Group of Eight leaders will approve billions of dollars in aid to new Arab democracies on Friday as they end a summit by endorsing a programme aimed at fostering changes sweeping North Africa and the Middle East. Leaders were to conclude their annual two-day meeting, in the northern French resort of Deauville by launching a
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EBay and its online payment unit, PayPal Inc, on Thursday sued Google Inc and two executives for stealing trade secrets related to mobile payment systems. The two executives, Osama Bedier and Stephanie Tilenius, were formerly with PayPal and led the launch on Thursday of Google's own mobile payment system in partnership with MasterCard, Citigroup
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Marfin Popular Bank recorded 71 mln euros in first-quarter net profitl, lifted by the disposal of its Australian unit. The second biggest lender in Cyprus said net profit adjusted for one-off capital gains and an exceptional tax charge stood at 20.6 mln euros. The figure was almost five times higher than in the fourth quarter,
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National Bank of Greece, the country’s biggest lender, reported a 39% year-on-year rise in first quarter profit on Thursday, with its Turkish subsidiary Finansbank making up for weak business at home. NBG reported net profit of 157 mln euros ($222 mln), more than analysts polled by Reuters had expected. Earnings at its Turkish unit Finansbank
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Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Bahrain's government bond ratings by one notch to Baa1 from A3, and assigned a negative outlook to the rating. The rating agency’s decision to downgrade was driven by the likely adverse effect of the recent political turmoil on the country's growth prospects and its public finances, continuing increases in the
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Cyprus plans to increase the maximum amount it can borrow under its current medium term euro-denominated note (EMTN) programme to 9 bln euros from 6 bln this year, its debt chief said on Thursday. Phaedon Kalozois said the increase did not automatically imply an EMTN issue was imminent, but said such an issue was an
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When a friend approaches you to invest in her new venture, the result could be a dream collaboration — or a living nightmare. Harvard Business Review has some ideas for navigating the waters. The Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org (http:www.hbr.org). Any opinions
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“Not enough to curb unemployment” — Hellenic Bank chairman Andreas Panayiotou told the annual shareholders meeting of the island’s third largest lender that the prospects for the Cyprus economy are somewhat positive, with a growth expected at around 1.5%. “This positive rate will not be enough to drastically reduce unemployment or the consequences on the
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According to figures released by the UK’s Insolvency Service 30,162 people went into bankruptcy or entered into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (‘IVA’) or Debt Relief Order (‘DRO’) in the quarter ended 31 March 2011, an overall decrease of 15.5 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2010. Commenting on the figures Chris Nutting, director
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Rising bad debt provisions continued to squeeze Greek bank earnings in the first quarter with ATEbank remaining in the red and Eurobank managing a profit but after booking gains from the sale of its Polish operation. Eurobank, Greece's second-largest lender, on Wednesday reported a profit of 74 mln euros ($104 mln), beating market expectations, after
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