— Employers blast teachers over “indifference” — Gov’t caves in to union demands over pay cuts The Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEV) condemned what it called the “provocative action” by the teachers’ unions that went ahead with a two-hour strike on Tuesday, despite an agreement reached on Monday between the Minister of Finance and the

 — 5% VAT on food, medicines —  — Tax evasion bill goes through as Budget debate starts — The House of Representatives passed a number of bills on Tuesday, some of which had been tabled from last April, including one which allows for the issue of covered bonds, a much-awaited instrument for the banking and

Cyprus sold 200 mln euros worth of 26-week treasury bills on Wednesday with an average yield of 2.02%, up from a yield of 1.24% at a similar auction a year ago. The finance ministry sale was oversubscribed, with bids coming in at 365 mln euros. Yields on the bids accepted ranged from 1.85% to 2.20%.

Athens police fired teargas at protesters who threw petrol bombs at two luxury hotels in the central Syntagma square outside parliament on Wednesday as Greek protests against government austerity measures escalated. Hours earlier, parliament had approved reforms and spending cuts that are a condition of a 110 bln euro EU/IMF bailout intended to dig Greece

European Union governments sent a mixed message of praise and criticism towards Turkey and its EU accession effort on Tuesday, underlining persistent divisions in the bloc over Ankara's membership prospects. During an annual debate on enlargement held by EU states in Brussels, the bloc expressed "deep regret" about Turkey's failure to patch up relations with

Yields on U.S. Treasuries climbed to seven-month highs in Asia on Wednesday and the dollar rebounded as upbeat retail sales data added to evidence that America's economy is gathering steam. But a warning from Moody's on a possible downgrade of Spain's credit ratings served as a reminder of the risks to the global recovery heading