EUROPEAN UNION

François Hollande has won the Oct. 16 primary election against Martine Aubry, making him the Socialist Party candidate to challenge incumbent Nicholas Sarkozy for the French presidency, but his lack of experience and foreign policy know-how may still be his undoing.

The chief public finance official of the world's largest economy said Sunday that he sees a ray of light in Europe's most recent effort to stop its sovereign debt crisis. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, while attending a Group of Twenty (G20) meeting in Paris, said he is encouraged by the latest effort to address the crisis.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the European Union's treaty should be changed to prevent one member state from destabilizing the rest of the bloc, and urged stronger governance of the euro zone.

The International Monetary Fund called on Saturday for an EU-wide deposit insurance scheme and more coordinated regulation of the continent's banks to prevent contradictory national regulation from exacerbating its debt crisis.

The European Central Bank signaled on Saturday it would not abruptly end its bond-buying program now that the euro zone bailout fund EFSF has powers of secondary market intervention and would wait until financial markets stabilize.

In a law suit representing more than 350 organizations, the Center For Food Safety has demanded that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration require companies to label foods that have been genetically modified.

Greece is not able to pay back its current debts even over the course of generations, according to Andreas Schmitz, president of BdB, a German bank lobbying group.

The Italian version of the Occupy Wall Street movement turned violent Satudary as protesters in Rome burned cars and smashed shop windows.

The world's leading economies kept pressure firmly on Europe to sort out its debt crisis on Saturday with the sense of urgency to be reflected in a communique at the end of a G20 finance chiefs' meeting.

Microsoft Corp. began the process of acquiring the Internet's leading video chat client, Skype, for $8.5 billion, earlier this year. On May, 10, a deal acceptable to all parties was worked out and, according to a report, the two companies have been given permission to proceed, by both the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Union.

The world's leading economies kept the pressure firmly on Europe to sort out its debt crisis on Saturday with the sense of urgency to be reflected in a communique at the end of a G-20 finance chiefs' meeting.

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.

Friday's market rally has taken the Dow Jones Industrial Average to positive territory for the year.

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.

Asian shares inched down on Friday, tracking New York and European shares lower as weak Chinese trade data raised concerns about the global economy, while the euro eased after another sovereign debt ratings downgrade.

Asian shares inched down on Friday, tracking New York and European shares lower as weak Chinese trade data raised concerns about the global economy, while the euro eased after another sovereign debt ratings downgrade.

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.

Slovakia's parliament ratified a plan to bolster the euro zone's EFSF rescue fund on Thursday, after voting to hold an early election as demanded by the opposition.