GERMANY

Shares firmed Friday as German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced support for the European Central Bank's efforts to contain the euro zone's debt crisis, soothing investor nerves and prompting them to scale back safety bids.

The White House is "dusting off old plans" for a potential release of oil reserves to dampen rising gasoline prices and prevent high energy costs from undermining the success of Iran sanctions, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

All the details of Robin van Persie's departure, as well as his possible replacement, plus news on the future of Alex Song.

Crowd funding is relatively new even in the West, but it's taking hold in Africa. It could even solve a chronic problem on the continent: How to get money to startups that need capital

U.S. stock index futures point to a slightly lower open Thursday ahead of the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims data and Census Bureau's reports on housing starts and building permits.

EA Games is transforming "Command & Conquer" into a free-to-play multiplayer game, while Zynga revealed plans to publish partnered content being distributed in a more traditional publishing model than the one it pioneered.

Watch highlights of Germany's friendly with Argentina in Frankfurt, featuring a stunning goal from Angel Di Maria.

Controversy has erupted in Italy after a small town east of Rome built a memorial to a Fascist military leader, using public funds.

The Iranian Interior Minister rejected a US offer of aid to earthquake victims, despite statements to the contrary the day before from the Iranian Vice President and Speaker of Parliament.

Watch live coverage of the friendly between Germany and Argentina in Frankfurt, plus a full preview, probable lineups and prediction.

Ikea, the Swedish store known for its affordable DIY home furnishing, is branching into a new arena: the hotel business.

Four men, one German and three Iranian-Germans, have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of having supplied Iran with key parts for its heavy water reactor.

The U.S. stock index futures point to a lower open Wednesday amid the fading expectations about an announcement of monetary easing measures by the Federal Reserve to support the economy.

Asian shares steadied Wednesday as strong U.S. retail sales and data showing Germany and France avoiding a contraction last quarter bolstered investors' risk appetite, with weak euro zone growth sustaining hopes for more stimulus.

Gamescom 2012 is officially under way, with press conferences from two of the biggest names in the video game industry already finished. Capcom and Electronic Arts have showcased their current projects in the works, but there are still two days left of the European interactive entertainment trade fair

Women are still judged and evaluated primarily on their looks.

U.S. stock index futures point to a higher open Tuesday amid hopes that central banks around the world will announce stimulus measures to boost the economy and regain the growth momentum.

Most of the European markets rose Tuesday as investors were hopeful that the ECB will soon announce stimulus measures as the GDP data from Germany and France indicate that the euro zone economy continues to falter.

Just a day after the tech world was amazed by purported leaked photos of the motherboard of Apple's next generation iPhone, aka "iPhone 5," a new report surfaced Monday, suggesting that the release date of the highly anticipated smartphone of 2012 is just over a month away, with Apple to start taking pre-orders from the second week of September.

Frank Ocean has abruptly canceled a number of upcoming European performance dates, including a tour with Coldplay.

Americans prefer digital games more than traditional boxed games, says a new study on game spending.