Buitenlands Nieuws

Datum Bron Onderwerp
01-01 Financial Times - Europe Russia cuts off gas supplies to Ukraine Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled gas group, said it had cut off supplies of gas to Ukraine after no new supply contract was agreed at last ditch talks. Moscow said that Ukraine still had not fully paid an outstanding debt for gas supplies
31-12 Financial Times - Europe Citi executives and Rubin forgo bonuses Citigroup's top executives, and Robert Rubin, a director and senior adviser, will forgo their 2008 bonuses amid internal and external pressure to atone for the company's huge losses and a $300bn government bail-out
31-12 Financial Times - Europe Car bomb rocks Bilbao in northern Spain A car bomb exploded in Spain's Basque country near the headquarters of a local television station in the town of Bilbao without causing any injuries
31-12 Financial Times - Europe Russia blames Ukraine for obstructing gas talks Russia said that the chances of concluding a gas deal with Ukraine in time to avoid a supply cut on January 1st were slim and blamed Ukraine for obstructing last minute talks
31-12 Financial Times - Europe UBS sells stake in Bank of China UBS has made a profit of about $350m from selling its stake in Bank of China, as Switzerland's biggest bank continues to repair the damage done to its balance sheet by the credit crisis
31-12 Financial Times - Europe Footsie suffers worst year London's leading stocks endured their worst annual falls in at least 24 years, while in Europe and Asia, some markets ended the year by notching up their worst performances since records began
31-12 Financial Times - Europe Aberdeen buys Credit Suisse's fund arm Aberdeen Asset Management predicted it would squeeze "substantial" cost savings from Credit Suisse's traditional fund management arm as it confirmed it was buying the business for up to £250m in shares
31-12 Financial Times - Europe China dairy boss tried over milk scandal The chairwoman of the Chinese company at the heart of a tainted milk scandal that has killed at least six children and made thousands ill went on trial facing a maximum penalty of death
30-12 Financial Times - Europe AIG seeks easing of rules on disposals AIG, the insurer bailed out by the US government, is prepared to ask the Federal Reserve to relax rules on its $60bn-plus disposals programme to allow bidders to use a greater proportion of shares to pay for its assets
30-12 Financial Times - Europe US lacked the tools to tackle crisis The US government has had to battle the financial crisis without all the tools it required to do so effectively, Hank Paulson, the outgoing US Treasury Secretary has told the Financial Times.
30-12 Financial Times - Europe Vienna poised to take control of Bank Medici The Austrian government is preparing to take management control of Bank Medici after it revealed clients had lost money in funds it ran which invested with disgraced New York financier Bernard Madoff
30-12 Financial Times - Europe Largest Chinese law firm plans Swiss link-up King & Wood, China's largest law firm, is set to announce the first merger between a mainland Chinese and a foreign law firm, underlining the growing international ambitions of Chinese legal practices
30-12 Financial Times - Europe Money flows out of hedge funds at record rate Investors pulled a net $32bn from hedge funds last month, making 2008 the first year in recorded history that the funds have had significant outflows and ending the industry's 18 years of asset growth
30-12 Financial Times - Europe Europe caps a dismal year Stocks in Europe are on course to mark their worst annual falls in more than 20 years, while in Asia some markets ended the year by notching up their worst performance since records began
30-12 Financial Times - Europe Israel vows to maintain offensive Israel said its military was ready for 'long weeks of action' amid mounting diplomatic pressure and rising Arab anger over the country's four-day bombardment of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip
30-12 Financial Times - Europe GMAC to loosen criteria for loans upon bail-out The financial services group part-owned by General Motors said it would immediately loosen its criteria for vehicle loans in the wake of a $6bn government bail-out, a move which could help revive sales in the US market
30-12 Financial Times - Europe Asia stock markets hit by 40% losses Stocks in Japan and South Korea ended the last trading day of the year yesterday by notching up annual falls of more than 40 per cent, their worst yearly result since records began
30-12 Financial Times - Europe Companies use Twitter to pack PR punch The booming micro-blogging service is inspiring business to manage its message in 140 characters or less
30-12 Financial Times - Europe Eurozone lending stagnates as banks get tough Continued slowdown of lending growth leads some economists to predict the ECB will cut its main rate by 50 basis points to 2 per cent when governors next meet on January 15
30-12 Financial Times - Europe Merckle given more time to repay debt The German billionaire who lost hundreds of millions of euros in speculative share trading has taken a first step to save his cement-to-pharmaceuticals empire
30-12 Financial Times - Europe Nikkei closes last session of worst-ever year Asia-Pacific shares were broadly higher with the Nikkei in Japan ending its last session of the year with a 1.3% gain on the day, but a 42.1% loss on the year – a record annual fall
30-12 Financial Times - Europe GMAC gets $6bn injection from US Treasury The US Treasury department said it would buy $6bn in aid for GMAC, the financial services group that is critical to General Motors' turnaround
29-12 Financial Times - Europe Buffett and China banks top cash-rich groups list Listed companies are sitting tight on their cash during the economic downturn, leaving them in a strong position to survive the crisis and with the option of acquiring some bargains
29-12 Financial Times - Europe Strong yen to bring price rises Electronic equipment is expected to increase after the post Christmas sales as Japanese companies are struggling to make a profit from European import market
29-12 Financial Times - Europe Dow Chemical struggles to keep Rohm takeover alive The Kuwaiti government's shock decision to pull out of a $17.4bn joint venture has left the chemical manufacturer scrambling to raise capital for its acquisition of Rohm
