Asian shares slipped on Thursday and the euro languished near a two-week low after disappointing economic data from both sides of the Atlantic rekindled concerns about the strength of global growth. Commodities and the Australian dollar – all sensitive to growth expectations – also struggled as the data put investors on the defensive and limited
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The only regret that outgoing central bank chief Athanasios Orphanides had during his five year term that ended Wednesday was that he could not convince the president of Cyprus and his advisors of the worsening economic situation from 2008 to 2011 and the need for corrective fiscal measures. Speaking during a press briefing to present
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Standard & Poor's raised Greece's credit rating out of default territory on Wednesday, as expected after Athens slashed its debt by about a third by completing the biggest sovereign debt restructuring in financial history. But the firm kept Greece firmly in the junk category with a CCC rating and warned that a deep recession, unpredictable
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* Rates up in Cyprus, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain; Falls in Austria, Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia * Unemployment in the euro zone rose to a 15-year high of 10.9% in March, driven by lay-offs in Italy and Spain, and economists said worse was to come as the impact of the debt crisis extracts an ever greater
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A court in Mannheim ruled on Wednesday that Microsoft infringed Motorola Mobility's patents and ordered Microsoft to remove its Xbox 360 gaming consoles and Windows 7 operating system software from the German market. Judge Holger Kircher said Microsoft breached an agreement with Motorola, which is in the process of being bought
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* Obama makes unannounced trip to Kabul * Signs strategic partnership agreement with Karzai * "The battle is not over yet," Obama tells U.S. troops * Car bomb rocks Kabul hours after Obama leaves (Adds car bombing, paragraphs 15-16, Romney statement, paragraphs 23-24) U.S. President Barack Obama marked the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death
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The roadshow for Facebook Inc's initial public offering is scheduled to start on Monday, meaning the company's shares should begin trading on May 18, a source familiar with the process said on Tuesday. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has mostly operated in the background during Facebook's closely watched journey to public markets, will be
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A European Parliament delegation is in Nicosia this week from 1-4 May, with health and environmental topics under the spotlight. The visit comes two months before Cyprus takes over the presidency of Council from Denmark. The delegation, representing the Committee of Environment, Public Health and Food Safety of the European Parliament, will hold meetings with high-level
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Asian shares rose and the dollar recovered against the yen on Wednesday after strong U.S. factory activity data raised hopes that the world's biggest economy remained on a recovery track while growth in Asian manufacturing improved broader sentiment. European shares were expected to open mixed, with most exchanges reopening after the May Day holiday on
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Hundreds of thousands of workers across southern Europe protested against spending cuts at May Day rallies on Tuesday, before weekend elections in Greece and France where voters are expected to punish leaders for austerity. Unions in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Greece used the traditional marches to express anger over a savings drive across the
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