For those about to rock, AC/DC salutes you. Unless, that is, you want to buy the Australian heavy metal group's newest album, "Black Ice," on iTunes, or anywhere but Wal-Mart when it drops in record stores on October 20. "Maybe I'm just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes, God bless 'em, it's going to kill music
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The promotional power of piracy and artistic merits of blogging are among the themes to be discussed by bestselling author Paulo Coelho in his opening address to the Frankfurt Book Fair this week. The 61-year-old Brazilian writer behind titles such as "The Alchemist" and "Eleven Minutes" is gaining a reputation as a digital pioneer for
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Billions lost by the superrich Many of Russia's richest men, who borrowed furiously during Russia's 10-year economic boom to expand and make acquisitions, are struggling to get loans as the global financial crisis bites. Following is a list of Russia's richest businessmen and some of the potential difficulties faced by each, including their companies' stock
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Germany's banking rescue fund could be used to buy up "bad assets" from banks, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said on Monday. He also said financial institutions which make use of the rescue fund will have to look carefully at executive pay. "And dividends will be dispensed with," Steinbrueck told reporters in a news conference to
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Oil rose above $82 a barrel on Monday after governments around the world acted to boost confidence in the global banking system, spurring a rally in European and Asian stock markets and commodities. But investment bank Goldman Sachs said the financial crisis had already done more damage than it expected to commodity demand and warned
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By Steve Slater (Reuters) Fred Goodwin became Europe's highest profile casualty of the credit crunch after striking a deal too many at Royal Bank of Scotland. RBS was on Monday forced to get 20 billion pounds ($34.5 billion) in emergency funds. Chief Executive Goodwin stepped down, and Chairman Tom McKillop will follow next year. Goodwin,
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Governments across the world launched multi-billion dollar bailouts on Monday to shore up tottering global banks and Britain called for a new Bretton Woods agreement to reshape the world financial system. Stocks markets reacted positively to rescue packages from Britain, Germany, France, Italy and other European governments, Wall Street joining Europe and Asia to open
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Cyprus President Demetris Christofias has announced his decision to cancel Nikiforos, the National Guard annual military exercise. Speaking at the Presidential Palace, President Christofias said the Council of Ministers had decided some time ago to suggest to the UN Secretary General the postponement or cancellation of Nikiforos and to ask that the Turkish side follow
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Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat continued here today their discussions on the powers of the executive, in the framework of direct negotiations aiming to solve the Cyprus question. In statements after their meeting, which lasted about three hours, UN Secretary General Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer said representatives
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The rebound of Russian London-traded shares was short-lived on Monday and gains halved by midday as investors said they were keen to see evidence of government money finally reaching the market this week. Russian local shares, which were suspended on Friday, fell sharply as they chased heavy Friday losses of London-listed stocks. The fall prompted
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