Britain's leading share index rose 2.4 percent early on Monday, as higher crude and metal prices lifted heavyweight commodity stocks, while banks and retailers were also in demand despite a gloomy economic picture. By 0843 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 101.28 points at 4,317.87, after losing 1.6 percent last week in a shortened trading
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Cyprus government has called for the immediate termination of acts of violence in Gaza amid information that Israel is considering a ground attack. An announcement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here Sunday says that the Government of the Republic of Cyprus expresses its grave concern over the recent escalation of violence in Gaza
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Cyprus President Demetris Christofias said on Saturday that the Republic of Cyprus does not rule out the possibility for the passage of Turkish Cypriots civilians to Kokkina, adding however that it cannot accept the refueling of the Turkish-occupying forces stationed in the area. Christofias was invited to comment on Talat's statement that the Turkish Cypriot
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Fitch Ratings affirmed Hellenic Bank (HB) Long-term Issuer Default rating (IDR) at 'BBB', while the Outlook for its Long-term IDR remained Stable. In Fitch's view, HB's asset quality may come under more intense pressure in 2009 as a result of a slowdown in the global economic environment, which will lead to a lower domestic loan
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Cyprus Minister of Labour and Social Insurance Sotiroula Charalambous said a small rise in unemployment is expected in 2009 due to the global financial crisis, noting however that this will not approach the ''dramatic rates'' observed in other European Union member-states. Charalambous said that figures showed that unemployment stood at 3.8% in September 2008 and
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Oil and gold prices surged on Monday following a flare up violence in the Middle East, while an ensuing rally in resources-related stocks helped Asian shares gain as what will certainly remain their worst year on record heads to a close. The South Korean won struck a two-month peak as a slow recovery in tolerance
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Kuwait on Sunday scrapped a deal to form a $17.4 billion petrochemical joint venture with U.S. firm Dow Chemical (DOW.N), state news agency KUNA said. The cancellation of the deal, which had met opposition in Kuwait's parliament, is a blow to the largest U.S. chemicals firm which had planned to use the proceeds to repay
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Retailers can be expected to speed up a wave of store closures, restructurings and job cuts in the coming weeks, hoping to get a fresh start in early 2009 after more than a year of recession. Many store chains have waited for the holiday shopping season to end before taking more aggressive steps, but will
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Britain's Gordon Brown will use his New Year address to call for a "coalition for change" with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama in a speech intended as a rallying call to Britons. Brown, who frequently uses the comparison of the Second World war to describe the current global financial crisis, will tell Britons they have the
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. No prizes on offer. Just a chance to test your own and family or friends’ knowledge of food and wine. The answers are at the bottom of the next page. (See PDF attachment of this week's pages) 1. Which one of these is not or was not a great chef? (a) Escoffier (b) Cesar
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