European shares fell to a two-week closing low on Monday, with peripheral stocks heavily sold-off on escalating worries about the threat of contagion from the euro zone debt crisis which could force more countries to require financial aid. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares provisionally closed 1.5% lower at 1,097.77 points, its lowest
More
A deeper-than-expected recession caused Greece's central government deficit to widen by almost one third in the first half of the year, widely missing an interim budget target under the country's bailout plan, the finance ministry said on Monday. Budget slippages amid the recession caused the government last month to agree even harsher austerity measures in
More
EU finance officials will discuss a range of options for Greece's intractable debt crisis on Monday, galvanised by the growing threat of contagion to Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy. A senior European Union source told Reuters the Eurogroup of 17 euro zone finance ministers meeting later would discuss the possibility of buying back Greek
More
* 12 dead, 62 injured in blast * EAC appeals to cut down consumption * The defence minister of Cyprus and the army chief resigned Monday after a munitions dump blast killed 12 people at dawn and knocked out the island’s largest power station, causing widespread power cuts. The explosion happened at a military base
More
Divers searching the wreck of a Russian Volga river boat reportedly saw more than one hundred corpses trapped inside the pleasure craft when they recovered eight bodies on Monday. A few dozen divers working with underwater lights searched the Bulgaria, a double-decked boat built in 1955 that survivors said listed to its side and sank
More
The British government has asked the media regulator to consider whether undertakings provided by News Corp to secure a buy out of BSkyB are still credible in light of a phone hacking scandal. News Corp had promised to spin off the influential Sky News channel as an independent company to guarantee its editorial freedom, although
More
European shares fell early on Monday, with Italian banks extending falls from Friday on intensified worries that Italy could be dragged into the euro zone crisis. At 0709 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.4% at 1,109.73 points, after falling 0.8% on Friday, when a report showed much lower U.S.
More
* EAC appeals to cut down consumption * At least 12 people were killed in a massive explosion at a military base on the southern coast of Cyprus just before dawn on Monday, damaging a major power station nearby and plunging half the island into darkness. Press reports raised the fatalities from eight earlier, while
More
Syrian forces killed at least one civilian and injured 20 in Homs on Monday during the heaviest raids on the city since troops deployed there two months ago to crush dissent against President Bashar al-Assad, residents said. The armour and tank-backed assaults on Homs, Syria's third largest city and hometown of Assad's wife Asma, came
More
Asian stocks dropped on Monday as a spate of weak economic data from China and the U.S. renewed concerns about the health of the global economy although sharp declines look unlikely before an emergency meeting to stem the spreading debt crisis. The euro weakened to a two-week low versus the dollar and Swiss franc amid
More