The world’s top footballer Lionel Messi, has turned down a super-rich offer from Russia and decided to prolong his deal with Barcelona. El Mundo Deportivo paper reports that an unnamed Russian Premier League side offered Messi a three-year deal with a record annual salary of €30 million. If the deal was struck Barcelona were to
More
France's Constitutional Council has annulled a 75% tax rate on income above 1mn euros due to be introduced in 2013, which has already forced a number of wealthy residents to leave the country. Significant tax hikes including those on capital gains and on income above 1mn euros were a center piece of President Francois Hollande’s
More
Five Indian men were formally charged in court on Thursday with the gang rape and murder of a physiotherapy student in a case that has generated widespread anger about the government's inability to prevent violence against women. The December 16 attack on the 23-year-old student and a male companion provoked furious protests close to the
More
Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted citizenship to Gerard Depardieu, the French movie star who quit his homeland to avoid a tax hike on the rich, the Kremlin said on Thursday. The "Cyrano de Bergerac" star moved across the border to Belgium last year to avoid the tax increase planned by Socialist President Francois Hollande
More
Turkey's former armed forces chief was detained on Thursday in an investigation into the military's role in pushing the country's first Islamist-led government out of power in 1997, local media reported. Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, who pioneered Islamist politics in Turkey, resigned in June 1997, months after the military-dominated National Security Council warned him over
More
Britain's FTSE 100 consolidated recent gains early on Thursday after it had smashed through the 6,000 level for the first time in 17 months in the previous session. By 0851 GMT, London's blue-chip index was up 0.54 of a point at 6,027.91. It hit its highest level since July 2011 on Wednesday after the United
More
Hong Kong shares climbed to a second-successive 19-month high, as investors chased Chinese property stocks and growth-sensitive laggards after more positive economic data affirmed the recovery trend in China. On Wednesday and Thursday combined, turnover was $22.1 billion, the highest for any year's first two trading days. The Hang Seng Index ended up 0.4% at
More
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner called for talks with Britain over the disputed Falkland Islands in an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron published in British newspapers on Thursday. Britain and Argentina fought a 10-week war in 1982 over the remote South Atlantic islands, which are part of Britain's self-governing overseas territories. Fernandez
More
Life in Egypt is about to get harder for ordinary people who will bear the brunt of inflation caused by a decline in the value of their currency. As elections approach, President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood may pay a political price. After a 3.2% slide in the Egyptian pound's value against the dollar this week,
More
The father of an Indian student whose gang rape and death sparked public outrage against the government has demanded that those responsible be hanged and he called for new legislation on sex crimes to be named in honour of his daughter. The Dec. 16 attack on the 23-year-old physiotherapy student and a male companion provoked
More