Russia will boost its efforts to explore the solar system and seek a bigger share of the market for space launches in the next decade, Prime Minister Vladmir Putin said on Thursday. Speaking ahead of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering space flight, Putin said Russia's plans go beyond transporting crews to the International

The world's biggest economies hope to make progress this week on a plan to identify countries that put the global economy at risk, while China warned against any moves that would curb its red-hot growth. The meeting of the Group of 20 rich and emerging-market nations comes at a time of conflicting economic signals. Just as

The scale of the challenge facing Nokia in the all-important smartphones market was underscored on Tuesday when a powerful new handset from Taiwan's HTC overshadowed two new models from the Finnish giant.   HTC, the world's fifth-largest smartphone maker, launched HTC Sensation, offering an entire library of movie and TV shows via a wide screen,

Japanese engineers are struggling to gain control of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, which was seriously damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Two of the six reactors at the plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), are considered stable but the other four are

Egypt's public prosecutor has ordered that former president Hosni Mubarak be detained for 15 days for investigation, state-owned Nile television said on Wednesday. The report came a day after Mubarak was questioned about allegations of killings of protesters and corruption.

The yen weakened and Asian stocks headed higher on Wednesday, with investors looking for fresh opportunities to bet on risky assets after a sharp drop in oil the previous day caused an unwinding of positions. Crude oil priced edged up after falling about 3 percent overnight, as the market focus shifted to supply concerns in

International Monetary Fund estimates, as presented in the World Economic Outlook for 2011, are a “vote of confidence” for the Cypriot economy, Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said Tuesday. Speaking during a press conference in Nicosia, Stavrakis said that IMF estimates on the growth of the global economy are falling back, mainly due to rising oil

New direct flights from Larnaka to London and Paris as well as six destinations in Greece were announced Tuesday by Aegean Airlines and Hermes Airports. Aegean Airlines has been flying from Larnaka to London Heathrow since March 27th on a daily basis. As from June 9th, Aegean will launch direct flights from Larnaka to Paris,

Inflation rose to 3.2% in March according to the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus. An official announcement states that the rate of inflation for March 2011 rose to 3.2% compared to 3.1% in February 2011 and 2.3% in March 2010.