Industrial output falls in the euro zone's three largest economies in September strengthened the view that the bloc is already in a recession which may be deeper than expected and will last through most of 2009. France's output drop of 0.5 percent looked almost healthy compared with the record declines of 2.1 percent in Italy,
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Remember inflation? Just four months ago, soaring commodity costs were the biggest economic worry as oil raced to a record high. Now the buzz word is deflation, and that is altering both the economic outlook and the way governments need to respond to the threat of a deep recession. "It is time to worry about
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Greece's prime minister expelled dissident member of parliament Petros Tatoulis from the ruling New Democracy party on Monday, cutting his government majority to the minimum 151 seats in the 300-member national parliament. Petros Tatoulis was dismissed after the lawmaker criticised the government for its policies and for scandals in a media interview. Here are the
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President of the House of Representatives Marios Karoyian leaves for Armenia on Tuesday on a two-day official visit, at the invitation of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan. According to the Cypriot Parliament, Karoyian will be received by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan. He
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Mounting economic gloom swept through Japan and several emerging nations on Monday and European banks bore the scars of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. Rating agency Fitch cut Romania's credit rating to "junk" status in one of four emerging market downgrades and said the global financial crisis had put the ratings of South
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There is no doubt that China's near-$600 billion economic stimulus package is gigantic but, like so much in the opaque country, it is shrouded in ambiguities that complicate any assessment of its likely impact. First and foremost, the size of the stimulus may be smaller than advertised. Announcing the package on Sunday night, the government
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British mutual lender Nationwide reported an 18 percent drop in its half-year profit, and said funding arrangements for the UK depositor protection scheme should be changed so that risk-averse banks contribute less. Nationwide, the country's second-biggest mortgage lender, said its underlying pretax profit for the six months to Sept. 30 was 322 million pounds ($506
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British factory costs fell at a record 5.6 percent in October as oil prices fell by nearly a fifth, official statistics showed on Monday, in a sign that inflationary pressures are rapidly coming off the boil. The Office for National Statistics also said factory output prices fell by 1.0 percent last month, the fastest since
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Europe's biggest bank HSBC Holdings said its profit in the third quarter was ahead of a year earlier as growth in Asia helped offset almost $5 billion in bad debts on U.S. home loans and asset writedowns. HSBC said its profits in the nine months to the end of September was lower than the same
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Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou has said he would like to see more progress in the direct negotiations between President of the Republic Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. Speaking before traveling to Brussels on Sunday to attend the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council, Kyprianou said “we always anticipe progress,
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