Diego Maradona, scorer of the infamous Hand of God goal in the finals of 1986, made a strong plea for fair play on the opening day of the World Cup on Friday. "Let there really be fair play, let the referees understand what the words fair play mean," Argentina's coach, targetting fouling, told a news

The European Union should have stepped in earlier than it did with a rescue package for Greece, European Central Bank board member Nout Wellink said on Friday. "They should have stepped in earlier. Let me also say, they should have stepped in years ago. Greece ran a budget deficit for years," Wellink told reporters. "There

The Greek economy shrank by 2.5 pct in the first quarter of 2010 reflecting a significant decline in investments and consumption in the country, the Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Wednesday. The statistics service, in a report, revised downwards its initial estimates for the country's Gross Domestic Product (2.3 pct), after shrinking by 1.0 pct

Britons' expectations for inflation over the next 12 months jumped to 3.3 percent in May, the highest level in nearly two years, a quarterly survey from the Bank of England showed on Friday. That compared with 2.5 percent in February and was the highest since August 2008. The sharp rise may be a worry to

Former South African President Nelson Mandela will not attend the opening match of the soccer World Cup on Friday after his great grand-daughter was killed, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said. The Foundation said in a statement that Mandela, 91, learned of the death of Zenani Mandela on Friday morning. "It would therefore be inappropriate for

Three Greek World Cup players had money stolen from their hotel rooms and Chinese journalists were robbed at gunpoint, officials said on Thursday. Another 11 tourists were robbed of passports and luxury goods while visiting a wine farm near Cape Town, adding to several separate incidents against tourists less than 24 hours ahead of the

Spain's economy ministry said on Friday it had not made a request for economic aid from the European Union, after a newspaper report that the EU was preparing to activate a package in case Madrid asked for it. "This is lie. There's no rescue. There's nothing asked for, nor will there be, nothing, but nothing.

TIMELINE Here is a timeline of key events in the euro zone debt crisis since last November, when a new Greek government shocked markets by doubling estimates for the country's 2009 budget deficit. June 10 – Negotiations to overhaul Spain's rigid labour market, collapse, leaving the government to impose looser hire-and-fire laws without trade union

The European Central Bank, Germany's constitutional court and China's pension fund gave a triple boost to efforts to stabilise the euro zone on Thursday, lifting the battered single currency and European stocks. The ECB said it would provide unlimited liquidity to banks until the end of this year and press on with its policy of

A month after the European Union announced plans for the biggest international bailout in history, the scheme is preventing financial disaster but failing to calm persistent fears in the markets. Indebted euro zone countries other than Greece are retaining their ability to raise money in the bond market, avoiding the worst-case scenario that appeared possible