GERMANY

The court martial of Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, who disobeyed orders because he believes Barack Obama is not the legal President of the United States, begins today at Fort Meade in Maryland.

The Obama administration has an ambitious goal of doubling U.S. exports over the next five years and creating two million U.S. jobs in the process.

Richard Holbrooke, a top U.S. diplomat who was a key figure in negotiating peace to end the war in Bosnia 15 years ago, and was the special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died on Monday.

Germany threw its weight on Tuesday behind a potential capital increase by the European Central Bank, saying it would react positively to such a move if the ECB deems it necessary.

The world's largest Christmas present was the Statue of Liberty. The French gave it to the US in 1886. It is 46.5 meters high and weighs 225 tons.

The EUR/USD distanced itself from a falling channel ahead of the Fed policy and rose to a three-week high on Tuesday. The single currency, however, pared some of its gains after data at 10:00 am GMT showed the region's industrial output rose at a lower-than-expected pace in October.

German economic sentiment rose more than expected in December, posting an increase for a second consecutive month.

European Union paymaster Germany said on Tuesday it was willing to give the European Central Bank more capital if needed to help fight a sovereign debt crisis that continues to shake the euro zone.

Japan will lower the corporate tax rate by 4.5 percent to spur the economy out of deflation, Nikkei reported on Tuesday.

Japanese business gave a guarded welcome on Tuesday to the cash-strapped government's plan to cut corporate taxes, saying more support was needed to help them create jobs and compete with regional rivals.

Germany should raise wages in order to provide demand for struggling peripheral European economies. It should do so not only to show responsible European statesmanship, but also out of its own self-interest.

A late-day sell-off, ahead of the U.S. Senate vote on the compromised tax bill, pushed the major equity indices to session lows, resulting in a mixed performance for stocks.

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.

European shares rose for a sixth straight day on Monday, the longest winning streak in five months, on optimism for the economy and as China's decision not to raise interest rates boosted miners.

Government bond prices in Europe fell on Monday, tracking a renewed slide in U.S. Treasuries, with a figures from the European Central Bank showing it had bought fewer bonds than some investors had anticipated.

Two leading international financial institutions faulted Germany for aggravating the euro zone crisis by spooking debt markets, but Berlin seems set to get its way at this week's European Union summit.

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.

Billed as polish without pretense, the latest, and likely the last for at least the next decade, new casino-resort will open this week on a Las Vegas Strip still grappling with a weak economy.

Amazon.com Inc's websites in Britain, France, Germany and Spain suffered an outage for more than half an hour on Sunday night, but it was not immediately clear whether it was due to a cyber attack.

Germany and France agreeing to make investors participate in losses in sovereign default was an important factor in the intensification of the euro zone sovereign debt crisis, a Bank for International Settlements report said on Sunday.

Germany is open to a discussion over whether countries that share the euro currency should harmonize their fiscal policy, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said.