European Economy

Cyprus is scrambling to overhaul its banking sector to avoid financial meltdown, after the European Central Bank threatened to pull the plug on emergency funding for the island's lenders.

Cyprus is scrambling to overhaul its banking sector to avoid financial meltdown, after the European Central Bank threatened to pull the plug on emergency funding for the island's lenders.

Ratings firm Standard & Poor's dealt a further blow to reeling Cyprus Thursday, cutting its credit rating as the eurozone country struggles to avoid a banking sector meltdown.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said he will announce on Friday his decision on who will be asked to form a government after inconclusive elections in the austerity-stricken country and amid rising tensions in the eurozone.

US stocks fell Thursday, hit by uncertainty over the Cyprus banking crisis and some surprisingly weak corporate earnings.

Cyprus Thursday was examining an overhaul of its banking sector to avoid financial meltdown after the European Central Bank threatened to pull the plug on emergency funding for the island's banks.

The head of the International Olympic Committee's Evaluation Commission Craig Reedie said he is happy with the guarantees given by the Madrid 2020 bid team that the Spanish economy could support hosting the Olympics.

As the EU raised the spectre of a eurozone exit for Cyprus, experts warned on Thursday of the consequences of brinksmanship from Brussels to Moscow in the race to fix new bailout terms.

London shares closed lower on Thursday as traders looked past positive economic data to focus on bleak eurozone news, notably fallout from the Cyprus bailout impasse.

European stock markets slid Thursday as disappointing eurozone data and the Cyprus bailout impasse overshadowed strong Chinese economic performance.

Spain's battered banks predicted Thursday they will turn a profit this year after a "horrific" 2012 in which the overall industry recorded losses for the first time in its history.

Ireland's bailed-out economy grew by 0.9 percent in 2012 but stagnated in the final quarter of the year, official data for the troubled eurozone nation showed on Thursday.

Spain's borrowing costs dipped in a bond auction Thursday, easing concerns that a feared banking meltdown in Cyprus could scare investors away from other troubled eurozone states.

The European Central Bank warned Thursday it was ready to pull the plug on emergency funding for Cyprus banks as the island's politicians scrambled to raise billions of euros to head off financial meltdown.

European stock markets slid Thursday as traders looked past strong Chinese economic data to focus on bleak eurozone news, notably fallout from the Cyprus bailout impasse.

Cyprus politicians Thursday agreed to set up an investment fund as part of a Plan B to secure a bailout deal with eurozone lenders, while ruling out a tax on bank deposits that sank an earlier deal.

British retail sales jumped 2.1 percent in February, official data showed on Thursday, after dropping by 0.7 percent in January when snow caused shoppers to avoid the high street.

Cyprus was on Thursday fine-tuning a "Plan B" aimed at securing a eurozone bailout that the European Central Bank warned should be adopted by the weekend to avoid a banking meltdown on the debt-hit island.

Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Thursday that the Cyprus debt crisis poses a "systemic risk" that threatens to ricochet right through the eurozone.

Cypriot leaders are to decide on Thursday on a newly drawn up plan aimed at securing a bailout for the near-bankrupt eurozone member, after parliament rejected a controversial tax on savings.