Economic activity in the euro area should gradually recover later in 2013 but there are more negative risks than positive ones, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Thursday. The euro zone economy contracted in the second and third quarters of last year, meeting the technical definition of recession, and the downturn is expected

Vladimir Putin fired a top Russian Olympic official on Thursday after publicly ridiculing him on a visit to half-finished sports complexes planned for a winter Olympics dogged by reports of corruption and construction delays. The humiliation of Akhmed Bilalov, 42, stamped President Putin's authority over the 2014 Sochi Games and underlined the importance he attaches

Cyprus’ financial woes will be at the epicenter of the Limassol Carnival that is exactly a month away from today and lasts 10 days. “What the (financial) crisis needs is carnival and madness" is the motto of the events that start on the Shrove Thursday (7th March) with the Carnival King entering the town in

A portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne painted by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani a year before his death in 1920 sold on Wednesday for 26.9 million pounds ($42.3 million), above the high estimate set by Christie's auctioneers. "Jeanne Hebuterne (au chapeau)" was the leading lot at the impressionist, modern and surrealist sale in London which brought in

A nuclear accident similar to the one at Japan's Fukushima reactor would cost France about 430 billion euros ($580 billion), or 20 percent of its economic output, French nuclear safety institute IRSN said in a study on the possible financial impact of a nuclear crisis. A major disaster damaging one of France's 58 nuclear reactors

Trading at Vodafone worsened in the third quarter as customers in previously robust northern Europe joined those in the south by cutting back from using their phones, adding impetus to the British group's efforts to cut costs. A worse than expected 2.6 percent drop in organic service revenue in the three months to Dec. 31

Political uncertainty over a corruption scandal and revived concerns over the economic health of the euro zone forced the Spanish Treasury to pay more to borrow at a triple-bond auction on Thursday. Demand was strong, however, and yields remained well away from crisis levels. Spain sold 1.948 billion euros ($2.6 billion) in a 2015 bond,

British travel groups TUI Travel and Thomas Cook reported a big rise in fixed-price holiday bookings as cash-strapped Europeans opt for risk-free deals in a volatile economic climate. TUI Travel, Europe's largest tour operator, said summer bookings by Britons were up 9 percent and were 10 percent higher from the Nordic countries. "More people are