Greece missed its deficit cutting target for the first time this year, provisional finance ministry data for the January-August period showed on Friday, due to heavy debt payments and worse-than-expected revenues. The budget deficit of the country's central government shrank at an annual pace of 32.2 percent to 14.49 billion euros ($18.38 billion) in the

Cyprus in 2008 recorded the highest state expenditure as a percentage of the GDP for education among the EU countries, figures released today by Eurostat show. Cyprus' total state expenditure in 2008 reached 42.6% of GDP, compared to an EU average of 46.8%. According to the allocation of public expenditure per sector, expenditure on education

A rare book by America's most famous bird artist, John James Audubon, billed as the most expensive in the world, is going under the hammer in December alongside a first edition of Shakespeare's plays. "Birds of America," which is estimated to sell for between 4 million and 6 million pounds ($6.2-$9.2 million), was said by

China and Taiwan will negotiate an investment guarantee deal later this year seen as vital to encourage investment from the mainland, officials and analysts said on Friday. The political rivals, who signed a free-trade style deal in June in their biggest tie-up after decades of animosity, will meet in Taiwan to discuss and probably sign

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week to a two-month low, while the trade deficit narrowed sharply in July, hopeful signs for the stuttering economic recovery. Analysts said the reports on Thursday helped to calm fears growth was slowing sharply and implied the economy could soon pull out of a

Nokia is the world's most sustainable technology company according to prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes Review 2010. Nokia was chosen as "Technology Supersector Leader" making it number one across the entire global technology sector for the second time in row. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are globally respected rankings based on a thorough analysis of

The head of state-controlled Greek lender ATEbank <AGBr.AT> said a merger with other state banks was a better option than the government accepting the bid from Piraeus Bank <BOPr.AT> and it would help the economy. "Forming a state-controlled banking pillar which would consolidate ATEbank, Hellenic Postbank (TT) <GPSr.AT>, Attica Bank <BOAr.AT> and the Loans &

Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Demetris Droutsas reiterated on Thursday the support of Greece to the efforts made by Cypriot President Demetris Christofias for solution of the Cyprus problem, and to the package of proposals submitted by President Christofias aiming at expediting the ongoing UN-led negotiations for a settlement. President Christofias and Droutsas held a

Britain's goods trade deficit with the rest of the world unexpectedly widened to a record high in July after imports of chemicals and oil surged and exports fell, data showed on Thursday. Britain's total trade deficit, which includes services, also widened sharply to its highest in almost five years, denting hopes that exports will be