Russia plans to pay Iran about $800 million to compensate for its failure to deliver S-300 missile systems, the head of state-controlled conglomerate Russian Technologies, Sergei Chemezov, said on Thursday. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev banned the delivery of the high-precision air defence missiles to Iran last month, saying that sending them would violate sanctions adopted

The European Central Bank will face scrutiny on Thursday over a spike in market interest rates, its plans to tackle banks' addiction to ECB funds, and any response to a growing global battle over currencies. All 79 economists in a Reuters poll predicted the ECB would leave interest rates at a record low of 1.0

Greece will shrink its budget deficit in line with EU/IMF targets this year despite an expected upward revision of last year's budget gap by Eurostat, the country's prime minister said on Thursday. "Despite the new revisions by Eurostat we will meet the targets we have set for the deficit this year and it will not

Russia and Cyprus signed a tax treaty on Thursday that is expected to boost bilateral business ties and reaffirm Cyprus's status as the primary source of foreign investment to Russia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, on a fleeting visit to the east Mediterranean island, led a delegation which signed pacts ranging from an accord on avoiding

Britain's Treasury has not made any political decision to push back its spending cuts programme, but administrative hurdles could lead to some slippage at the margins, a Treasury official said on Thursday. Finance minister George Osborne pledged the most ambitious spending cuts in a generation in June to bring down a deficit of 11 percent

Following the approval of Cyprus' tonnage tax system, Cyprus is confident that it can gain a ''bigger piece of the shipping pie'', Minister of Communications and Works Erato Kozakou Markoullis has said. Addressing the ''Marfin Laiki Shipping Conference 2010'' Markoullis said that according to the latest figures of the Central Bank of Cyprus, the contribution

President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev begins a state visit to Cyprus with a private meeting with the President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias. An official welcoming ceremony will be held at the Presidential Palace Thursday morning. The tete-a-tete meeting, at the Presidential Palace, will be followed by official talks and statements

The number of unemployed persons, registered at Cyprus District Labour Offices on the last day of September 2010, reached 20.671 persons, according to the Statistical Service. Based on the seasonally adjusted data that shows the trend of unemployment, the number of registered unemployed for September 2010 remained at the same level compared to the previous

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on Thursday that foreign exchange policy was among the issues on which G20 economies needed to discuss coordination at next month's summit here. "The world must coordinate, and in that context (countries) need to discuss international coordination on various pending issues including foreign exchange at the G20 Seoul summit,"