Business

German supermarket chain Selgros Cash and Carry has announed that it intends to open two new stores in Transylvania, Romania's western region, this year. The two new stores will be in the cities of Cluj-Napoca and Arad, both major Transylvanian centres. The cost of building each store will come to an average of around 15 million euro, with the Cluj-Napoca store scheduled to open first. This week, Selgros opened its eighth cash-and-carry store in Romania, in the western Transylvanian city of Oradea. The chain already operates stores three store

The Sunday Times and Observer newspapers today both stated that British Airways CEO Rod Eddington is planning to step down in the Summer. Althought no official announcement has been released from the airline about Mr Eddington's future, speculation is already mounting on who the successor will be. Possible internal candidates include marketing director Martin George and finance director John Rishton. However it is quite possible that an external executive such as Willie Walsh, former CEO of Aer Lingus, could take the post. Mr Walsh successful

Boeing's Launch Systems, Launch Services and Delta Program business units are to be allowed to bid once more for U.S. space launch contracts, the USAF has announced. Boeing had been suspended since July 24, 2003 after violating federal law. The company was discovered to have been in possession of thousands of pages of documentation from Lockheed Martin, Boeing's rival during the 1998 evolved expendable launch vehicle source selection process. The USAF and Boeing have signed an interim agreement to protect the Air Force's interests. The agree

A suicide car bombing in al Hilla, south of Baghdad, has killed 125 people, mostly Iraqi applicants for police and army waiting for medical exams becoming the worst single event since the initial invasion. At nearly the same time another car bomb exploded in Musayyib, 30km north of Hilla. The attack occurred about 8:30 a.m. local time Monday, in a crowd of mostly Shi'a recruits applying for positions with the country's security forces, and as citizens were arriving at the nearby outdoor market. The recruits were waiting for required medical

Élan, the largest Irish pharmaceutical company, and its US partner Biogen have withdrawn the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri from clinical trials after the death of a patient. The drug was seen by many as a possible blockbuster drug with the potential to alleviate much of the suffering of the millions of multiple sclerosis suffers worldwide. However it is now quite unlikely that it will ever make it to market. The news has seen the shares of both companies fall steeply, with Élan having lost almost 70% of its value after Monday's announcement.

The leu, Romania's national currency, continues to appreciate against the euro and the US dollar after it reached high levels a few days ago. Yesterday, one euro could be bought for just 35,844 lei, down from 36,133 lei two days ago. These rates are also significantly stronger from the period in mid-2004 when the euro was worth more than 40,000 lei. Last week, the leu reached such a high rate against the euro that the National Bank of Romania had to intervene and restore the exchange rate back to around 37,000 lei per euro. The leu's growth als

The outgoing governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Ian Macfarlane, has warned that the Australian economy will probably begin to slow after over a decade of solid growth. Mr Macfarlane, in a speech to the House of Representatives, said that both interest rates and inflation were likely to rise. "We forecast gradual rises in underlying inflation, with it reaching 2½ per cent by end 2005 and 3 per cent by end 2006." The Prime Minister, John Howard, responded to the news by saying that "We will never go back to the 17 per cent interest rates

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has confirmed that the £50,000 found earlier today in a leisure complex building was from Northern Bank Robbery. The leisure centre is used by serving and retired PSNI officers on the outskirts of Belfast and the find is believed by the police to be an attempt to distract them from the money laundering investigation currently taking place. Meanwhile, it is likely that the £60,000 seized at a house in County Cork on Wednesday night is to be confirmed as having also come from the Northern Bank raid.

Over £2m has been recovered by Gardaí ("Irish Police") in multiple raids in the Republic of Ireland. Seven arrests have so far been made in Cork and Dublin during a series of raids. Of the £2m found, approximately £60,000 was in Northern Bank notes. Forensic examinations are being carried out to see if the money is related to the £26m Northern Bank raid in December. The finds come on top of £175,000 which was surrendered to police in Dublin on Thursday night. One of those arrested so far, an unnamed Cork man has appeared in court charged with

Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve has suggested that there will be more of the same in coming months from the Fed. In his speech during testimony before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, Mr. Greenspan noted that the economic fundamentals of the U.S. appeared to be stable. On Thursday, Greenspan spoke before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services and when faced with questions regarding Social Security reform issues, he hinted that he was in favour of partial privatization of Social Security - but the general c

U.S. retail-chain Wal-mart Stores will revise their "everyday low price" strategy at Seiyu supermarket in Japan. Seiyu's year-end loss in 2004 was 12.3 billion yen. The U.S. style low price selling did not appeal to Japanese consumers. Wal-Mart bought a 6.1% share of the Seiyu company in 2002. At that time, Seiyu had lost money in 3 out of the previous 5 years. Wal-Mart introduced their "everyday low price" selling method to Seiyu, with lineup such as 900 yen fleece wear or jeans imported directly from China. Sales did not grow as expected, s

Israel's Knesset has voted to approve the compensation package for Israeli settlers who will be impacted by the proposed disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Eight thousand Israelis will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank removed. MKs voted 59–40 to approve a series of measures that will compensate the settlers who face relocation under the plan, with five abstentions from Arab MKs. Prime Minister Sharon's Likud party was split, with 18 MKs voting for it and 17 against. The $1bn plan will now go befo