Business
Latest stories
Job Seekers Protest in Energy-Rich Algeria

Algerians demanding work protested across the energy-rich North African nation on Saturday as organizers vowed more days of "rage".

Despite its vast hydrocarbon wealth, Algeria is plagued by high unemployment affecting 21.5 percent of those under 35, according to state and International Monetary Fund estimates.

W140 Full Story
China, the Global Auto Industry's Best Hope

At a time when Indian, Russian and Brazilian car markets are stumbling, China remains the major growth engine for the global automotive industry, analysts say.

"For many years it's been the Bric nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) which have accounted for the growth of global sales, taking over from the more mature markets," explains Carlos da Silva, an analyst at IHS Automotive.

W140 Full Story
World Bank Removes Iran from List of Non-Payers

The World Bank removed Iran from its list of deadbeat borrowers Friday, saying the Islamic Republic had paid outstanding loan amounts.

The Bank said that its key lending unit, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, "has moved all loans to the Islamic Republic of Iran from non-performing status to performing status following the payment of all overdue amounts on these loans."

W140 Full Story
Algeria Smuggling Crackdown Cuts Fuel Line to Morocco

Until three months ago, petrol smuggling literally drove Morocco's neglected eastern region, where the subsidised liquid smuggled in from Algeria fuelled the local economy.

But in June, Algiers took drastic measures to curtail the illegal trade, clamping down on traffic across its border with Morocco, which has officially been closed since 1994.

W140 Full Story
Portugal's Austerity Policy Faces first Electoral Test

Portuguese voters head to the polls on Sunday for municipal elections which offer them their first chance to express at the ballot box their view of the government's austerity program.

"Portugal is going through a very tricky time," said political analyst Jose Antonio Passos Palmeira.

W140 Full Story
U.S. Troops Won't Get Paid during Shutdown

The U.S. military's nearly 1.4 million troops will stay on the job in the case of a government shutdown but not get paid, Pentagon officials said Friday.

The war effort in Afghanistan and other high-priority missions would not be affected but most training and a range of maintenance work would be cancelled if Congress fails to agree a new budget measure by the close of the fiscal year on Monday, September 30, top officials said.

W140 Full Story
U.S. Senate Approves Budget Bill amid Showdown with House

Following a week of divisive debate, the U.S. Senate passed a temporary budget Friday, sending the legislation to the House amid a congressional showdown just days from a possible government closure.

House Speaker John Boehner has indicated his Republican caucus would likely alter the legislation and send it back to the Senate, a move that could leave insufficient time for an amended bill to pass both chambers of Congress before a fiscal year-end deadline of midnight Monday.

W140 Full Story
EU Releases 1.5-Bn-Euro Bailout Payment to Cyprus

The European Union's financial emergency fund released an aid tranche of 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) to Cyprus on Friday, part of a controversial bailout agreed earlier this year.

The release from the European Stability Mechanism was agreed by the 17 finance ministers of the Eurogroup earlier this month after Cyprus had enacted stringent measures in return for the loans.

W140 Full Story
France Confirms Exit from Recession but Investment Falls

France exited recession in the second quarter of the year with economic growth of 0.5 percent, updated figures confirmed Friday, but investment shrank, raising concerns the recovery remains fragile.

The rebound for Europe's second-largest economy in the April-June period followed a six-month economic slide -- though revised data released Friday said the gross domestic product (GDP) contraction in the first quarter was 0.1 percent, instead of the 0.2 percent initially announced.

W140 Full Story
PM Warns Russia Faces 'Abyss' without Economic Reform

Russia's economy is at a crossroads and the country risks falling into the "abyss" if it does not make serious reforms to boost long-term growth, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned on Friday.

In a major article for the economic daily Vedomosti, Medvedev sought to reclaim the mantle of a champion of economic reform that he sought when he held the presidency from 2008 to 2012.

W140 Full Story