Wednesday, 22 May 2013 11:08
Posted by Parvez Jabri
PARIS: France's parliament on Tuesday kicked off a high-profile public probe into a major tax fraud scandal that has shaken the Socialist government and the squeaky-clean image it is seeking to project.The special parliamentary commission will examine whether the government mishandled the scandal, in which former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac repeatedly lied about having an undeclared foreign bank account.Political heavyweights such as Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, Interior Minister Manuel Valls and Justice Minister Christiane Taubira ...
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MILAN: Ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on Thursday it cut Italian telephone company Telecom Italia's long-term credit rating to BBB- from BBB, with a stable outlook."The downgrade follows our downward revision of the group's business risk profile and reflects our view that Telecom Italia's debt leverage, although likely to subside somewhat, will remain too high to sustain the 'BBB' rating level, given the lower business risk profile assessment," the agency said in a statement.The group, which has a debt pile of around 28 billion euros, will continue to face very challenging conditions in its domestic telecom market in 2013-2014, Standard & Poor's said.Its liquidity is adequate, the ratings agency said, adding that Telecom's revenue will fall by about 3 percent in 2013 and 2 percent in 2014.Telecom Italia's board meets on Thursday to mull the spin-off of its fixed line network in a move that could cut debt and ...
PARIS: France's parliament on Tuesday kicked off a high-profile public probe into a major tax fraud scandal that has shaken the Socialist government and the squeaky-clean image it is seeking to project.The special parliamentary commission will examine whether the government mishandled the scandal, in which former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac repeatedly lied about having an undeclared foreign bank account.Political heavyweights such as Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, Interior Minister Manuel Valls and Justice Minister Christiane Taubira ...
MADRID: Germany signed up on Tuesday to provide vocational training and jobs for young Spaniards starved of opportunities in their crisis-hit home country, ministers said."Each year nearly 5,000 young Spaniards will be able to benefit from vocational opportunities or even from stable and skilled jobs in Germany," Spain's Employment Minister Fatima Banez said after signing the deal with her German counterpart Ursula von der Leyen.The deal offers "the determined and sincere support of all the ...
LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron's flagship gay marriage policy is set to deepen a rift in his own party on Monday with many of his own lawmakers preparing to defy him in a sign of growing strains on his leadership and his coalition government.Up to half of Cameron's 303 lawmakers in the lower house of parliament are expected to back an amendment that the government says would sabotage its efforts to legalise gay marriage.Cameron's ...
LJUBLJANA: Slovenia, which has pledged to cut costs and sell off state-owned companies to help it avoid a euro zone bailout, will start the privatisations in September, Finance Minister Uros Cufer told parliament on Monday."It will take 2 to 3 quarters to complete them," Cufer said.Earlier in May Slovenia earmarked 15 companies it plans to sell to boost budget income and improve corporate governance.The firms include Slovenia's second largest bank Nova KBM , largest telecoms ...
MOSCOW: A Russian capsule filled with 45 mice and 15 newts along with other small animals returned from a month's mission in orbit on Sunday with data scientists hope will pave the way for a manned flight to Mars.Russian Mission Control said the Bion-M craft landed softly with the help of a special parachute system in the Orenburg Region about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) southeast of Moscow.The capsule was also carrying snails and gerbils as ...
KIEV: Supporters and opponents of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich scuffled as both sides held large rallies in the capital Kiev on Saturday, police and local media said.A dozen young men hurled stones and plastic water bottles at opposition supporters and were then pushed away by police in riot gear, television footage showed.Anti-Yanukovich protesters also fought back and at one point some of them tried to drag the crew from a military vehicle that carried messages ...
