European shares bounced back on Friday and were on track to post weekly gains for a third time in a row, with financials rebounding after the previous session's sharp declines and some companies riding on soothing results. But gains were capped after data showed Britain's economy contracted unexpectedly in the third quarter of this year,

Banks and commodity stocks pushed Britain's top share index up 1.3 percent by midday on Friday, as investors shrugged off a shock fall in UK GDP and looked to Wall Street's open after it made strong gains the previous day. By 1112 GMT, the FTSE 100 was 67.41 points higher at 5,274.77, after closing 50.49

An array of upbeat euro zone data on Friday bolstered hopes of a durable recovery there but experts remained cautious and Britain shocked financial markets by failing to creep out of recession in the third quarter. The UK economy shrank by 0.4 percent compared with the previous three months, crushing expectations of an end to

The plenary of Cyprus House of Representatives approved on Thursday two new bills tabled by the government with the aim of strengthening the attraction of Foreign Investments to the island. Both the government and the political parties believe that the new bills remove provisions in the previous taxation regime believed to have been discouraging foreigners

World stocks end 3-day losing run; dlr recovers  World stocks broke a three-day losing run on Friday and hovered near their 12-month high, boosted by the Dow's return above 10,000 points, while the dollar briefly touched a new low for the year against the euro. Solid earnings from several U.S. companies on Thursday suggested corporate

Microsoft Corp launched Windows 7 on Thursday, its most important release in more than a decade, aiming to win back customers disappointed by Vista and strengthen its grip on the PC market. The world's largest software company, which powers more than 90 percent of personal computers, has received good reviews for the new operating system,

Top global cellphone maker Nokia Oyj on Thursday charged Apple Inc with infringing Nokia patents, accusing the iPhone maker of trying to hitch a "free-ride" on Nokia's technology investments. Nokia dominates the global handset market but it has lost some ground to new smartphone entrants like Apple, which entered the market with its iPhone in

 Intel Corp (INTC.O) assured Clearwire Corp (CLWR.O) it is closely guarding its investment information on the wireless-broadband company after an insider-trading scandal surfaced last week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Clearwire chief executive Bill Morrow. "It's necessary to ensure that information is properly protected," Morrow told the paper in an interview. Billionaire hedge fund

Cyprus was one of the 4 Euroarea member-states with budget surplus in 2008, according to Eurostat, the EU's Statistical service, updated figures released today. Cyprus marked a 158-million-euro budget surplus or 0.9 of Cyprus' GDP. Figures also show that Cyprus in 2008 achieved a significant reduction of its public debt by 9.9 percentage units or