A young Chinese tourist travelling on his own in Beijing was forced back to his hometown and beaten unconscious after being mistaken for a petitioner who had come to the capital to air a grievance, local media reported on Friday. Millions of petitioners visit government offices across China every year to demand redress and are
More
Diego Maradona, whose latest role in a turbulent career is coaching the United Arab Emirates club side Al-Wasl, was under scrutiny on Friday after kicking out at a fan in Dubai. A video posted on YouTube showed Argentina's 1986 World Cup winning captain attempting to pose for a pre-match photo-shoot in front of a banner
More
A U.S. man is suing Starbucks Coffee Co after his 5-year-old daughter allegedly found a video camera pointed at the toilet in a bathroom in one of their cafes. William Yockey, of Virginia, is asking for $1 million in the civil suit on four counts, including breach of privacy, his lawyer, Hank Schlosberg, told Reuters
More
Greece sought to play down reports on Friday it was considering solutions involving greater losses for its banking creditors while a fresh round of strikes gripped the country in protest against new budget austerity steps. Domestic political commentators say the odds are that parliament will pass measures including unpopular new taxes to secure the next
More
President of the Republic Demetris Christofias said that solution of the Cyprus problem must not be set as a precondition for the exploitation of hydrocarbons, which has begun off Cyprus’ southeastern coast, reassuring that “there are ways for the Turkish Cypriots to also get profited'', noting also that “I promised to the Turkish Cypriots that
More
The board of UBS meets on Friday amid the glamour of Singapore's Grand Prix event to decide the future of its scandal-hit investment bank and CEO Oswald Gruebel, on whose watch it lost $2.3 billion in rogue trading. Top executives at the Swiss bank, which has staggered from crisis to crisis over the past three
More
Greece denied on Friday newspaper reports that one option in the debt crisis would be an orderly default with a 50 percent haircut for bondholders. "Greece denies the reports," a senior government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Separately, the Finance Ministry said, in reaction to the reports, that the country was committed to
More
British budget airline easyJet said Stelios Haji-Ioannou, its founder and largest shareholder, has withdrawn his request to convene an extraordinary general meeting to remove a member of its board. Haji-Ioannou, whose family own about 38% of easyJet, had been seeking to remove Rigas Doganis, an easyJet non-executive director, in protest over the airline's plans to
More
Britain's leading share index pushed higher on Friday, steadying after sharp falls in the previous session supported by firmer banks after the Group of 20 major economies said they would take all steps needed to calm the global financial system. However, the blue chip index saw an opening 1% bounce back above the 5,100 level
More
European shares inched up from 26-month lows on Friday and the euro rose after the G20 major economies pledged to preserve financial stability, but risk sentiment remained fragile on fears of renewed recession in the developed world. Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 said they would take "all steps necessary" to
More