Gulf Arab rulers were poised on Tuesday to announce a pact that paves the way for a unified currency for the world's biggest oil-exporting region. The summit, billed as an economic forum but overshadowed by the Israeli air strikes in Gaza, is expected to finally deliver an agreement on the long-planned monetary union. Kuwait's finance
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International air freight traffic fell by 13.5 percent in November, according to new figures on Tuesday, reflecting a sharp slowdown in world trade. The airline industry body IATA said international passenger traffic dropped by 4.6 percent from the totals for November 2007. Cross-border air shipments, which IATA measures in freight tonne kilometres, are considered a
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Iran's president presented an economic reform bill on Tuesday expected to include hiking fuel prices and directing subsidies to the needy, but some in parliament said it was ill-planned and would stoke inflation. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested his reform ideas before oil prices tumbled but he said change was needed more urgently now crude has fallen
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A baby died and nine other newborns were seriously ill on Tuesday after a suspected outbreak of the rare Legionnaires' disease at a hospital in Cyprus, medics said. The newborn died on Tuesday and a second was in a critical condition while eight more were being treated for exposure to the same bacteria, doctors said.
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European stocks gained early on Tuesday, boosted by advances in oil shares as most of the region's bourses entered the last full-day session of 2008, a dire year for investors. At 0943 GMT the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 1.1 percent at 819.36 points in thin trade ahead of the New Year break. Oil
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Global growth will be very weak next year, a senior European banker warned on Tuesday, while Japan reportedly considered a $110 billion scheme to buy bad loans from banks, the latest in a series of government moves aimed at fighting the worst downturn since the 1930s. Japanese stocks finished modestly higher on their last trading
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Oil and gold prices eased on Tuesday after recent price spikes related to violence in the Middle East, while the dollar fell against major currencies and stocks were generally higher. It was the last trading day of the year for some financial markets. Japan's Nikkei average closed with a 42 percent loss for 2008, the
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Britain's leading share index gained 0.8 percent early on Tuesday, the last full session of 2008, reflecting overnight gains in Asia and led by strength in commodity issues as oil, metal prices firmed. By 0853 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was up 35.04 points at 4,354.39. The UK blue chip index closed 102.76 points higher
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Are photographs of a mother breast-feeding her child indecent? The social networking site Facebook has sparked a massive online debate — and protests — and after removing photos that expose too much of a mother's breast. Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said the website takes no action over most breast-feeding photos because they follow the
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An Israeli naval ship clashed on Tuesday with a small boat carrying international activists with aid destined for Gaza, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said. There were no reported casualties from the incident involving the small cabin cruiser "Dignity" that sailed from Cyprus late on Monday. “The boat was hit on its left side by
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