Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Paphos, Cyprus, on Friday, accompanied by a multimember delegation. The Pope was officially welcomed by President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias and his wife, Elsie. The ceremony included a speech by President Christofias and a reply by Pope Benedict XVI, who was also scheduled to bless a potted

Reinsures have bumped up prices for offshore energy-related insurance premiums by 50 percent following insurance industry losses of up to $3.5 billion from the BP plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Moody's Investor Service said in a report on Thursday. Total insured losses from the worst oil spill in U.S. history are expected

Greece will tap advisors soon for its sale in state rail firm OSE and launch processes to award advisories for the rest of its three-billion-euros privatisation programme, a senior government source said on Thursday. "For OSE, we are proceeding with hiring financial and legal advisors shortly," the source said. "In the next few days, we

Germany's Angela Merkel has hit a low point in her chancellorship, and her decisions in the coming days on tackling the budget deficit and who to back as president may determine whether she bounces back or is politically doomed. Beset by a slump in popularity and a drubbing in a state election last month, and

US Stock index futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall Street on Thursday and extending the previous sharp rally, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.51 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.38 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.4 percent at 0742 GMT. European stocks surged 1.8 percent in morning trade to reach

Nokia Oyj unveiled on Thursday four new cheap phone models, and a first bicycle charger from the world's top cellphone maker, aiming to protect its dominant market share on emerging markets. Nokia controls more than 50 percent of phone sales in India and Africa, and has a strong position on most other emerging markets. "Tens

Nearly 5 million consumers have downloaded a Skype Web telephony application that launched Sunday, allowing users of Apple Inc's iPhone to use privately held Skype's service over the cellular network for the first time, Skype said on Wednesday. Before the launch of the application for use on high-speed third generation (3G) networks on May 30,

Global stocks powered to a two-week high on Thursday while the yen came under pressure after recent upbeat U.S. data renewed appetite for riskier and higher-yielding assets. Wall Street looked set to benefit, with U.S. stock index futures all in the black, pointing to an extension of the previous day's gains. Investors welcomed data on