EUROPEAN UNION

The finance minister of debt-troubled Portugal is in Beijing, China to try to convince Chinese government authorities to purchase Portuguese government bonds.

The European Central Bank is considering requesting an increase in its capital from euro zone member states, euro zone central bank sources told Reuters, as a cushion against any potential losses from its bond buying.

The euro has a one-in-five chance of surviving in its current form, according to a research paper published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), the UK economic consultancy.

China is stepping up its efforts to contain inflation, even as the latest economic report indicates that inflation hovers around a 28-year high of 5.1 percent in November.

There are many things weakening the single currency. Concerns over a lack of consensus on euro-area bonds, dollar-positive data from the US, fears about China being forced to cool down its economy and now, an ascending channel clearly shaping up on the 60-minute EUR/USD chart.

Caretaker Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) is leading in Kosovo's Sunday polls, reports suggest. The results are expected to be declared in the late hours of Sunday. The country is holding its first election since unilaterally declaring independence in 2007 from Serbia.

Satellite phones aren't as clunky as they once were, and technology has made them more powerful. Yet so far few have made the business work

Precious metals fell across the board in the week to December 10 as a cooling China weighed on demand hopes but the yellow metal remained better alternative in the group amid lingering worries over the euro-zone debt and dollar's ability to play safe-haven.

An Irish delegation led by former prime minister John Bruton has travelled to the Middle East, gauging the interest of Arab investors, including sovereign wealth funds, in buying some troubled Irish banks, as the Dublin government seeks foreign investors for financial investment.

European bankers will be subject to limits on bonus payments they receive starting next year. Meanwhile, in Ireland, politicians are seeking to impose a 90 percent “super-tax” on bank bonuses

India and the European Union announced a breakthrough in their free trade talks on Friday. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the free trade agreement (FTA) could be signed in 2011, after a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the 11th EU-India summit in Brussels.

China on Thursday expressed its support for Russia’s bid to become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

A day after Germany rejected the proposal to establish a common market for eurozone sovereign bonds, EU Economics and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn called for a coordinated action to repair the damage of the debt crisis afflicting the region.

Fifty percent of cash register receipts and most dollar bills tested in a new study are coated with large quantities of toxic chemical Bisphenol A, or BPA, says a study.

In a conference on Wednesday in mid-town Manhattan, The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) presented reasons why South Korea makes for an attractive investment candidate for foreigners.

A war is now raging in Europe. On one side are the forces of the corporate state led by Germany and France; on the other are the forces of free-market capitalism led by Britain.

The proposed common sovereign bond for eurozone, if ever it materializes, will fall short of solving the region’s fiscal crisis, analysts have said.

China was the subject of most number of anti-dumping investigations in the first half of the year, and products exported from China attracted the highest number of anti-dumping measures by other countries, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has said in a report.

The Irish government has presented what is likely the toughest austerity budget in its history, comprising spending cuts of 6-billion euros ($8-billion) and an increase in taxes, in addition to other measures already outlines last month in the so-called “National Recovery Plan.”

Olli Rehn said the European Union will conduct a second round of stress test for banks in February 2011.

The euro currency might not survive the current sovereign debt crisis and may be in danger of collapse, according to Stephen Nickell, an economist at the independent Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) member and former Bank of England member.