Recent Posts

UK unemployment at 10-year low: Data

London / Bloomberg Britain’s unemployment rate remains at its lowest level in a decade, official data showed on Wednesday. Unemployment stood at 5.1 percent in the three months to December, unchanged from the three months to November, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. That was the lowest rate, or proportion of the workforce that are unemployed, since October 2005. ...

Read More »

Portugal under stress despite bond rebound

LISBON / Bloomberg Portugal just can’t shake off its bears. The nation’s bonds are underperforming their counterparts across the euro area even as a recovery in stocks and oil prices boosted demand for higher-yielding assets. The extra yield, or spread, that investors get for holding Portuguese 10-year bonds instead of the benchmark German bund climbed for the first time in ...

Read More »

Gabon seeks to mine riches the artisanal way

Mayibouth / AFP In the remote wilderness of the Belinga mountains in northeast Gabon, men with shovels in hand dig from morning to night, filling wheelbarrows with soil laced with what they are looking for: gold. The clearing in the equatorial forest is covered with dozens of holes, some four metres (13 feet) deep. “We arrive around seven in the ...

Read More »
Send this to a friend