AFP Business

Turkey on Friday scrapped a 2008 tender won by a Russian-led consortium to build the country's first nuclear power plant -- a process that had been under threat of being invalidated by a court decision. In a brief statement, the state-run electricity wholesaler TETAS said its board of directors decided "unanimously" to cancel the tender, citing an article in the bid specification that gave it the authority to scrap the process without any liability. A consortium led by Atomstroyexport, Russia's state nuclear giant, had been the only bidder in the tender to build four nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 4,800-megawatts at Akkuyu, ... Read Full Story

Malaysia economy shrunk by 1.2 percent in the third quarter, the country's statistics department said Friday. The contraction is smaller than the country's second quarter shrink of 3.9 percent which caused the economy to fall into a technical recession following a first quarter contraction of 6.2 percent, the first contraction in nearly eight years. "The smaller negative growth was attributed to the further expansion of the services and construction sectors," the department said in a statement. Prime Minister Najib Razak said last month Malaysia's economy was expected to shrink by 3.0 percent this year compared to the 4.0-5.0 percent contraction tipped earlier, saying the ... Read Full Story

Europe's main stock markets steadied on Friday one day after equities slumped on jitters regarding the economic outlook, traders said. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index edged up 0.05 percent to 5,270.13 points in late morning trade. Frankfurt's DAX 30 rose 0.10 percent to 5,707.43 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.05 percent to 3,761.95 approaching the half-way stage. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares dipped 0.03 percent to 2,859.36 points. "The economic data this week has been mixed and while the markets look to be in a state of flux it would seem that economists are becoming more ... Read Full Story

Asia's airline industry is pulling out of a slump sparked by the global recession with signs passenger numbers are rising, a regional body said Friday, but there were warnings a rebound will be slow. "Hopefully, we are at least through the worst of the downturn," Andrew Herdman, director-general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), said at an industry forum in Singapore. "There are some encouraging signs that air traffic is starting to recover." Figures released Thursday by the 17-member AAPA showed its airlines carried 11.1 million passengers in October, a slight improvement over the previous month. However, the figures were still below ... Read Full Story

Asia's airline industry is pulling out of a slump sparked by the global recession with signs passenger numbers are rising, a regional body said on Friday, but there were warnings a rebound will be slow. "Hopefully, we are at least through the worst of the downturn," Andrew Herdman, director-general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), said at an industry forum in Singapore. "There are some encouraging signs that air traffic is starting to recover." Figures released Thursday by the 17-member AAPA showed its airlines carried 11.1 million passengers in October, a slight improvement over the previous month. However, the figures were still ... Read Full Story