EUROPEAN UNION

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 520 points on Wednesday wiping out Tuesday's rebound as investors continue to worry about the European debt crisis and the health of the global banking system. The Dow's 4.62 percent drop has placed the blue-chip index back below the 11,000 level, closing at the lowest level since last September.

It seems everything going Apple's way. A day after the consumer technology giant briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil to become the world's largest public company by market capitalization, it won a legal battle against Samsung in Europe.

In another victory for Apple's legal team, courts in Germany ruled against rival Samsung Electronics, barring it from selling its competing tablet computer in most of the European Union.

A German court ruled that Samsung Galaxy tablet computers cannot be sold in any EU country besides the Netherlands.

The European Central Bank is actively buying government bonds in the secondary market, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Tuesday, urging governments to implement new measures agreed at July 21 crisis talks quickly.

The Dow Jones Industrial average closed the day on Monday at 634.76 points. The drop is the sixth worst point decline for the Dow in the last 112 years and the worst since December 2008. Additionally, every stock in the Standard and Poor's 500 index dropped on Monday.

The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted more than 600 points midday Monday, as the disarray continues following Standard & Poor's downgrading of the United States' credit rating on Friday. The Dow traded down 536.18 points, or 4.7 percent, at 10908.43. It is fast on track to having its worst day since December 2008. Additionally, the Standard & Poor's 500 index sharply went down 68.49 points, or 5.7 percent, to 1130.89.

The European Union expressed concern on Monday about a second visit to Chad by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, saying he should have been arrested there under an International Criminal Court warrant.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has an unspoken pact with the Turkish electorate: he delivers rapid economic growth, jobs and money, and voters let him shape what kind of democracy this Muslim nation of 74 million people becomes.

A judge Monday refused to release former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from police detention, increasing political tension around her trial on a charge of abuse of office.

The European Central Bank said on Sunday it would "actively implement" its controversial bond-buying programme to fight the euro zone's debt crisis, signaling it will buy Spanish and Italian government bonds to halt financial market contagion.

Italy and Spain's borrowing costs fell on Monday as reports filtered in that the European Central Bank was buying their bonds, lifting European shares and partly overcoming jitters about a rating downgrade for U.S. debt.

Hours after the Arab League condemned the Syrian regime's violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, Saudi Arabia said it was recalling its ambassador to Damascus and denounced the Syrian ?death machine? in harsh language.

The European Central Bank said on Sunday it would "actively implement" its controversial bond-buying programme to fight the euro zone's debt crisis, signaling it will buy Spanish and Italian government bonds to halt financial market contagion.

The European Central Bank said on Sunday it would actively implement its controversial bond-buying programme to fight the euro zone's debt crisis, signaling it will buy Spanish and Italian government bonds to halt financial market contagion.

Germany and France on Sunday reiterated their commitment to implementing the decisions of last month's emergency EU summit, in an effort to restore confidence in turbulent financial markets.

The European Central Bank will intervene decisively on markets to protect Italy and Spain from an accelerating debt crisis, a monetary source said on Sunday, indicating it would buy government bonds of the euro zone's third and fourth biggest economies.

The Euro system of central banks has decided to intervene decisively on markets to respond to the escalating debt crisis, a euro zone monetary source said after a European Central Bank conference call on Sunday.

The European Central Bank will decide whether to buy Italian government bonds to try to stem the euro zone's debt crisis from widening in a crucial conference call on Sunday evening (one p.m. EDT), ECB sources said.

Six years ago, his Self-Defense party gained 11 percent of the vote in general elections, with Lepper coming in third in the presidential poll.

The European Central Bank remains divided over whether to buy Italian government bonds but even some of those who favor the move say Italy should do more to front-load austerity measures, ECB sources said Saturday.