President-elect Barack Obama has not asked President George W. Bush to request the remaining $350 billion in the financial bailout, but would do so if asked, Bush said on Monday. "I told him that if he felt that he needed the $350 billion I would be willing to ask for it," Bush said during a
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Policymakers facing mounting job losses prepared new measures to ease the pain on Monday and a gathering of top central bankers said the world's major economies would shrink this year but should then recover. With Germany finalising fresh stimulus steps, Britain striving to protect jobs and the next U.S. president reshaping rescue plans, central bankers
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Gas destined for European Union countries should resume early on Tuesday after all involved parties agreed to settle a row over Russian supplies to Europe via Ukraine, Gazprom's deputy chief executive said. "If there are no obstacles … gas supplies will be restarted at 8 o'clock (0700 GMT) … (We) will all hope it will
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Cyprus ranked first worldwide in 2008 – in relation to its population – with regard to the number of kidney transplants, Director of Paraskevaidion Surgical and Transplant Centre George Kyriakides said. Kyriakides said that during 2008 the Centre carried out 58 kidney transplants, a number which in proportion to the population (one million people) is
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The Free Gaza Movement ship “Spirit of Humanity”, with 29 activists from Greece, the UK, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain, Iraq and France on board, left Monday for Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid. Members of the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement said they would take doctors, aid workers and European parliamentarians to Gaza. Coordinator of the mission
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Applications are invited for a EUR 2 mln Grant scheme to encourage broad sections of the Turkish Cypriot community to meet and get to know their counterparts in the European Union. It is part of the EUR259 mln EU Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot community, This is the second call for proposals under the
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Bank of Cyprus Group announced that its shareholding in the issued share capital of Hellenic Bank now exceeds the 5% due to the acquisition of 295.000 shares in Hellenic Bank by the Group’s subsidiary EuroLife Ltd through transactions on the Cyprus Stock Exchange. It should be clarified that these transactions were effected by EuroLife on
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A prominent Greek ship owner was kidnapped near his home in Athens on Monday by three men armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, in the third such high-profile abduction in Greece since June, police said. The president of Greek ferry operator Superfast Ferries, Pericles Panagopoulos, was abducted as he was being driven to work in a
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Germany's coalition leaders meet on Monday to agree a second package of stimulus measures to help Europe's biggest economy weather what risks becoming Germany's deepest recession since World War Two. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives — comprising her Christian Democrats and Bavaria's Christian Social Union — and the Social Democrats (SPD) agree on the outline but
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The break-up of U.S. banking powerhouse Citigroup moved a step closer, and Britain took control of a big stake in another top lender on Monday as the reshaping of the global financial landscape gathered pace. Citigroup moved close to a deal to join its Smith Barney business with Morgan Stanley's brokerage operation, people familiar with
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