AFP - The number of unemployed in Germany fell by 110,000 to 3.5 million people in March owing to improving economic conditions and seasonal effects, the national labour office said on Tuesday.

AP - European Union finance ministers hold two-day talks in Slovenia starting Friday to address the growing economic troubles amid record-high inflation, a soaring currency and a souring U.S. economy.

AFP - The tax evasion row surrounding Liechtenstein prompted the European Union to revise an anti-tax evasion directive, EU Finance Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs said in an interview published Saturday.

AFP - The head of the bloc of EU nations using the euro single currency, Jean-Claude Juncker, said Monday that he will meet US President George W. Bush on Wednesday to discuss foreign exchange rates.

AP - German investor confidence unexpectedly declined this month with rising inflation, the euro's near-record strength and high oil prices eating into expectations, a closely watched survey showed Tuesday.

AFP - German inflation hit 3.1 percent in March, final figures showed Wednesday, with energy and food prices eating away at incomes in the biggest European economy.

AP - A group of leading German economic think tanks on Thursday cut their forecast for growth this year in Europe's biggest economy to 1.8 percent amid fallout from the U.S. subprime lending crisis and turbulence in global financial markets.

Reuters - Wage and fiscal policy in the euro zone could buoy inflation and the European Central Bank may need to act, ECB Governing Council member Axel Weber said in a newspaper interview released on Saturday.

Reuters - Major banks have rushed to tap Japan's investors as the global credit crisis made lenders wary elsewhere and more banks are expected to take advantage so long as U.S. and European markets are under strain.

AFP - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, meeting leaders of the European Union, called on Wednesday for cooperation to weather a global economic slowdown and fight the spread of nuclear weapons.

AFP - Consumer sentiment has jumped in Germany just as other economic indicators show the Europe's biggest economy beginning to feel the pinch of a global slowdown, a widely watched survey showed Monday.

AFP - Inflation in the 15 countries sharing the euro eased in April off a March record but confidence in the economy sank anyway to a the lowest point in two-and-a-half years, EU data showed Wednesday.