Eurozone buoyant but recovery two-speed    A leap in German industry output over the second quarter and a moderate rise in Italian economic growth added on Friday to evidence the euro zone is in a robust recovery phase but with divergences within the bloc. The Bank of Spain highlighted a divide between strength in Europe's

British taxpayers are sitting on a 3.5 billion pound ($5.6 billion) paper profit on its stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds after both swung back to profit, driving their shares higher. Britain's profit could be more than five times that amount — potentially bringing in much needed income for the cash-strapped UK government.

London taxis, with their friendly drivers who actually know where they are going, are ranked best in the world, according to an annual taxi poll. The survey by travel website hotels.com found London taxis, despite being the most expensive, beat rivals across the globe to head the list for the third consecutive years, scoring a

The rate of inflation in July 2010 rose to 2.6% compared to 1.9% in June 2010 and a negative rate of inflation of -0.8% in July 2009. According to the data released today by Cyprus Statistical Service (CyStat), inflation in the period January-July 2010, inflation recorded an increase of 2.3% compared to the corresponding period

Cyprus and Albania signed an agreement for the promotion and mutual protection of investments. The agreement was signed by Cypriot Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou and Albanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ilir Meta, who had talks here. In statements to the press, referring to the signing of the agreement, Meta expressed hope

The Bank of England kept interest rates at a record-low 0.5 percent on Thursday, a decision which was no surprise to economists but probably conceals a vigorous debate about whether Britain is at greater risk from slow growth or high inflation. As usual the BoE made no comment on the economy in its terse policy

Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said that the country has secured all tranches of an EU/IMF loan -worth 110 billion euros. Speaking to reporters, after completion of a 10-day inspection visit by troika experts in Athens, the Greek minister said the country will dismiss all negative predictions and noted that "a first assessment of our

Moody's Investors Service has changed the outlook on Kuwait's Aa2 sovereign ratings to stable from negative prompted by improved government effectiveness reflected by parliament's approval of some long-awaited items of economic legislation; and Kuwait's strong fiscal and external performance relative to its rating peers. When Moody's assigned a negative outlook to Kuwait in June 2009,

Marfin Popular Bank <MRBr.AT>, Cyprus's second-largest lender, said on Thursday it issued a new series of covered bonds totalling 1.0 billion euros ($1.3 billion) to be used as collateral for funding from the ECB. The bank, which is also present in Greece, said the one-year bonds are secured by a cover pool of residential mortgages

The annual Pafos Aphrodite Festival (PAF) gets underway for the 12th consecutive summer this year, with the performance of Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’ by the Opera of the Slovak National Theatre delivering a cultural treat for opera lovers. Performances will take place on 3rd, 4th and 5th September with the medieval castle of Pafos as a