The global economy is set to expand by a modest 3.3 percent this year as a still-smoldering euro zone debt crisis and a relatively slow U.S. recovery continue to leave Asia as the main driver of growth, Reuters polls showed on Thursday. Asian economies, as well as Latin America, are expected to pick up the
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China has provided some assistance to North Korea's missile program, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday, a week after the hermit state's failed rocket launch triggered international condemnation. Under United Nations Security Council resolutions from 2006 and 2009, states, including China, are banned from helping North Korea with its ballistic missile program, its
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The International Monetary Fund's bid to win a big boost in funding to handle the euro-zone debt crisis hit a speed bump on Thursday when Brazil demanded more power at the IMF for emerging economies as a condition for lending it extra cash. Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega laid out the terms for a
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Egypt's request for a $3.2 billion IMF loan will not be enough to meet the country's financial needs and will require additional resources from donor countries, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. "It will not be sufficient, and everybody knows that, so it will require other donors, other participants to also
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Seven young men appeared in a South African court on Thursday to face charges of gang-raping a mentally handicapped teenage girl and recording the act on a cell-phone video that then went viral. The case touched a raw nerve in a country where an average of 181 people a day are raped or sexually assaulted.
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European lawmakers approved an agreement on Thursday allowing U.S. authorities to obtain and store data on passengers flying to the United States from Europe, ending years of resistance to a deal on handing over such information. A majority of members in the European Parliament approved a revised agreement on sharing flight passengers' data with the
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The minimum wage at professional-entry level in Cyprus is expected to rise by 1.7% or 15 euros to 870 euros, while after six months of service, the minimum wage should go up to 924 euros. The increase is in line with the latest rise in the cost of living allowance (COLA), a wage indexation system
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The two main parties in Greece's ruling coalition would together get just a one-seat majority in parliament if elections were held now, a poll showed on Thursday, less than three weeks before the May 6 vote. The conservative New Democracy and the Socialist PASOK party, which both back the government of technocrat Lucas Papademos, have
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Europe's top shares gained on Thursday as Spain prepared to test investors appetite for risk at its auction of two- and 10-year bonds, while CaixaBank underperformed after its first-quarter profit plunged. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares added 7.26 points, or 0.7 percent to 1,053.44 by 0756 GMT, having pared Tuesday's sharp gains
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Year 2012 will be particularly difficult for the Cypriot economy, Finance Ministry said in a press release issued following the publication of the International Monetary Fund's forecasts for Cyprus in the framework of the April 2012 World Economic Outlook. The Ministry points out that the divergence in the forecasts noted between the projections of IMF
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