EUROPEAN UNION

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking to speed up reform of the European Union treaty, and she wants all 27 European Union member states to give their approval by the end of next year, government sources said Sunday.

A haircut of Greek debt is unnecessary and harmful for Greece and the Eurozone, and it has stoked wider concerns about future bond impairment in other member states, European Central Bank Governing Council member Athanasios Orphanides said in a newspaper interview Sunday.

Below are quotes from leaders of Pacific Rim countries and business executives attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Saturday.

Italy's head of state begins talks Sunday to appoint an emergency government to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and handle a crisis that has brought the Eurozone's third-largest economy to the brink of financial disaster.

The lower house of the Italian parliament passed an austerity package on Saturday, paving the way for three-time Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to resign from office.

Can anyone bring any sense of fiscal stability and normalcy to the Italian government? Perhaps Mario Monti, center, can -- and all in the European Union, and those who believe in the euro, not just the citizens of Italy, will no doubt be rooting for him.

Canada, Mexico and at least two other countries have expressed interest in joining U.S.-led talks for a pan-Pacific trade pact, a U.S. Republican lawmaker said Friday after Japan asked to take part.

A Wall Street Journal survey of 52 economists has put the odds at 1-in-4 that the U.S. will experience a recession in the next 12 months. When the Journal put the question to the same group in September the odds were at 1-in-3.

Stocks jumped on Friday, ending higher for the week after the Italian Senate's approval of economic reforms gave investors some relief from worries about the Eurozone's debt crisis.

Toronto's main stock index was up more than 1 percent at midday on Friday as commodity prices rose on optimism that Italy would pass an austerity package that would calm fears about Europe's debt crisis.

In a couple of weeks, the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin a new round of stress tests on America's largest banking organizations, a top Federal Reserve official said Friday.

South African stocks capped a volatile week with a sideways close on Friday, as concerns about the outcome for Italy's debt crisis kept investors on the sidelines, although platinum miners and other battered-down shares ticked higher.

United States Defense Secretary Leon Panetta does not think attacking Iran would be a good idea, even if Iran is building nuclear weapons.

Stocks rose about 2 percent on Friday, with major indexes on track to end the week higher as Italy's Senate approved economic reforms, easing investor concerns about the euro zone's debt crisis.

Let’s stop worrying about titles and start doing the work that got us there before.

Despite the current global economic crisis -- which seems to have taken a relative stranglehold on Europe -- France has somehow managed to weather the storm. And, perhaps, thrive, if even just a bit.

Stocks rose at the open on Friday as debt-laden Italy moved to implement tough austerity measures crucial to avoid a Eurozone meltdown.

Oil -- the lifeblood of the global economy and a critical factor in the growth of U.S. gross domestic product -- is set Friday to close its longest stretch of weekly gains in more than two years, a counterintuitive trend that belies certain economic fundamentals.

The vote tally was 156 to 12 in favor of the austerity. However, opposition lawmakers largely abstained from voting.

Gold prices edged up Friday as a bump in sentiment about the Eurozone crisis encouraged a move into stocks and the continent's single currency.

The U.S. government on Thursday delayed approval of a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline until after the 2012 U.S. election, bowing to pressure from environmentalists and sparing President Barack Obama a damaging split with liberal voters he may need to win reelection.