Beder wrote in a note this month that the firm was lowering projections and reducing its price target by $10 due to the company reporting lighter-than-expected revenue and the “implied deep tariff impacts.”
Still, the company is outperforming most of its retail competitors, expecting to reach $500 million in annual revenue for the first time.
“You can buy stuffed animals or a plush pretty much everywhere, right from Target to FAO Schwarz and every place in between,” Beder told CNBC. “The difference is that at Build-A-Bear, it’s yours. You helped make it.”
Watch the video to learn more about how Build-A-Bear has made its comeback.
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