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The European Union is to send experts to Ukraine to provide independent information on the flow of natural-gas supplies to Europe, EU officials said Thursday.
The EU is "establishing a team which will travel to Ukraine and Russia to help in the monitoring of gas flows so there is more transparency where the gas is coming from and...
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The European Union on Thursday decided to send experts to Ukraine to provide independent information on the flow of Russian natural gas supplies to Europe as top officials from Kiev and Moscow arrived in Brussels to lobby for EU support in their gas row.
The EU is "establishing a team which will travel to Ukraine and Russia to...
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Zimbabwean prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai said Thursday he was confident of an end to the political impasse holding up the formation of a government of national unity.
Speaking after talks with German officials, he said this would come after issues relating to the definition of the prime minister's powers and the...
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Russia supports the idea of holding a summit of the world's greatest powers in 101 days' time to debate the reform of the global financial system, a Kremlin official said Friday.
"As I understand it, we support" a proposal from French President Nicolas Sarkozy to hold a summit of the world's 20 greatest powers 100 days after...
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When European Union and Russian leaders meet in the French resort of Nice on Friday, the following points are expected to draw their attention:
FINANCIAL CRISIS: The EU-Russia summit comes less than 24 hours before the leaders of the world's most powerful nations meet in Washington to discuss a response to the global financial...
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European Union leaders said Friday they were leading world efforts to reform global finance by agreeing on a common set of principles and on five specific recommendations to avert future credit crunches.
The common EU position, agreed after more than three hours of "intense" discussions over lunch in Brussels, is intended to...
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The French presidency of the European Union has agreed to water down its proposals on how to reform the global financial system, diplomats said Tuesday.
The decision followed two hours of talks among EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels.
Sources familiar with the negotiations said France agreed to make changes to the wish list...
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A detailed French set of proposals on how to reform the global financial system was at the top of the agenda on Tuesday as European Union finance ministers met in Brussels.
The plans "can still be better, but it's a good start ... I think we'll turn them into European plans," Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos said as the...
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Rules designed to stop airlines from advertising deceptively cheap tickets were due to come into force on Friday across the European Union.
Jointly approved by the EU's 27 member states and by the European Parliament, the rules require airlines to include all taxes and charges in their published ticket prices.
Officials in...
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Rules designed to stop airlines from advertising deceptively cheap tickets are due to come into force on Saturday across the European Union.
Jointly approved by the EU's 27 member states and by the European Parliament, the rules require airlines to include all taxes and charges in their published ticket prices.
Officials in...
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Tuesday for early reforms of world financial markets as she met with a panel of German experts who have been appointed to draw up proposals.
"Time is of the essence," said Merkel in Berlin, saying she wanted to take details with her to the G20 summit in Washington on November 15. The...
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Austria's government indicated Monday it could take over some of the debt of Austrian Airlines AG before selling it to either Germany's Lufthansa AG or Russian carrier S7 Airlines.
The government's mandate to privatize its 42.75-per-cent stake in Austrian Airlines was scheduled to run out Tuesday, but the process was likely to be...
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Austria's government indicated Monday it could take over some of the debt of Austrian Airlines AG before selling it to either Deutsche Lufthansa AG or Russian carrier S7 Airlines.
The government's mandate to privatize its 42.75-per-cent stake in Austrian Airlines was scheduled to run out Tuesday, but the process was likely to be...
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Almost two years after joining the European Union, Bulgaria has passed legislation designed to control conflicts in interest for politicians and officials.
The law was passed Thursday by Bulgaria's parliament. It requires that Bulgaria's president, legislators and administration members, as well as mayors and judges, provide regular...
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The head of Europe's election-monitoring mission to Azerbaijan said Thursday there was a "lack of robust competition" on the ballot and President Ilham Aliyev's landslide re-election feel short of democratic norms.
With the only real opposition boycotting the vote, Aliyev sailed to an easy win on Wednesday, sealing near 90...
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday joined French President Nicolas Sarkozy in calling for "a new Bretton Woods" to better regulate global financial markets and avoid future credit crunches.
"We urgently need what you might call the 'new Bretton Woods', so that we can restore confidence in the system while...
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The European Union must prove that it can lead the world in solving the financial crisis and fighting global warming, EU leaders said Wednesday ahead of a summit in Brussels.
"Europe is leading the global response: We must continue to do so. An urgent priority is to further deepen cooperation on the international level,...
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The Austrian government is to raise guarantees on savings deposits to prevent funds from flowing to Germany but wants to coordinate with other European Union members on the issue, Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer said Monday.
Molterer initially made his proposal on television late Sunday after similar moves by...
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Serbian police arrested the mayor of an affluent town and prominent politician from President Boris Tadic's party in a crackdown on organized crime, local reports said Wednesday.
Goran Knezevic, two-time mayor of Zrenjanin since 2006, was arrested along with several other suspects allegedly involved in rigging tenders for public...
