Germany will not offer any aid to Greece on Friday when Chancellor Angela Merkel meets Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou in Berlin, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday. "The visit of the Greek Prime Minister on Friday evening will serve to discuss the situation as an expression of good German-Greek relations. "The talks between
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Britain's top share index shed 0.3 percent early on Wednesday, after a three-day winning streak, weighed down by energy stocks and miners that fell back after gains in the previous session. At 0912 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 15.25 points at 5,468.21, having gained 1.5 percent to hit a six-week high on Tuesday. "I
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Britain's services sector bounced back faster than expected in February to record its strongest expansion in more than three years, a survey showed on Wednesday. Coupled with a surprisingly robust manufacturing survey earlier this week, the figures suggest the recovery is gaining traction after January's snow-related loss of pace. The four point jump in the
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Apple Inc sued Taiwan's HTC Corp, which makes touchscreen smartphones using Google software, accusing it of infringing 20 hardware and software patents related to the iPhone. Even though the suit did not name Google Inc as a defendant, Apple's move was viewed by many analysts as proxy for an attack on the Internet company, whose
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Standard & Poor's said on Wednesday that it was "less pessimistic" on Greece than financial markets, after worries over Greece's debt problems led to increased risk aversion in markets in recent weeks. "The political standing of this government is still very high, if recent polls are to be believed," David Beers, S&P's global head for
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Greece's cabinet approved a sweeping new austerity program on Wednesday, the third in as many months, in a drive to rein in a bulging budget deficit and secure European financial support, a government source said. "Measures which will yield 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) have been decided," the source, who took part in the cabinet
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The Greek government will look at trimming public sector bonuses by 30 to 35 percent when it meets to decide on new ways of cutting budget spending on Wednesday, government officials said. Pressured by the European Commission and financial markets, Greece is set to announce additional austerity measures to ensure its aim to cut the
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The euro rose and Greek borrowing cost fell to their lowest level since mid-February after a source said the Greek cabinet had agreed on steps to rein in the deficit, seen as crucial to winning EU financial support. European shares, however, drifted lower as traders said most of the news had been priced in and
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Prime Minister George Papandreou holds a cabinet meeting on Wednesday to hammer out tough new austerity measures Greece's European partners say are needed to rein in a bulging deficit and earn their financial support. In a dramatic speech to members of his ruling PASOK party on Tuesday, Papandreou said all of Europe would be threatened
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Asian shares rose for a fourth straight session and the euro extended its rebound against the dollar on Wednesday as investors held out hope for a bailout package for debt-ridden Greece. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5 percent, helped by shares in the materials sector as commodity prices pushed
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