GERMANY

A major question emerging here in Seoul on the final day of the G-20 Summit, as world leaders personally powwow on global dilemmas, is this: Can the U.S. and China play nice?

On Friday at the G20 summit, finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Britain issued a joint statement saying the holders of any existing euro zone government debt are safe from regulatory changes that would force them to take on additional losses.

Eurozone industrial output unexpectedly fell in September as the demand for durable goods plunged.

The economy grew 0.4 percent in the Euroarea and the EU27 in the third quarter, a little lesser than expectations, according to a report by Eurostat.

German gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 0.7 percent in the third quarter after increasing sharply by a revised 2.3 percent in the second quarter.

There has been “big progress” in the negotiations between world political leaders as they seek to hammer out an agreement and compromise on major economic issues on the final day of the G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea.

The euro dropped across the board on Thursday as weak data from the region showed the crisis-hit EU member countries will continue to pressurize the single currency.

U.S. labor department has denied that it has removed Indian carpets from a list of products produced by forced labor or child labor in violation of international norms.

Scientists have developed a device that can prevent several road accidents and save thousands of lives due to drivers falling asleep while driving.

In a wide-ranging and rambling speech during a luncheon at the G20 Business summit in Seoul, Korea, Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel called for a “sensible” exit strategy from the global credit crisis.

One of the most interesting – and perhaps under-reported -- aspects of the G20 summit in Seoul is the four female political leaders in attendance. According to press reports, no prior G20 summit has had this many women heads of state.

Peripheral Europe faces waning public demand because of austerity measures, conditions that make exports difficult, and a banking sector that has not recovered well from the financial crisis. All this comes at a time when recovery is still fragile and the risks of a double-dip recession are real.

The United States, which has not yet been punished by bond vigilantes for its enormous public debt, is keeping fiscal stimulus policies intact for the short-term. While many economists support this decision, the key question is if it will be able to enact necessary fiscal austerity measures in the future.

With our debt coming to maturity in the next ten years, which we cannot afford to pay, printing money seems to be our only option, which we feel is going to spur inflation, if not hyperinflation. We also feel if we adjusted gold for the inflationary highs of the 80's, gold bullion should already be at $2,200 an ounce, so we feel very strongly about a further drive up in gold over the next five years.

A Chinese research center has unveiled the Tianhe-1A, replacing United States as the maker of the world's fastest supercomputer.

To some degree, Japan allowed deflation, or at least they did not choose extremely aggressive policies to fight it. This is largely due to the influence of Japanese constituents who own fixed income, which would devalue in the face of inflation.

China will have an aging population problem comparable to that of Japan and Western Europe in 30 years or so with perhaps important implications for elderly care and manufacturing.

Wheat prices exploded by an unheard of 6.34 percent on Monday, continuing a record surge of 38 percent in July, with even more speculators drawn by gloomy news even though the fundamental situation remains stable.