Standard & Poor's cut Cyprus' long-term credit rating by a notch to BBB on Thursday, citing the Cypriot banking system's exposure to sovereign Greek debt. European Union leaders earlier Thursday struck a deal in which banks would take a 50% loss on their holdings of Greek government debt as part of a broad Greek restructuring.
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. BY TOM LAWRENCE In a few days’ time the rest of the world will pay no attention at all as the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for the umpteenth time in a show that diminishes Mr Ban just that little bit more every time it happens. If
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. By Shavasb Bohdjalian The European Union is now discussing two options for giving the euro zone rescue fund more firepower — an insurance model and a special investment vehicle (SPIV), a paper obtained by Reuters revealed. The two options could be twinned and would not require a change to the current framework of the
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. It appears that Katherine Ashton may have her priorities mixed up. As EU High Representative for foreign affairs of the 27-member group, she has reportedly rebuffed twice the complaints put forward by Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis about Turkey’s antics and show of military might in the eastern Mediterranean. So much that President Christofias
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A speedy return of Libyan oil output to pre-war levels is facing new obstacles as foreign firms struggle to negotiate who will provide security for workers vulnerable to attacks in the desert and in cities bristling with weapons. The largest contractors working on Libya's oil fields say most foreign companies still have no timeframe in
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A deal struck by euro zone leaders on Thursday to contain the region's dangerous debt crisis was greeted sceptically in the two countries most in the firing line, Greece and Italy, with some saying politicians were dreaming. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi submitted an ambitious set of reforms intended to boost growth and cut debt
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Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will present to the nation on Thursday an EU deal to lower Greece's debt burden, amid rising frustration with his Socialist government and fears the agreement could spell years of painful belt-tightening. Papandreou, speaking earlier in Brussels after marathon negotiations to clinch a 50 percent writedown of Greek debt, had
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* Squeeze on dividends and lending? * Cyprus’ two main banks, Bank of Cyprus (BOC) and Marfin Popular Bank (MBP), have announced they need a capital buffer of amounting to EUR 3.6 bln in order to meet new capital requirements coming out of the eurozone rescue package, but add that they expect to meet these
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* But may need over EUR 2 bln by June 2012 * The two biggest Cypriot banks, Bank of Cyprus (BOC) and Marfin Popular Bank (MPB), will need to find EUR 300 mln in the short term to meet the minimum capital requirements after a 50% Greek sovereign haircut, according to estimate by Sapienta Economics,
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Nokia unveiled two sleek new Microsoft Windows phones on Wednesday in time for Christmas, a first step in the ailing cellphone maker's fightback against Apple and Google . Chief Executive Stephen Elop presented the two new smartphones, the first fruits of his big bet on Microsoft software, to a 3,000-strong audience in London, saying they
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