By Ulf Laessing and Rania El Gamal Arab leaders will agree at a summit on Tuesday to launch a $2 billion reconstruction fund but differences persisted over finding a united stance on the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Israel's three-week assault that killed more than 1,300 people has underscored the divide between those allied to Egypt
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Improved German investor sentiment failed to lift equity market gloom on Tuesday as investors fretted about the financial system despite the promise of further multi-billion dollar interventions around the world. German analyst and investor sentiment about Europe's biggest economy improved by more than expected in January. The monthly poll of economic sentiment by the ZEW
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Shares in Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays fell heavily on Tuesday as concern resurfaced they may need state help to repair balance sheets hit by deepening economic gloom, dealers said. Europe's banking index fell to a 14-year low as stocks fell on fears that lenders will need more state help to raise capital as economies
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The Statistical Service has published “Cyprus in the EU scale” for 2008, showing Cyprus compared with other EU countries. Cyprus had a real GDP growth rate of 4.4% in 2007 compared with an EU average of 2.9%. The services sector employs 75.1% of the workforce in Cyprus, compared with 69.1% in the EU 27. According
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The industrial turnover index in October rose by 11.1% compared with October 2007 according to the latest figures from the Statistical Service. Industrial turnover comprises mining, quarrying, manufacturing, electricity, gas and water supply. In the period January to October 2008 the index recorded a rise of 14.3% over the same period of the previous year.
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Tourism arrivals in Cyprus fell by 2.2% over the year earlier in December, bringing the cumulative fall for the year to 0.5%. Tourism arrivals totalled 2,403,744 in 2008, of which 1,242,650, or more than 50%, came from the UK. A collapse in the UK market, especially in the second half of the year, was the
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Pre-Christmas discounts and a cut in sales tax pushed British inflation down by its biggest margin in almost 17 years last month, but the fall was less dramatic than analysts had forecast, official data showed on Tuesday. The headline rate of consumer price inflation slowed to 3.1 percent from 4.1 percent, its lowest level since
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Fears about banks and the world economy underlined the difficulties confronting incoming U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday, sending equities sharply lower. The dollar was stronger, however, with Britain's pound plunging on worries about the UK's banking system. World stocks as measured by MSCI were down close to 1 percent, led by Asian shares. Emerging
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The music industry needs to learn from the "dark side of the Internet" that has so decimated its business if it is to ever regain the upper hand in the fight against piracy. At the annual industry gathering in the south of France, executives revealed a sliver of optimism for the first time in years,
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Apple Inc said on Tuesday it had launched an online shop selling second-hand Apple products in China, offering discounts of up to 22 percent, as it looks to beef up its business in the country. These are products that were previously sold and returned to Apple and have undergone quality tests, the company's website said.
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