By James Kilner A frothy cappuccino or fresh mozzarella salad is no longer enough. Russia's growing middle classes now want service with a smile. With much of Europe and North America saturated, the newly affluent among Russia's 143 million people are an attractive target for Western coffee shop chains eager for growth, and Starbucks and
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The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecasts for the UK economy for this year and next but said soaring inflation meant the Bank of England had little room to cut rates. A report from the IMF predicted the UK economy would grow by 1.4 percent in 2008 and just 1.1 percent in 2009 —
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Oil steadied near $119 a barrel on Wednesday but not far off a three-month low hit due to concerns that demand will suffer from an economic slowdown, as the market awaited data expected to show a rise in U.S. crude inventories. An explosion on a key oil pipeline in eastern Turkey late on Tuesday provided
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A review of Gordon Brown’s rocky first year as PM British politics can be pretty obscure but sometimes it's worth taking stock to see what matters because the UK still punches above its weight internationally: this is a review of Gordon Brown's particularly rocky first year as Prime Minister, for the general reader overseas. _________________________________________________________________________
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LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) – World stocks edged higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signalled it was in no rush to raise interest rates, while encouraging results from the financial sector and oil prices below $120 a barrel also helped. The U.S. central bank left rates steady as expected at 2.0 percent on Tuesday,
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The pound will weaken against the dollar in the coming year and stay below $2 on expectations of interest rate cuts in 2009 and as the chances of a British recession increase, analysts forecast in a Reuters poll. The survey of around 60 analysts, conducted this week, showed they expect sterling to be at $1.95
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Companies that are due to begin their International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) conversion projects over the next couple of years could be underestimating the full extent of what this entails, according to KPMG. In the worst case scenario, this could lead to financial results being restated and, with the world’s financial markets currently so delicately
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Cyprus still concerned about ferry line Cyprus’ continued absence in regional politics has now started to affect the economy, with the first blow to the tourism industry being felt from the trickling flow of tourists from neighbouring Syria to the north. Despite all the good intentions of Bashar Assad, the Syrian President has his hands
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British Airways is currently analysing a number of creative ideas put forward by the young consultants of its Kids’ Council, to assess if they can further develop the quality of service and products available to young travellers. A new meeting of the 12-member Kids’ Council – of which 12-year-old Pavlos Dekatris from Nicosia is a
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Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said that it revised its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) on The Russian Federation to Group 7 from Group 8. (See "Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment On Russia Revised To Group 7 From Group 8," published today on RatingsDirect.) At the same time, Standard & Poor's changed its assessment
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