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International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Sunday that his institute could serve as a kind of watchdog for the crisis-stricken world financial market.
In remarks published in the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche, Strauss-Kahn said the IMF could set the norms and keep watch on the markets.
Democracy...
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Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown called Friday for stabilizing the international financial markets roiled by the credit crunch in the United States and for reviewing the role of major financial institutions created after World War II.
Brown said the US needs global support as it is trying to work out details of the bailout of the...
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition unveiled Wednesday new far-reaching rules to head off powerful foreign-owned state-controlled funds going on a shopping spree for companies in Europe's biggest economy.
Of particular concern to Merkel's conservative Christian Democrat-led coalition is the threat posed to key German...
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 President Nicolas Sarkozy claims France
will reduce its total number of nuclear arsenal to less than 300 warheads and has
asked the U.S. and China to stop
weapons tests. He said the reduction would leave France with “half the maximum
number of warheads we had during the Cold War,” according to BBC News.
Sarkozy...
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 Russia on Wednesday suspended participation in a key Cold War treaty
limiting armed forces in Europe amid mounting East-West security
tensions.
Russia has suspended all activities towards observing the treaty on
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) since midnight on December
12, The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a...
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A culture of bribery and impunity flourished at German corporate giant Siemens AG over the past decade despite repeated warnings from outside and inside the firm, according to US court documents.
The details were released Monday as Siemens pleaded guilty in US District Court in Washington to a massive global corruption scandal...
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The world's 20 top economies reached a deal Saturday to better regulate global financial markets and take steps to halt a global economic slide.
Negotiators agreed on a final declaration Saturday morning during the first-ever summit of the Group of 20 (G20) nations in Washington, Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa has learned.
Leaders...
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The world is witnessing a nuclear power renaissance at a time when demands for fossil fuel-based energy and its prices have increased, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Monday.
But the expected increase in civilian nuclear power plants is accompanied by the risk of mounting nuclear material being converted into...
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In the last months, veterans’ advocates and
members of the Congress tried to gather precise information regarding veterans’
suicides. They suspected the Veterans Affairs Department for disclosure of data
and their hunch was confirmed when an email surfaced during a trial.
Dr Ira Katz, head of mental health services
for Veterans...
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 The pope's first trip to America is expected to bring a fresh view upon religious values. Pope Benedict XVI will deliver a positive message that will draw the attention on the truth about society's needs. One of them, probably the most important one in the eyes of the believers is the value brought by a good understanding of the...
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Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday formally requested that the European Union send observers to monitor the flow of gas from Russia.
In a letter sent to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barrasco, Yushchenko suggested the EU could deploy energy technicians to Ukraine so they could independently evaluate the...
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The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) Tuesday said its derivatives and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) markets set new trading records last year with volume surging to 62 million contracts, up by 38 per cent from 2007.
By September 2008, turnover in the total futures and options market had already surpassed that for the whole of 2007. This...
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Arab stock markets plummeted across the board this week under the pressure of declining oil prices and investors' gloomy outlook over annual results of listed firms, financial analysts said Friday.
"Falling oil prices are riding roughshod over regional stocks and helping to aggravate the lack of confidence that gripped Arab...
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The head of the anti-Syrian ruling majority in Lebanon, Saad Hariri, said Tuesday he would not call for negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.
"We will never initiate and request any negotiations with Israel, and the cabinet has the sole authority to take this decision," Hariri was quoted as saying after meeting the head...
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Pakistan must act with "urgency and resolve" and cooperate fully in the investigations into last week's deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai that claimed 171 lives, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday.
Rice, speaking after arriving in New Delhi, said the chief purpose of her visit was to "express...
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The largest-ever gathering of Asian and European leaders opened on Friday to discuss how to respond to the global financial crisis and combat climate change.
"In the face of this global challenge, the international community should enhance policy coordination, strengthen cooperation and make a common response," Chinese...
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A Chinese-led consortium with a concession for oil exploration on Myanmar's Ramree Island has left hundreds of local islanders landless and unemployed and their environment befouled, a human rights group said Tuesday.
Blocking Freedom, a report compiled by the environmental and human rights group Arakan Oil Watch, said a...
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As house sales and prices tumble in China amid heightened uncertainty brought by the global financial turmoil, millions of would-be first-time buyers are locked in a standoff with giant, government-backed property developers.
"Developers expect the government to save the market and loosen the control of property loans,"...
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With the global credit crisis leading to the worst slowdown in the Indian real estate market in recent times, agents and developers are hoping the festive season surrounding Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, will drive away the gloom.
Coming at the end of October, Diwali will prove a crucial period for developers as many...
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Taiwan's property market, hit hard in the last few months by the global downturn and a drastic domestic stock plunge, is likely to enter a recession from next year, property dealers and analysts said.
