. * Construction output tumbles 22% but output prices only 0.4% in 2012 * By Fiona Mullen, Director, Sapienta Economics Ltd Output in construction recorded its steepest drop in 2012 since the long recession in the sector that began in the second half of 2008, with the construction production index falling by 22% compared with
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Three Britons were sentenced to four years in jail on drugs charges in Dubai on Monday, a day after the British prime minister expressed concern about allegations that they had been tortured. Grant Cameron, Karl Williams and Suneet Jeerh were arrested in July 2012 during a holiday in the United Arab Emirates. Police said they
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An explosion in central Prague on Monday injured about a dozen people and others were trapped in a building damaged by the blast, a Reuters witness and emergency services officials said. The explosion, a few dozen metres (yards) from Prague's National Theatre, was heard as far as Prague Castle about a mile (1.6 km) across
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The government`s aim is to make Cyprus Airways a viable company, which can survive the competition in the air transport sector, Minister of Communications and Works Tasos Mitsopoulos has said. He noted that measures to restructure the company were already in the pipeline, such as the reduction of the fleet and staff. Mitsopoulos said the
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Cypriots and Greeks residing in the US are mobilizing with a view to assisting Cyprus to recover from the economic difficulties it is facing. On Μarch 25 Eurozone Finance Ministers, known as the Eurogroup, decided on a €10 billion bailout for Cyprus coupled by a bail-in by uninsured depositors. The decision provided that Cyprus` second
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Two people drowned and eight are missing after two cargo ships collided off southwestern Greece early on Monday, the Greek coastguard said. The drowned and missing crew were from the Turkish-owned Pirireis, sailing under a Cook Islands flag, which was in a collision with the ConSouth carrier about 75 nautical miles off the islet of
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Bank of Cyprus enforced yesterday a conversion of 37.5% of uninsured deposits (over €100,000) to shares as part of an agreement between Cyprus with the Euro area and the IMF over a €10 billion financial assistance to the island. Under the Central Bank of Cyprus` decree on the Rescue of Banks with own means, the
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Asian shares inched ahead while the dollar lost ground as investors counted on easy money from central banks in the euro zone and U.S. to offset the risk of further disappointment from global economic data. Activity was sporadic with Japanese markets closed for a holiday and China off until Thursday. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific
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Cypriot lender Bank of Cyprus said on Sunday it had carried out a conversion of uninsured cash deposits in the bank into equity, one of the conditions of international lenders to offer the cash-starved island financial aid. The process, known as a 'bail-in', made depositors in the bank pay for its recapitalisation, after the institution
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Rating agency Moody's believes Italy may still eventually need to seek a bailout despite forming a new government and avoiding immediate crisis. "We cannot yet rule out Italy will end up asking for help to the European Central Bank and the European Stability Mechanism," Dietmar Hornung, senior credit officer at Moody's, was cited as saying
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