SINGAPORE AIRLINES. Singapore airlines experiencing issues with the global recession hitting hard. They have decided to delay delivery of their 12th aircraft. "The revised schedule will see the 12th aircraft delivered in October 2010 rather than April 2010, while the 19th aircraft will be delivered in January 2012 rather than January 2011," the airline said in a statement. In July, Singapore's national carrier had posted its first quarterly loss since the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. Net ... Read More

NEW DELHI SITE OF TRADE FREE AGREEMENT FOR 2010. Trade ministers began talks in New Delhi on Thursday which World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy said could prepare the ground for reaching a world free-trade agreement by 2010. The WTO director general was concerned about the "chilling effect" of trade barriers and underlined that it was only through the Doha round that issues like generating market access, reduction of obstacles to trade and leveling ... Read More

LUFTHANSA BECOMING THE LARGEST AIRLINE CARRIER. German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG completed the takeover of Austrian Airlines AG Thursday by signing final contracts in Vienna. With this deal, the Lufthansa group is to become Europe's biggest carrier, surpassing French-Dutch airline AirFrance-KLM in terms of passenger numbers. Speaking earlier in Frankfurt, Lufthansa executive board member Stefan Lauer praised Austrian Airlines' staff for their cooperation in implementing a series of cost-cutting measures that include cutting 1,000 full-time positions from a staff of 8,000 through the ... Read More

HOUSING MARKETS SHOW IMPROVEMENT! With all the bad news abounding hourly some good news is welcomed. Improvements in the US and British housing markets, rebounds in equity markets and falls in the cost of money market funding are among the favourable reports that suggest the economic recovery will be more rapid than expected, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Thursday. "Given the positive economic news and based ... Read More

SWEDEN NOT MOVING INTEREST RATE FROM 0.25 Sweden's Central Bank said Thursday it will keep its interest rate at a record-low 0.25 per cent, despite signs that the economy is picking up. The Central Bank also said it would offer loans worth 100 billion kronor (13.9 billion dollars) to the commercial banks at a fixed interest rate in order to help secure favourable loans to commercial business and households. The Riksbank projected that GDP would decline by 4.9 per cent this year, but ... Read More

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE SOARING IN FRANCE. The French unemployment rate soared to 9.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year, the highest level in more than three years, the government's statistics office INSEE announced Thursday. In the first quarter of 2009, the jobless rate had stood at 8.5 per cent. Read More

LUFTHANSA TAKING OVER AUSTRIAN AIRLINES. German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG is to complete the takeover of Austrian Airlines AG Thursday by signing the final contracts in Vienna, said Stefan Lauer, a member of Lufthansa's executive board. With this deal, the Lufthansa group is to become Europe's biggest carrier, surpassing French-Dutch airline AirFrance-KLM in terms of passenger numbers. The ailing Vienna-based flag carrier is to retain its network of destinations, as was the case when Swiss, British Midland and Brussels Airlines joined the Lufthansa ... Read More

INTEREST RATES AT ECB EXPECTED TO REMAIN ON HOLD. The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected Thursday to leave interest rates on hold at their historic low of 1 per cent, but to raise its economic growth forecasts amid signs that the recession could be starting to draw to an end. In particular, this follows the release of figures Wednesday by the European Union's statistics office Eurostat confirming that the eurozone's two biggest economies - Germany and France - climbed out of recession ... Read More

INDIA’S EXPORTS IN DECLINE MODE. India's exports declined for the 10th straight month in July, according to government data released Tuesday. India recently announced a new foreign trade policy which envisaged tax refunds and incentive measures to arrest the decline in exports and check job cuts. India's export industry has been badly hit by the economic slowdown in its traditional markets of Europe and United States, which account for 40 per cent of exports. While announcing the new five-year policy, federal Trade ... Read More

SKYEUROPE FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY Thousands of passengers of Slovak airline FlyEurope were stranded Tuesday, company spokesman Ronald Schranz said, after the budget carrier stopped its flights and filed for bankruptcy on the previous day. Citing "lack of sufficient interim funding to finance ongoing operations," SkyEurope announced late Monday that it had stopped its flight services. The decision to end operations was made ... Read More