US inflation rate remains negative

US inflation remained negative in January due to steep falls in the price of petrol, official figures have shown.

Hong Kong Budget Addresses Causes and Effects of Occupy Protests

HONG KONG — Two months after protesters were cleared from the streets, the Hong Kong government announced on Wednesday a budget with tax breaks and other economic support for lower- and middle-class residents, and for the businesses it said had been disrupted by the demonstrations.

Greece debt crisis: Eurozone backs reform plans

Eurozone finance ministers have approved reform proposals submitted by Greece in order to obtain a four-month extension of its bailout.

U.S. Stocks Rise to Records, Euro Gains

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose, sending benchmark indexes to records, while the euro advanced with European equity futures after finance ministers reached agreement to extend bailout funds to Greece.

Crunch talks on new Greek bailout under way

The German and Greek finance ministers are holding talks with IMF and Eurogroup chiefs ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Friday.

British Regulator to Examine Competition in Investment Banking

LONDON — The Financial Conduct Authority of Britain said on Thursday that it planned to review whether competition was working properly in the corporate and investment banking sectors.

We are all Europeans now

The broadening cracks in the European economic framework now appear to be undermining the whole European structure, as if a ‘contagion’ is spreading from the Southern European economies outwards.

The new EU External Energy Policy: an important move - if it is not too late

By Alexander Mirtchev

With the adoption of its new External Energy Policy, the EU has finally made a first step towards its integration as a single negotiating bloc in the world energy market. As such the External Energy Policy could become an important factor in the global energy security picture and a possible geopolitical game-changer. However, it remains to be seen whether the big EU member states will be willing to subordinate their interests to the wider EU interest. The External Energy Policy has probably come five years too late, argues Alexander Mirtchev, President of Krull Corp. and Vice-President of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.