EUROPEAN UNION

The European Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates at a record-low 1.0 percent on Thursday and its head Jean-Claude Trichet will probably caution against high hopes of a speedy economic recovery.

Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer told European Union leaders Wednesday it was just a matter of time before President Vaclav Klaus signs the EU's Lisbon treaty, the last big obstacle to reforms to give the bloc more clout.

Europe has launched a campaign to triple funding for energy research to 8 billion euros ($11.7 billion) a year in a technology race with China, Japan and the United States, but said industry would have to pay the bulk.

The following are key comments from Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.

European Union countries are split over plans to introduce an EU-wide carbon tax on fuel, which could be proposed early next year.

Europe will this week launch a campaign to triple funding for energy research to 8 billion euros ($11.7 billion) a year in a technology race with Japan and the United States, a draft document shows.

Irish voters have approved the EU's Lisbon Treaty, Ireland's foreign minister said on Saturday, reversing last year's shock rejection and pulling the bloc's ambitions for greater global influence out of the deep freeze.

Ireland seems likely to vote “Yes” this time in a referendum on the EU's Lisbon treaty on Friday.

Weakness from commodity stocks and banks outweighed gains in insurers by midsession Thursday, leaving European shares 0.3 percent weaker as nervousness about the global economy resurfaced.

European shares look set to finish the third quarter with their best performance in nearly a decade on expectations of economic recovery while world stocks also rose strongly though not as much as in the previous period. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index put on 0.4 percent on Wednesday and the MSCI world index added the same, while commodity prices were also firmer but the do...

The European Central Bank cannot maintain its current strong support of money markets forever, the bank's President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Monday.

Darren Ennis

Twenty-two large banks in Europe may have accumulated credit losses of close to 400 billion euros ($587 billion) for this year and next, the International Herald Tribune reported on Saturday.

The Group of 20 rich and developing nations must tackle global economic imbalances in its new role as the key international policy forum, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said in comments released on Sunday.

The Group of 20 rich and developing nations must tackle global economic imbalances in its new role as the key international policy forum, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said in comments released on Sunday.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed concern on Friday that the G20 countries were not moving fast enough to help achieve a United Nations agreement on fighting climate change.

The European Commission and officials from countries hosting Opel factories will discuss on Oct. 7 Germany's controversial plan to grant state aid for the ailing European carmaker.

The European Union's anti-trust chief wants to reach a deal with Microsoft Corp in a dispute over Web browsers before she leaves her post later this year, she said in an interview published on Wednesday.

The European Union unveiled its blueprint for an overhaul of the way banks and financial markets are policed, a central plank in new rules designed to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis.

The European Union unveiled its blueprint on Wednesday for an overhaul of the way banks and financial markets are policed, a central plank to new rules designed to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned Saturday that Ireland could lose its right to nominate an EU commissioner if it rejects the Lisbon Treaty for a second time.