EUROPEAN UNION

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni is against the United Nations' recognition of Alassane Ouattara as winner of Ivory Coast's election and wants an African Union probe into the poll, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

China asked importers of caprolactam from the US and the European Union (EU) to pay a security deposit, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Monday.

A faltering and uneven increase in jobs is holding back the overall economic recovery and unemployment is likely to continue at near record levels this year, the International Labour Organisation said on Tuesday.

China's Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has sued Motorola to delay the sale of the latter's wireless infrastructure business to Nokia Siemens Networks. The lawsuit alleges that such a sale would possibly result in illegal transfer of Huawei's intellectual property.

Global economic recovery is not resulting in job creation, as the number of the unemployed people worldwide stood at a record 205 million last year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned on Monday.

Ireland plans to use some of its 24 billion euro pension reserve fund to purchase its own bonds, a move some say is akin to national cannibalism.

Cocoa surged to near its highest price in 30 years as U.S. trader Cargill complied with demands for an export ban from top producer Ivory Coast by Alassane Ouattara, who aims to stop cash reaching his presidential rival.

Nigeria wants U.N. backing for military intervention in Ivory Coast to prevent it slipping into a civil war that could destabilise the West African region, Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia said on Monday.

Political parties in Ireland will hold crisis talks following the abrupt departure of the Green Party from the coalition led by Prime Minister Brian Cowen.

Factories in the euro zone reported the strongest monthly price increase on record for raw materials and fuel in January, according to a business survey that again showed German strength propelling the bloc's service sector.

European governments must urgently decide on common measures to protect the stability of the euro zone, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told a German newspaper Monday.

World powers failed to prise any change from Iran in two days of talks on its nuclear program, with the EU and United States calling the discussions disappointing and saying no further meetings were planned.

European leaders should not shy away from a proposal to buy back the bonds of troubled euro member states but should not rely too much on rich countries, Eurogroup Chief Jean-Claude Juncker said.

The European rescue fund could offer bonds at different interest rates to account for its members' divergent levels of credit worthiness in its attempt to boost lending capacity, Germany's Economy Minister said.

Europe's financial system is a mess right now compared to the US financial system. However, it doesn't have to be this way, according to hedge fund heavyweight David Tepper.

The World Trade Organization will issue a confidential final ruling on January 31 concerning European claims that Boeing benefited from unfair aircraft subsidies, sources familiar with the case said on Friday.

Iran gave no sign of making concessions to world powers bent on coaxing it to curb its nuclear programme at talks on Friday, saying it would not discuss suspending sensitive uranium enrichment.

As the market will be concerned in the near-term with the management shuffle, an analyst at Jefferies hinted at a possibility that Eric Schmidt could become the Chief Executive of Apple.

British government plans to introduce new rules this April to cap visas for less skilled workers from non-European countries to cut the number of immigrants from outside Europe.

The Irish Times reported on Friday EU finance ministers have opened tentative talks on the restructuring of Greek sovereign debt but analysts have pointed out that the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) will not be enough to take Greece through a successful debt restructuring.

Iran said it had no fresh offer to make to revive a nuclear fuel swap proposal but was ready to discuss it in talks with world powers on Friday, and Russia said ways of easing sanctions on Tehran should be addressed too.