Thu May 24, 2012 11:19am BST * Euro zone downturn deepens in May * Malaise taking root in core countries * China factory data suggests weak first-half By Jonathan Cable LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) - The shadows being cast over the global economy darkened this month as the euro zone's private sector declined further and China's once-booming factories faltered, business surveys showed on Thursday. Worryingly for European policymakers, a downturn that started in smaller euro zone periphery members is now taking root in the core countries of Germany and France, whose tepid combined growth had been keeping the troubled bloc afloat. "We are very much in a period of weakening global growth. It doesn't quite feel like 2008 yet but the danger is we could ... Continue reading →

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By Dina Kyriakidou and Karolina Tagaris ATHENS | Tue May 22, 2012 8:07am BST ATHENS (Reuters) - In a land of ancient myths, modern Greeks have created some of their own about their near-bankrupt country's future as an integral part of a Europe that will never kick them out. Solemn warnings from abroad that Athens cannot stay in the euro while rejecting the terms attached to the billions offered to pull Greece out of its financial hole are widely disbelieved in a land that considers itself the envy of foreigners.However bad their prospects, many Greeks seem to think that since money to bail them out was found in the past, it will be found again, whatever politicians say.Nor do they believe that Europe will simply ... Continue reading →

Tue May 22, 2012 3:00pm BST * International 'troika' starts bailout review on Tuesday * May reward Portugal for hitting fiscal targets * Should ensure 'austerity doesn't kill patient' - analyst * Timing of any fiscal easing or aid boost is uncertain * Austerity vs growth debate stoked by Greece, Hollande By Axel Bugge LISBON, May 22 (Reuters) - Portugal may be rewarded with looser budget targets as its international lenders look to shore up the country's slumping economy and the wider euro zone against contagion from turmoil in Greece. The troika of lenders start their quarterly review of Lisbon's economic performance under its bailout programme on Tuesday, having praised the country on previous visits for sticking to an increasingly onerous deficit-reduction target. A raging ... Continue reading →

By Leigh Thomas PARIS | Tue May 22, 2012 12:19pm BST PARIS (Reuters) - The United States and Japan are leading a fragile economic recovery among developed countries that could yet be blown off course if the euro zone fails to contain its flaring growth crisis, the OECD said on Tuesday. In its twice-yearly economic outlook, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development forecast that global growth would ease to 3.4 percent this year from 3.6 percent in 2011, before accelerating to 4.2 percent in 2013, in line with its last estimates from late November.Growth across the organisation's 34 members, generally the wealthiest in the world, would ease this year to 1.6 percent from 1.8 percent in 2011 and then reach 2.2 percent in ... Continue reading →

It is always dangerous to claim the birth of a particular genre of music, but a case can be made that 45 years ago on May 27 there was a major delivery — the arrival of British folk rock. The midwives at this event were the members of Fairport Convention, a group that is still wildly popular among aficionados of the genre and which spawned many others from Steeleye Span right though, arguably, to today’s Bellowhead and even the likes of Mumford & Sons and Fleet Foxes. What Fairport did when they showed up at Golders Green church hall in 1967 was blend traditional British folk music — all that finger-in-the-ear and dancing-’round-the-Maypole stuff — with some heavy rock. Yes, there was fiddle and the ... Continue reading →

In theory these would still fit Left outside the European Central Bank in the dead of night, the horse has now been moved into the ECB’s central lobby where it is proudly on display. A gift tag attached to the horse, which is surprisingly light for its size and has small holes along the length of its body, suggested that it should be placed in the bank’s vaults overnight to avoid it being targeted by thieves. Mario Draghi, President of the ECB, said: “How nice of the Greeks to acknowledge the trouble we’ve been put to on their behalf with this wonderful horse, handmade and so large it could hold a dozen double-decker buses. “The card with it, which had a teddy bear dressed as ... Continue reading →

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