A spate of court rulings blocking strike action has encouraged employers not to bother entering serious talks with their workers when disputes arise, an official of Britain's biggest trade union said. Unions also said they expect the coalition government, led by the Conservatives — who have a frosty relationship with unions after tightening labour laws
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. Carmakers Daimler, Renault and Nissan are redoubling their electric cars effort in the race for market share in a world of tighter emission rules. Daimler's research chief, Thomas Weber, told Reuters in an interview its cooperation with Renault and Nissan "will be expanded to include all three partners as far as electric motors, batteries
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French luxury leather goods maker Louis Vuitton is closing its Parisian stores an hour early to preserve stocks ahead of the Christmas rush, shop assistants said on Tuesday. The shops, which are hot spots for tourists, are particularly popular among Japanese, Chinese and Russian buyers and make up a significant portion of the French brand's
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Two of the world's richest men and most generous donors, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, said on Tuesday they would not be putting pressure on China's dozens of billionaires during a visit to the country to promote giving. Microsoft founder Gates and investor Buffett said they would not be pushing mega-wealthy families to sign up
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The yen hit a 15-year high versus the dollar on Tuesday after Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan won a ruling party leadership vote, while concerns about a shaky recovery knocked global stocks off a 4-month peak. The euro fell against the dollar while euro zone bond prices gained as a sharp fall in German investor
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Registrations of motor vehicles dropped by 16.8% over the year earlier in August, bringing the cumulative decline for the year to 15.7%. In January – August 30,274 vehicles were registered, compared with 35,921 in January – August 2009. However, the Cypriot love affair with the new meant that registrations of new cars fared less badly
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Tourism arrivals showed fairly strong growth in August, rising by 4.3% to 304,264 in August 2010, compared with 291,583 in August 2009. A massive increase of 81.1% was recorded in tourist arrivals from Russia (from 20,660 in August 2009 to 37,416 in August 2010), which might have been related to the fires that bedevilled Russia
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The Statistical Service is currently undertaking the sixth census of agriculture since independence in 1960. The census, which began last Wednesday September 8, is sending out “enumerators” to ask a range of questions on agriculture-related matters. The census last for around four months and will cover all holders of agricultural land and/or animals, both Cypriots
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The trade deficit widened in July, according to preliminary estimates, reaching a provisional EUR 400,510, compared with EUR 394,494 in June 2009. In January-July, the trade deficit was a provisional EUR 2.98 bln in January-July 2010 compared with EUR 2.72 bln in the same period of 2009. Total imports/ arrivals in July reached EUR 501.0
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Oil was steady on Tuesday near one-month highs above $77 ahead of inventory reports expected to show crude stock draws as the shutdown of the biggest Canada-U.S. pipeline enters a fifth day. U.S. crude for October added 1 cent to $77.20 at 0307 GMT, after settling at a one-month high on Monday, having earlier touched
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