The Swiss National Bank made a surprise full percentage point cut in interest rates on Thursday, trying to stave off a recession as the global outlook worsens fast, and other central banks are seen following suit. In a third cut in six weeks, the SNB lowered its target band for the 3-month Swiss franc LIBOR
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EU states raised doubts about the European Commission's planned 130 billion euro ($163 billion) growth package on Thursday, with Berlin criticising its tax cut proposals and Prague rejecting the idea of bloc-wide measures. Germany has said the Commission, the EU's executive, plans to request that member states contribute about 1 percent of the bloc's gross
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Europeana, Europe’s multimedia online library opened its virtual doors to the public. At www.europeana.eu, Internet users around the world can now access more than two million books, maps, recordings, photographs, archival documents, paintings and films from national libraries and cultural institutions of the EU's 27 Member States. Europeana opens up new ways of exploring Europe’s
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The launch of the FTSE/ASE-CSE Banking Index is expected to help the development of capital markets in Cyprus since it will now be possible to develop products based on the popular make-up of Cyprus’ and Greece’s top banks that usually attract most interest among foreign fund managers and local investors from both countries, said CSE
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Cyprus based companies may list on Russian stock exchanges according to a deal signed between VTB Group and the Cyprus Stock Exchange during the meeting between President Dmitry Medvedev and Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias in Moscow. “When we take into account that most Cypriot companies own Russian assets, what we're really talking about here is
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Cyprus President Demetris Christofias was declared a distinguished honoured doctorate holder by the University of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, during a ceremony at the University. Responding to questions after the ceremony, the President said that he will soon relinquish the post of AKEL General Secretary, reiterated his
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Road accidents in Cyprus are down by 8-10% this year, compared to 2007, even though the aim is to achieve a 20% decrease, Chief of Police Iacovos Papacostas said. In an interview with CNA, the Police Chief remarked that there have been great successes in efforts to combat drugs while similar accomplishments have been achieved
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Gross rental yields on residential property in Dubai have dropped to an average of 5.52%, significantly down from an average of 7.5% a year ago, according to the latest Global Property Guide research. As a result, the agency downgraded its investment rating on Dubai residential property from 3 stars (neutral) to 2 stars (negative). Dubai’s
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Moody's Investors Service has lowered the outlook on the B2 long-term foreign and local currency deposit ratings of Azerbaijan’s Respublika bank to ‘stable’ from ‘positive’ and the same ratings of Unibank to ‘negative’ from ‘positive’. "Moody's decision to change the outlook to stable from positive reflects Respublika's increasing appetite for credit and refinancing risk," said
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Cyprus's tax receipts from real estate transactions fell 27 percent in the first ten months of the year though overall revenues were marginally higher than last year. Reflecting a downturn in the property market, capital gains tax fell revenue fell to EUR278.86 mln from January to October, from EUR 382.78 mln in the first ten
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