Reuters: The European Space Agency is hatching plans for a branding campaign aimed at making people more aware of the benefits of spending their hard-earned taxes on the International Space Station (ISS). The list of products and technologies that have their roots in space research is long, from memory foam to the in-ear thermometer, but ...

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Asia’s economic growth probably troughed in the first quarter but a bounce-back may be muted, a Reuters poll showed. Although the fear factor has faded over Europe’s debt crisis and a slowing U.S. economy, both will still be a drag on growth rates in the region. Respondents in a quarterly survey of over ...

BERLIN/FRANKFURT, (Reuters): Volkswagen’s Audi unit has agreed to buy thoroughbred Italian motorcycle maker Ducati for about 860 million euros ($1.12 billion) including debt, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The deal allows VW chairman Ferdinand Piech, who has long coveted Ducati and himself owns one of their super bikes, to make ...

AMMAN (Reuters): Hussein Dabbas, President and CEO of Royal Jordanian Airlines(RJ), said he had resigned after almost three years as head of the state airline following a tough year for both the company and the industry due to regional political turmoil. “It has been a very tough year for the airline industry as a whole ...

While the government is fully capable of dealing with any pressures that come from Geneva, New York or Washington, it is the public servants and heads of corporations who should ensure good governance to improve the image of the country internationally, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Addressing a gathering of public servants, heads of state corporations, ...

By Nirmala Kannangara Despite the government imposing a major hike in fuel prices in February, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) is still facing a severe financial crisis, trade unions said. Secretary of the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya (Petroleum Branch) Ananda Palitha said that the CPC is facing

Citizens should make a noise The Central Bank’s former Assistant Governor and its long-time Director of Statistics, Dr. Anila Dias Bandaranaike, at a recently held exporters’ forum, expressed the view that the business community should make it their business to discuss, debate and deliver their views on economic policies being formulated by the country’s policy ...

NEW DELHI (Reuters): India’s businesses, already facing high interest rates and a global economic slowdown, worry that the finance ministry will ask them to shoulder a bigger tax burden in the budget set for release on Friday to trim the fiscal deficit. After a drubbing in recent state elections, the government has little room to ...

Reuters: The Congress party’s drubbing in assembly elections proved beyond doubt that its populist politics failed to resonate with voters, and yet investors and consumers alike are bracing for more of the same from the besieged ruling party.  Hemmed in by maverick allies and the fallout from a slew of corruption scandals, the Congress party-led ...

Reuters: Leading economies told Europe it must put up extra money to fight its debt crisis if it wants more help from the rest of the world, piling pressure on Germany to drop its opposition to a bigger European bailout fund.  Euro zone countries pledged on Sunday, at a meeting of finance leaders from the ...

By: Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe In the mid nineteen eighties, the Philippines was rocked by a sustained people’s resistance movement that finally deposed of the hated and corrupt dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, who had to flee the country in a US Air Force helicopter. The Catholic Church, representing the majority of the people, played a critical role ...

Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, last week reported a full year EBIT of US$137 million, on revenues up 36.0% to US$4.1 billion (2010: US$2.98 billion). The results included earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rentals (EBITDAR) of US$648 million, with a net profit of US$14 million. The record result ...

DUBAI (Reuters): Emirates airline placed a blockbuster order for 50 Boeing 777 jetliners at the Dubai Air Show on Sunday, underscoring the confidence brimming among fast-growing Gulf airlines despite growing fears of stalling global growth. The Dubai government-owned carrier, expanding its role as the world’s largest operator of Boeing’s most profitable plane, said the deal ...

 Eurozone crisis makes industry outlook uncertain COSCO negotiates lower charter rates Many shipping companies hit hard by industry downturn BOAO, China, (Reuters): Global shipping is in a downturn even worse than during the 2008 financial crisis, China’s transportation minister

Environmental trends threaten global progress for poor, warns 2011 Human Development ReportDevelopment progress in the world’s poorest countries could be halted or even reversed by mid-century unless bold steps are taken now to slow climate change, prevent further environmental damage, and reduce deep inequalities within and among nations, according to projections in the 2011 Human ...

Following is the address delivered by Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation Dr. Sarath Amunugama at the fourth South Asia Economic Summit (SAES IV) Plenary Session: In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, there has been a noticeable shift in economic clout, moving from the USA and the debt-plagued countries of the Eurozone, to ...

Sri Lanka’s state run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is facing a financial crisis owing to selling fuel items below the import cost, says a top official. The Secretary to the Ministry of Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development Sandhya Wijayabandara told News360.lk that this situation

LONDON (Reuters): European stocks were flat on Friday, losing early steam ahead of mid-day U.S. employment data but the euro clung to gains from a two-cent rally after euro zone policymakers moved to shore up struggling banks to fend off a financial crisis. Aggressive liquidity measures unveiled

I like to be an optimist. No matter what may happen around us, I would like to retain feelings of hope I have for all human-kind and on a more intimate level for you, for me, the newborn and the to-be-born. Yet, what has already happened around me, happening now and may happen in the ...

Financial stability risks have risen sharply in recent months, as slower economic growth, market turbulence in Europe, and the credit downgrade of the United States have weighed on the global financial system, according to new analysis by the IMF. Financial markets have begun to question the ability of policymakers to command broad political support for ...

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) last week announced traffic results for July which showed that passenger travel was up 5.9% over July 2010. Freight markets were stagnating with a 0.4% demand decline over previous year levels. “Passenger travel bucked the gloomy economic outlook with a 5.9% increase in July. This increase was likely based ...

GENEVA (Reuters): A revival in global air travel may be about to slow sharply as economic headwinds discourage premium travel, industry body IATA said last week. Its data for June showed a slight dip in premium and economy travel growth rates from May, although the number of passengers in both classes was higher than in ...

Reuters) – If history is any guide, another oil-induced recession may be just around the corner, at least for the United States and some of the other developed economies. Every time that the cost of oil relative to global economic output has hit current levels — and that’s even after sharp falls in spot prices ...

As Bank of America Corp.’s stock has tumbled and clawed back in recent days, city leaders, business owners and others with a stake in the company are waiting to see what happens next.The stock market swings have delivered a familiar feeling of anxiety to a city pummeled by the financial

By Abdul H. Azeez Hedging deals are double edged, and even though they reduce risk, they do not completely eliminate it. If hedging deals are entered into without proper foresight, they can cut down and amputate like a sweeping butcher’s knife. Sri Lanka, in its rush to rid itself of the burden of high fuel ...

Most U.S. homeowners should get some relief on their heating bills this winter. The price of natural gas, the fuel that supplies 70 percent of the nation’s heat, is relatively low for the second year in a row, and falling. Also, forecasters predict a warmer winter across much of the country – especially in the Southeast, which suffered through a historically cold winter last year. Bu...

By K. Ratnayake Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s trip to New York and speech at the UN General Assembly last week had two main purposes: to cover up for war crimes committed during the country’s civil war and to appeal...