BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s federal government is unable to lower taxes for public transportation any further, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Wednesday as protests against a recent increase in bus fares and shoddy public services spread nationwide. The minister’s remarks poured cold water on speculation that President Dilma Rousseff would provide financial help to [...]
By Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s ruling party leaders have signaled they are moving towards a compromise on the restart of state TV broadcasts and pledged to resolve a political standoff by Thursday. A court ruling on Monday ordered the public broadcaster ERT back on air, but its screens were still [...]
By Paul Ingrassia and Mike Peacock LONDON (Reuters) – The World Bank is concerned about the spillover effects on developing countries of a slowing of U.S. money creation and will move to provide affordable capital when borrowing costs rise, its president said on Wednesday. The U.S. Federal Reserve has sparked a bout of financial market [...]
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel told U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday that government monitoring of Internet communications needed to remain within proper limits. "I made clear that although we do see the need for gathering information, the topic of proportionality is always an important one and the free democratic order is based [...]
By Mark John PARIS (Reuters) – A feeling in France that the European Union no longer works in its interest is fueling tensions between Paris and Brussels and adding pressure on President Francois Hollande to be more assertive in Europe. Successive Europe-wide polls show that disenchantment with the EU is rising fastest in France, a [...]
By Alister Bull WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Reserve policymakers will likely announce on Wednesday that they will keep buying bonds at a monthly pace of $85 billion, while keeping their options open to scale back the program later this year if the U.S. labor market continues to improve. Economic data since the 19 officials met [...]
By Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece has avoided the uncertainty of an early election but the standoff over the state broadcaster’s closure has weakened the prime minister and deepened mistrust in his fractious coalition. A court ordered the ERT broadcaster back on air late on Monday as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras [...]
By Andrew Osborn and William Schomberg ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (Reuters) – The euro zone came under pressure from other rich economies on Monday to press on with a banking union and Japan was urged to follow up on massive central bank stimulus with structural reforms and measures to tackle its budget deficit. Leaders of the [...]
By Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) – A Greek court ruled that shuttered state broadcaster ERT must reopen immediately, a court official said on Monday, offering the squabbling ruling coalition a way out of a political crisis over the station’s abrupt closure. The ruling – which ordered ERT switched back on until a [...]
By Karolina Tagaris and Deepa Babington ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras faced a double challenge on Monday from coalition partners furious over the shutdown of state broadcaster ERT and a court hearing that could put the shuttered station back on air. ERT’s abrupt closure last week in the name of austerity to [...]
