EUROPEAN UNION

A successful outcome for the next global climate change conference in Durban would be to get everything in place for a legally binding successor to the Kyoto Protocol in less than five years, the European Union's chief climate negotiator said.

Bashir has been welcomed in the Malawi capital of Lilongwe by government officials in order to attend a trade summit.

The credit agency’s downgrade of Spain follows a similar cut by Fitch Ratings last week.

The Eurozone debt crisis will dominate a summit of G20 finance chiefs and central bank heads in Paris, with a downgrade of Spain's credit rating highlighting the risk of a much larger economy than Greece coming under threat.

G20 finance chiefs and central bank heads meet in Paris on Friday urgently needing to find a convincing solution to a deepening euro zone debt crisis that has fanned fears of a global slide into recession.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was found guilty of abuse of power and sentenced to seven years in prison on Tuesday, but her legal troubles are far from over, and the government has now accused her of embezzling $400 million.

Malawi will allow Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir into the country for a regional trade summit starting on Friday and has no plans to arrest him under an International Criminal Court warrant, a senior government official said on Thursday.

U.S. officials indicated that the Iranian operatives as well as members of Hezbollah were transported across the Middle East by Mahan.

Serbia was given European Union candidate status on Wednesday, which is the first step in becoming a member state of the international organization. But for ascension, the country must make amends with Kosovo.

Two years into the Greek sovereign debt crisis, Eurozone countries are still finger-pointing and not working toward a long-term solution based on mutual interest. Further, the most recent $11 billion band-aid for Greece will buy no peace for stakeholders, nor any resolution to the crisis.

Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker has proposed 10 steps for solving the Eurozone crisis including automatic sanctions for fiscally irresponsible governments, greater authority for the Commission and a dividend for taxpayers who rescue banks.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, leader of the center-right pro-market Civic Platform (PO) party, won re-election in Poland Sunday night. For the first time since the fall of communism in 1989, the major political party in Poland has maintained its grip on power. The fairly fought election in the formerly communist country establishes the country's democratic and economic stability.

The Unites States and the European Union has said the trial for former Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was politically motivated and has condemned the seven-year jail sentence.

India and Pakistan agreed to issue multiple visas to businessmen from both countries for one year in order to expand bilateral trade,

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison by a judge in Kiev on Tuesday.

A Ukrainian court Tuesday sentenced former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abuse of office in relation to a 2009 gas deal with Russia.

Gold eased 1 percent early Tuesday, giving up some of the previous day's gains, as stocks and the euro were pressured by waning optimism over a new plan to tackle euro zone debt, and ahead of a vote in Slovakia to ratify changes to the bloc's rescue fund.

The fate of Youcef Nadarkhani, the Iranian pastor sentenced to death for refusing to convert to Islam, now belongs to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Microsoft Corp. has finalized its acquisition of communications company Skype. The European Union approved the plan this week, and Microsoft is hoping there will be no more delays in the process.

Poles are voting in a parliamentary election Sunday, likely to give the ruling center-right Civic Platform four more years in power to press on with gradual economic reforms and closer ties with the EU.

California's burgeoning olive oil producers are counting on a newly enacted state labeling law to persuade more consumers that American brands are more virginal than their imported rivals.