29-12 Financial Times - Europe Funds on verge of IndyMac buy-out One of the largest commercial bank failures of the financial crisis is close to being sold to a consortium of private equity and hedge fund investors, which include JC Flowers, Dune Capital and Paulson & Company
29-12 Financial Times - Europe Crackdown on hedge funds after Madoff affair Hedge funds are bracing themselves for a raft of more stringent requirements by investors and increasing regulatory scrutiny, following the discovery this month that up to $50bn has been lost through alleged fraud by Bernard Madoff
29-12 Financial Times - Europe A straitened future for troubled banks The industry faces a year of struggling to restore itself to profitability, amid public criticism of its past record and simmering employee discontent
29-12 Financial Times - Europe Gaza Strip militants fire back at Israeli barrage Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups fired at least 60 rockets at Israeli towns, suggesting that three days of heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip by Israeli warplanes has yet to dent the Islamists' ability to inflict pain on its enemy
29-12 Financial Times - Europe IMF argues for large stimulus packages Across-the-board tax cuts or bail-outs of troubled industries such as the automotive sector are likely to waste government money while doing little to stimulate the global economy, the International Monetary Fund warned
29-12 Financial Times - Europe La Caixa drops sale of Repsol stake The Spanish savings bank has abandoned talks with Lukoil of Russia about selling some of its holding in Repsol as part of the co-ordinated sale of a 29.9 per cent stake in the Spanish oil group
29-12 Financial Times - Europe Russia and Ukraine in talks to end gas deadlock An energy delegation from Ukraine arrived in Moscow for last ditch talks aimed at resolving a gas debt dispute with Russia that could disrupt the supply of gas to Europe
29-12 Financial Times - Europe Pound drops to fresh record low against euro The pound dropped to a fresh record low against the euro on Monday, falling closer to parity against the single currency on expectations that UK interest rates were headed lower.
29-12 Financial Times - Europe Japanese insurance companies in merger talks Three Japanese non-life insurance companies are considering a merger that would create the largest company in the sector with combined premium revenues of $30.2bn
28-12 Financial Times - Europe ECB given bad marks over inflation The euro may have established global credibility but continental Europeans are not yet ready to give the European Central Bank high marks for its control of inflation
28-12 Financial Times - Europe Iceland to hold UK store stakes The Icelandic government would take stakes in some of the best known UK retailers under plans for the reform of the country's financial and corporate system
28-12 Financial Times - Europe China knocked off IPOs top slot The country's stock exchanges raised just $22bn in initial public offerings in 2008, falling behind New York for the first time since 2005
28-12 Financial Times - Europe Israel threatens escalation in Gaza Israel has threatened to escalate its attacks on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, positioning tanks close to the border and calling up 6,700 reservists for a possible incursion
28-12 Financial Times - Europe Music industry looks to internet for revival A generation after the launch of MTV, major record labels are hoping to revive the music video business online by creating a single digital destination for their artists' output.
28-12 Financial Times - Europe Aeroflot investor put in tailspin by Kremlin plan Aeroflot, the Russian airline, is facing an uncomfortable future as its majority shareholder, the state, appears intent on reviving the rest of the country's struggling airline sector by creating another national carrier
28-12 Financial Times - Europe Kuwait cancels Dow Chemical deal Kuwait pulled the plug on a $17.4bn deal with Dow Chemical, the US's largest chemicals group, just days before it was due to come into effect
28-12 Financial Times - Europe Emerging economies face rush for credit Record volumes of government bonds from the industrialised nations – intended to reverse what could be the worst recession since the Great Depression – threaten to curb access to credit markets by emerging economies
28-12 Financial Times - Europe Steel output set for worst drop in more than 60 years The steel business faces a fall in production in 2009 of at least 10 per cent, analysts say. This would be the biggest year-on-year fall for more than 60 years
28-12 Financial Times - Europe Orient Express jolted on route to Machu Picchu The high-altitude railway to Machu Picchu in Peru is at the centre of a bitter antitrust row between Orient Express, the Peruvian government and rival rail consortiums
28-12 Financial Times - Europe Hanwha's Daewoo deadline extended South Korea's Hanwha Group has been given an extra month to sign a $4.5bn deal to buy a majority stake in Daewoo, the world's third biggest shipbuilder
27-12 Financial Times - Europe Death toll from Israeli air strikes rises Israel's air force fired about 30 missiles at targets in the Gaza Strip, destroying several Hamas police compounds and killing more than 155 people
26-12 Financial Times - Europe Deutsche Bank rejects church charge Deutsche Bank reacted angrily after Germany's senior Protestant bishop accused Josef Ackermann, its chief executive, of turning money-making into a form of 'idolatry'
26-12 Financial Times - Europe New Star attracts potential bidders More than 10 potential bidders have expressed interest in New Star, the troubled fund management group that this month agreed a debt-for-equity swap with its banks
26-12 Financial Times - Europe Russia braced for unrest Russia is bracing for further unrest as the rouble slid to a new low against the euro after several currency devaluations by Moscow in a week
26-12 Financial Times - Europe Ski resorts fret about economic chill Europe's ski season has opened to record snowfalls but resorts fear that this year it will be the guests melting away as even well-heeled visitors think again about expensive holidays