Daily News - A look at economic developments around the globe (AP) Daily Business News
A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Thursday:
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LONDON — Worries over the U.S. economy piled pressure on stock markets, while oil prices sank after a shock decision by the International Energy Agency to release crude reserves to make up for tight supply.
The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 1.7 percent, Germany's DAX fell 1.8 percent and the CAC-40 in France ended 2.2 percent lower.
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NEW YORK — The International Energy Agency, which includes the U.S. and 27 other countries, said it would release 60 million barrels of oil from emergency stocks in an effort to ease the strain that high oil prices have put on the global economic recovery.
This marks only the third time in its history that the Paris-based agency has released oil onto the markets. Half of the 60 million barrels will come from the U.S.'s emergency stocks. The oil will be released over the next 30 days.
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BRUSSELS — European Union leaders stepped forcefully into Greece's national politics, urging the leader of the opposition to rally with the government to find a way out of its financial meltdown and protect the euro.
Several EU heads of government directly targeted Greece's opposition leader Antonis Samaras and told him to do his utmost to join ranks and fight the crisis together.
"When it comes to Greece, we call on the opposition to fulfill its historical responsibility," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
The plea to a national opposition leader, rare in EU politics, underscored the emergency Greece and the 17 nations using the euro currency face.
Eurozone governments earlier this week delayed a final decision on new aid for Greece until July 3, when they will know whether its parliament has accepted massive new budget cuts, government asset sales and economic reforms. The Greek opposition is threatening to block those budget cuts.
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ATHENS, Greece — Greece's new finance minister said the government has been encouraging Greek banks to participate in a solution to the country's crippling debt crisis, just days ahead of a crucial Parliamentary vote that could stave off a devastating default.
Finance Minister Venizelos also announced a new round of tax hikes on crisis-weary Greeks.
The minister was in discussions with the country's international creditors over critical austerity measures that must be passed by Parliament next week.
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RIGA, Latvia — As Greece's anguish spills into the streets, the three small Baltic countries may offer an example, if not a model, of how to deal with an economic crisis. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia swallowed the bitter medicine that Greece is being asked to take.
They slashed pensions, welfare benefits and public sector salaries, without triggering large-scale protests. Latvia, which saw the world's deepest recession, even had to close schools and hospitals and sack thousands of teachers.
And the cure worked. The three former Soviet republics are now on a path to recovery, and Latvia's budget-cutting government even won re-election.
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HONG KONG — Booming Asia had more millionaires than Europe for the first time last year and is fast closing in on North America for the top spot, a report said.
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TOKYO — In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 0.3 percent lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.5 percent.
China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.5 percent to 2,688.25.
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PRAGUE — Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and his Czech counterpart Petr Necas insisted that only the 17 European countries that use the euro should give Greece any more financial assistance. Britain and the Czech Republic are not part of the currency bloc. They have their own currencies, the British pound and the Czech koruna.
Greece is scrambling to avoid defaulting on its debts. It is likely to feature heavily at a summit of the European Union's 27 leaders in Brussels over the coming two days. Both Cameron and Necas said they will be pushing to make sure that an EU-wide fund, the European Financial Stability Mechanism, is not tapped as part of any second bailout of Greece.
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PARIS — The largest economies in the world agreed to a series of measures to stabilize world food prices after sudden fluctuations caused global instability, especially in poorer countries.
French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said the G-20 summit of agriculture ministers had agreed to calm the world market by establishing a transparent system to track global supplies, set up emergency food reserves, engage in more research into new wheat strains and create a rapid response mechanism to deal with drought in producer countries.
Non-government organizations working on food issues, however, slammed the accord as too timid, saying it did not address the controversial issue of biofuels, which take up land that could be used to grow food, and doesn't focus enough on building up emergency stocks.
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DUBLIN, Ireland — Ireland's economy grew 1.3 percent in the first quarter as exports helped the bailed-out country post its best quarterly performance since the end of 2007, the Central Statistics Office reported. But consumer demand was weak.
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BRUSSELS — The European Union said is prepared to help debt-saddled Greece by reducing Greek co-financing for EU development aid to 15 percent.
The European Commission has urged EU leaders to help Greece access billions in EU development funds to create jobs and make its businesses more competitive.
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BUDAPEST, Hungary — Known for its work with the homeless, flood victims and alcoholics, one of Hungary's biggest charity organizations has its hands full with another group down on its luck — Hungarians burdened with mortgages and other loans taken out in foreign currencies, mainly Swiss francs.
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HONG KONG — Italian fashion house Prada SpA sold shares in its Hong Kong IPO at a low 39.50 Hong Kong dollars each, underscoring investor wariness of stocks amid a global market slump.
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VIENNA — World opium production decreased sharply last year due to a blight in Afghanistan but is expected to rebound, and coca growing and cocaine production also fell, the United Nations reported.
The United States remained the biggest market for cocaine in the world, and European cocaine demand was rapidly catching up.
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SINGAPORE — Tony Tan, a top executive at wealth fund Government of Singapore Investment Corp., resigned to run for president of the city-state.
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand's government said it will offer to pay thousands of homeowners to leave areas of the country's second-largest city that were hardest hit by recent earthquakes.
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MINSK, Belarus — Belarus said it will sell its remaining stakes in its strategic natural gas pipelines to Russia's Gazprom for $2.5 billion.
The deal will help Gazprom, a Kremlin-controlled gas giant, secure exports to Europe that have been affected by pricing disputes with Belarus and neighboring Ukraine in recent years.
Belarus is suffering the worst economic crisis in its post-Soviet history.
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HAVANA — Cuba said it is receiving more visitors each year, but tourism income has yet to return to what it was before the global financial crisis caused a sharp downturn in the sector.
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