POLAND

Wipro Ltd said its global consulting, system integration and its outsourcing business unit Wipro Technologies has opened its new development center in Budapest, Hungary, to service Magyar Telekom, Hungary’s biggest telecom service provider.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Czech and Polish prime ministers that she would welcome their countries into the eurozone, daily Lidove Noviny reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

Russia is seeking an explanation from NATO after documents published by Wikileaks revealed that the military alliance planned to protect Baltic States against Moscow. Russian officials stated that the Kremlin was awaiting clarification from NATO the proposed Eagle Guardian plan.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is behind bars in London, facing extradition to Sweden where he is charged with rape and sexual molestation in two separate cases.

The nations of the EU-10 – which comprise various countries in Eastern Europe -- have commenced a meaningful economic recovery and look to strengthen even further in 2011, according to a report from the World Bank.

Registration of European passenger cars slumped by 16.6 percent in October against the numbers recorded in the corresponding period a year ago

The European Union said it remained concerned over a gas deal between Russia and Poland. The EU said terms for access to a gas pipeline under a deal between Russia's Gazprom and Poland's PGNiG may breach European competition law.

Russia's paramount leader, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, hinted on Monday he would return to the presidency in 2012 for six more years and said democracy protesters marching without permission deserved to be beaten.

More Polish women are traveling abroad to have an abortion to bypass strict laws outlawing the practice in their overwhelmingly Catholic country, a pro-choice group said on Thursday.

Jim Rogers speaks to IBTimes about the Chinese economy, the yuan policy, and the demise of General Motors.

Finally, India will have its first ever jewellery week, the India International Jewellery Week (IIJW), from August 15 to 19 in Mumbai. It is a fabulous platform for jewellery designers to come together and showcase their talent. This is the first time the jewellery industry will witness something like this.

Visitors to the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising will now be able to grasp the scale of devastation inflicted on the Polish capital by Nazi German forces in World War Two with the help of a 3D film.

Wheat prices exploded by an unheard of 6.34 percent on Monday, continuing a record surge of 38 percent in July, with even more speculators drawn by gloomy news even though the fundamental situation remains stable.

French financial holding firm Eurazeo said on Saturday it is in exclusive talks to sell its B&B Hotels chain to U.S. private equity firm the Carlyle Group.

Fiat should keep its pledge to boost Italian car production, a newspaper cited the labor minister as saying, after the company said last week it would move production of some of its models to Serbia.

Europe's attempt to restore confidence in its banks comes to a head on Friday with widespread expectation that up to 10 lenders will fail the test and have to raise capital.

Jewellery exports and quality of India's gold is set to get a boost with the decision to join the Convention on Control and Marking of Articles of Precious Metals known as Vienna Convention 1972.

Romania's central bank held interest rates at 6.25 percent on Wednesday, as expected, halting its easing cycle after a government plan to raise value added tax added to uncertainty about the economy.

The International Monetary Fund is working to develop new lending instruments for economies hit by crises that are not of their own making, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Tuesday.

Car maker Fiat SpA stopped short of sealing its near $1 billion investment for the survival of its Naples plant after less than full labor support for plans to boost productivity there.

The following are comments by European Union leaders and other officials on Thursday in Brussels, where they were holding a summit to discuss economic governance. EU PRESIDENT HERMAN VAN ROMPUY We agreed that the so-called stress tests of the banks will be published at the latest in the second half of July.