Economic Truth

AP - A solid showing on Wall Street and a relatively successful Portuguese government debt sale helped Europe's stocks recover early losses Wednesday to close higher, though fears of a flare-up in the region's debt crisis lingered amid news that Greece's recession deepened in the second quarter.

AFP - London shares closed higher on Wednesday after a boost from a successful Portuguese debt auction, although many financial stocks remained weak.

AFP - US stocks were slightly up on Wednesday after news of a successful Portuguese debt auction eased the previous day's concerns about the European economy.

Reuters - Stocks rose on Wednesday as investors latched onto positive news out of Europe in the latest in a string of low-volume sessions suggesting little confidence in market direction.

AP - German exports dipped by 1.5 percent in July compared with the previous month but were still up a strong 18.7 percent over the same month last year, official data showed Wednesday.

AFP - The European Union's financial services chief called on Wednesday for so-called "stress tests" on banks to be carried out on a regular basis, to judge their resilience in the event of another crisis.

AP - European Union nations agreed to create new financial oversight institutions Tuesday, hoping to prevent a repeat of the government debt crisis that nearly left Greece bankrupt and brought the European banking system to its knees.

AFP - Much-vaunted EU plans to tax banks skidded into trouble after moves to clamp down on big-spending governments also hit buffers despite broad agreement on Tuesday to regulate the financial sector.

Reuters - European Union finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to a sweeping overhaul of how the bloc's financial industry is policed, but remained locked in dispute over the taxation of banking and trading.

AP - A Somali-born Norwegian citizen pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of sending over $30,000 to top leaders of an al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group at the start of the first trial under Norway's 2002 terror financing law.

AFP - The European Union laid out ambitious goals on Tuesday to strengthen its economy as the European Commission proposed a joint EU-wide bond and ministers approved tighter financial supervision.

AFP - Europe's main stock markets slid on Tuesday after a run of gains, with miners hit by the electoral result in Australia ahead of Wall Street's reopening after a US public holiday, traders said.

Reuters - World stocks edged down from the previous day's one-month high on Tuesday while the euro fell broadly as renewed concerns about Europe's banking sector encouraged investors to pause after a recent rally.

AFP - The Roma minority are targets of a security crackdown in France, but an EU-funded project has given two dozen members of the community new jobs and new hope at a troubled time for gypsies.

AFP - Plans to radically re-draw cross-border economic government across Europe hit a stumbling block on Monday 10 days from a deadline for concrete action set by European Union leaders.