EUROPEAN UNION

Ireland is “inching closer” to some kind of bailout package from the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Jan Randolph, director of sovereign risk at HIS Global Insight in London.

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

The next tranche of aid for Greece will be delayed until January, after the data from the country is released, according to Austrian finance minister.

Ireland is open to talks with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a bailout program for its failed banks, EU Economics and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said after a Tuesday night meeting of eurozone finance ministers and officials in Brussels.

U.S. stocks are sliding on fears over inflation in Asia and the growing likelihood that Ireland’s battered economy may need a cash bailout from the European Union (EU).

The European Union (EU) cannot survive if it fails to solve the debt crisis plaguing the continent, warned EU president Herman Van Rompuy.

Annual inflation in the European Union rose during October, for both the euro area and the EU, according to a report by the Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Debt-stricken Greece announced on Monday its budget deficit will contract to 9.4 percent of the GDP this year and said the country has been able to manage a much greater pruning of its deficit than initially calculated, immediately after the European Union Statistical agency revised upwards the country's 2009 deficit to 15. 4 percent.

The euroarea reported a trade surplus for the month of September, according to a report by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Japan will start free trade talks with the European Union next spring, alarmed by the head start made by its main manufacturing rival in Asia, South Korea, which signed a pact with the European bloc last month.

Ireland's grip on the slippery debt-mired track is giving way fast as bond yields widened to a level with Greece’s before Athens went broke and was bailed out, fueling speculation that the country could be soon looking for international financial assistance.

Aid to developing nations is not a major issue at the G-20 Summit, but at least one NGO says it should be.

The global currency war will likely dominate discussions at the G20 Seoul summit. Other issues on the agenda include global financial regulation, development gaps, and dealing with disruptive capital inflow and outflows.

The U.S.-South Korea free trade talks broke down as the two sides failed to resolve principal differences over U.S. beef and auto exports to South Korean markets, but Presidents Barack Obama and Lee Myung-bak said they still hoped the deal could be clinched.

In a wide-ranging and rambling speech during a luncheon at the G20 Business summit in Seoul, Korea, Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel called for a “sensible” exit strategy from the global credit crisis.

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed to increase trade and investment between the two countries in a meeting prior to Thursday’s opening of the G-20 summit in Seoul.

Goods and services trade deficit in the U.S. narrowed in the month of September from the previous month, but still remained high with China, according to a report released by the U.S. Commerce Department.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in China spiked up for 13th straight month in August, despite complaints from the US and European companies over alleged unfair business environment and the Chinese government's favors for domestic firms.

The federal government has committed at least $8-billion (and counting) for the development of a nationwide high-speed intercity passenger railway system in almost three-dozen states. Rail advocates have long dreamed of an extensive railway grid that will provide clean, speedy, energy-efficient travel.