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Wednesday, 8 February 2012
AN OUTBREAK of iPhone fever made Apple the hottest smartphone maker worldwide at the end of 2011 but handsets powered by Google's Android software were shaping up as true winners in the market.Worldwide shipments of smartphones soared 54.7 per cent...
UBS 2011 profit down 44% on previous yearGENEVA: Swiss banking giant UBS yesterday posted a net profit of 4.2 billion Swiss francs (3.5 billion euros) for 2011, down 44 per cent on the previous year, and forecast a tough first quarter due to the...
GREEK party leaders were to face crunch talks yesterday to secure a new international bailout and avoid a chaotic debt default, caught between EU demands that they accept painful reforms now and a national strike against more austerity.!Prime...
THE underperforming global economy should not be allowed to delay financial system reforms, a senior official at the Financial Stability Board (FSB), a global watchdog set up by the Group of 20 nations, said yesterday, adding that the FSB will...
THE world's young increasingly fear a future without jobs, according to a UN report released on Monday which highlighted how the 15-30 age group risks becoming the biggest victims of austerity programs.The young doubt the education they receive will...
SAUDI Arabia's Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf said yesterday that it was too early for his country to offer a fresh financial contribution to the International Monetary Fund.!Alassaf, speaking to reporters at a business conference in the Saudi...
BP RETURNED to profit with a bang last year, posting net earnings of US$23.9 billion yesterday as the British energy giant prepares for a criminal trial over the US Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.BP announced adjusted profit after tax equivalent...
COMMERCIAL traffic has resumed on the strategic Shatt al-Arab waterway after 31 years, with the official opening of a port for oil giant Shell, an Iraqi official said yesterday.Part of the 200-kilometre-long (120 miles) waterway forms a section of...
FRANCE suffered a record €69.6 billion (US$91.3 billion) trade deficit last year, junior minister for trade Pierre Lellouche said in a newspaper interview yesterday.However, Lellouche told the Figaro daily, while the figure is higher than the...
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Mitsubishi plans a 'blow': Dutch ministerTHE HAGUE: The Dutch government called yesterday Mitsubishi's plans to stop making cars at its sole western European plant "a blow", with trade unions saying the country's south will be hard hit by...
GREEK political leaders will "very probably" meet today to decide whether to approve new austerity measures demanded by the country's public creditors for new loans, a government source said yesterday.The meeting originally to be held...
THE European Union's total government debt rose slightly to 82.2 per cent of economic output in the third quarter of 2011, the EU's statistics agency said yesterday, lower than the United States but still a burden that could take decades to pay down...
FRENCH airports announced some cancellations and delays on the first day of a four-day strike by aviation workers yesterday but flight disruptions were limited.At Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, officials said airlines had on Sunday...
THE Brazilian government privatised three airports, including Sao Paulo's Guarulhos, ahead of the 2014 World Cup through concessions valued at a total of US$14 billion during an auction yesterday.The concessions to upgrade congested terminals at the...
US AIRCRAFT manufacturer Boeing said yesterday it had discovered a manufacturing error that would require repairs in the fuselage section of some 787 Dreamliners."Boeing has found that incorrect shimming was performed on support structure on...
OIL prices could soar to as high as US$160 a barrel if tension over an Iranian oil embargo persists or in the event of conflict, a top Kuwaiti oil executive said in remarks published yesterday."If the embargo on Iranian oil persists, or in case...
THE International Energy Agency may reduce its world oil demand forecast for 2012 this week due to a weaker outlook for the world economy, even though some evidence points to stronger consumption in the latter part of the year.!All three of the most...
Monday, 6 February 2012
EURO zone finance ministers told Greece it could not go ahead with an agreed deal to restructure privately held debt until it guaranteed to implement reforms to secure a second financing package from the euro zone and the IMF.!Euro zone ministers...
THE latest surge in US job creation suggests the world's biggest economy is gathering momentum in contrast with the recession taking hold in parts of Europe.Analysts said that in the United States, where the economy added 243,000 net new jobs in...
A PENNILESS shepherd from the island of Crete is one of Greece's top state debtors, a report said yesterday, highlighting the daunting task facing the crisis-hit country in managing its chaotic finances.Stelios Parasyris, 65, is deemed to owe the...