"Beginning next year, the property market here is likely to see obvious slowdown, which could last two to four years,"...
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The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed one justice and suspended another for two months over a bribery scandal at the country's second highest court.
Court of Appeals Justice Vicente Roxas was dismissed after he was found guilty of grave misconduct, dishonesty, undue interest and conduct prejudicial to the interest of...
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Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday was charged in court with sodomizing a former male aide in a case the former deputy prime minister has slammed as politically motivated.
Anwar, who received a police summons Wednesday ordering his appearance in court, pleaded not guilty to the charge after arriving at the Kuala...
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Cambodia's long-awaited anti-corruption legislation is ready to consideration in the nation's parliament, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Monday.
"This law is specifically for legislators in the National Assembly and Senate," Kanharith said of the draft bill that was first proposed in 1994.
The law has been...
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The Football Federation of Cambodia is up in arms over widespread reports of hairy-legged, mustachioed players taking the field in the first nationwide under-15 championships, the federation's secretary general said Tuesday.
Cambodia has been named one of the most corrupt countries in Asia by the Berlin-based watchdog group...
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 Grant Achatz of the Chicago restaurant
Alinea, who last year overcame a tongue cancer that nearly ended his life and
threatened his ability to taste the food he was serving at Chicago’s Alinea, was named the nation’s top chef
by the James Beard Foundation.
Grant Achatz, 34, was diagnosed last July
with Stage 4 tongue cancer,...
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 Last year, a nonprofit environmental organization called Climate Counts started to put together, with the help of officially released information, the so-called Climate Counts Company Scorecard, in which the 60 top consumer companies are arranged in a chart according to their environmental efforts. In 2008, in the second edition of the...
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 Should we trust all health studies and researches published
in the mass-media? Sometimes studies prove to be very tricky and one may find it
difficult to avoid mass media’s manipulation. Sometimes you may not know what
was behind a study.
In 2006, a tobacco company supported a study that claimed 80
percent of lung cancer...
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 Rival companies Google and Yahoo,
along with the popular social networking web site MySpace, joined forces and
formed the OpenSocial Foundation. The three companies announced the deal on
Tuesday, in a move that will add the needed support to the non-profit
organization born to support the OpenSocial project Google initiated last...
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Although he rejects the idea that good corporate governance would have decreased the effect of the global financial crisis, Martin Steindl, of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), believes that better corporate governance would have saved some companies from being part of the crisis.
"Such a crisis affects everyone, but...
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 The trial of six French nationals charged over their attempt to spirit
out more than 100 African children from eastern Chad began in the
capital Ndjamena Friday, with the accused each facing up to 20 years in
prison if convicted.
The members of French aid charity l'Arche de Zoe (Zoe's Ark), who
are being tried alongside three...
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Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis is to hold a series of "informative meetings" for customers concerned about the bank's financial health.
The first meeting, for Dutch customers, is to take place in Amsterdam on Monday evening, followed by similar meetings in Brussels on August 20 and 21.
A spokeswoman for Fortis Netherlands told...
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 Leaders of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have ended their Riyadh summit on Sunday, reaffirming their commitment to stability in global energy supplies, competitive prices and oil investment boost. The closing declaration was read by the organization's secretary-general, Abdallah al-Badri, emphasizing the...
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 Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, an Illinois senator, has asked Wall Street to temper its greed for the financial good of the country. He held an address at the NASDAQ Marketsite, warning that the public is losing trust in the markets and called for more transparency in the financial markets. He cited reasons for concern...
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 Iran on Friday termed talks with International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) head Mohamed ElBaradei as positive and declared the country's
readiness to fully cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog.
"We have entered a new phase of cooperation with the IAEA in which
grounds would be prepared for fully settling all outstanding...
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 Fronts were hardened in the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme at
the year-end meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
in Vienna on Thursday.
Iran insisted it was cooperating fully with the United Nations
nuclear watchdog in resolving questions about its nuclear activities
and that its peaceful intentions had...
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 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday passed a
mixed verdict on Iran, saying the country was generally telling the
truth, but lacking full transparency.
Cooperation was sufficient to clear up questions regarding past
aspects of Iran's nuclear programme, an IAEA report released in Vienna,
Austria said.
But...
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 U.N. inspectors visited an Iranian heavy-water reactor site on Monday, for the first time since April. The Arak facilities were one of the causes of concern for the Western powers regarding Iran's nuclear program. While Tehran has refused the Security Council's main demand that it suspend all efforts to produce nuclear fuel, it works...
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| Currency |
USD |
EUR |
GBP |
YEN |
| USD |
------ |
0.727 |
0.653 |
91.283 |
| EUR |
1.375 |
------ |
0.898 |
125.509 |
| GBP |
1.531 |
1.114 |
------ |
139.781 |
| YEN |
0.011 |
0.008 |
0.007 |
------ |
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