Europe's biggest travel company TUI Travel said summer bookings were up strongly and its first-quarter result had improved as customers seek more exclusive, five-star holidays. London-listed TUI Travel, controlled by German group TUI AG, said its underlying operating loss for the first quarter had narrowed by some 20 million pounds ($31.8 million) from a year-earlier

Financial executives attending the Davos forum voiced cautious optimism that the euro zone's debt crisis would be resolved without contagion spreading to Spain or investors being forced to take unbearable losses. Policymakers from the United States, the European Union and the financial sector were due to focus on Europe's debt woes at a series of

Security forces are searching for an ethnic Russian member of a North Caucasus Islamist group suspected of involvement in the Moscow airport bombing which killed 35, a leading daily reported on Thursday. Monday's suicide attack in the arrivals hall of Domodedovo airport bore the hallmarks of Islamist insurgents from the North Caucasus, on Russia's southern

The world's largest auction house Christie's posted record annual sales of 3.3 billion pounds ($5 billion) in 2010, a jump of 53 percent on 2009, underlining the strength of the recovery in the fine art market. Prices in several sectors soared and records tumbled last year, making up for steep losses triggered by the global

Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Kyprianou briefed his Bahraini counterpart Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al-Khalifa, on the developments regarding the Cyprus problem, during his official visit to the Gulf country. According to an official announcement, Kyprianou briefed Al-Khalifa on the ongoing negotiation process, as well as the difficulties that arise. Al-Khalifa expressed his

Minister of Finance Charilaos Stavrakis said on Wednesday that the price of the land for the joint venture between Cyprus and Qatar is important but noted that there were many other more important factors that should be taken into consideration for the joint investment at the entrance of Nicosia. Stavrakis referred to his recent visit

Minister of Finance Charilaos Stavrakis has expressed conviction that Cyprus would fulfill its short- term fiscal goals. Stavarkis told journalists Wednesday that Cyprus’ fiscal deficit for 2010 is expected to reach, based on moderate calculations of the EU, 5,5%. He added that according to the Cypriot Ministry’s calculations, it reaches 4,9%. The Minister held a

 Having a parent with a history of heart disease almost doubles a person's risk of also getting heart disease, regardless of ethnicity or country, according to an international study. The study, which involved patients in 52 countries and appeared in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, also suggested that if your parents had

Falling birth rates will slow the world's Muslim population growth over the next two decades, reducing it on average from 2.2 percent a year in 1990-2010 to 1.5 percent a year from now until 2030, a new study says. Muslims will number 2.2 billion by 2030 compared to 1.6 billion in 2010, making up 26.4

The U.S. dollar held near 2-1/2 month lows on Thursday, while commodity prices and Asian stocks rose after U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers voted unanimously to maintain a $600 billion bond-buying plan to fuel an economic recovery. While the outcome of the Fed meeting was largely expected, it backed the view that a wave of liquidity