AP - Pope Benedict XVI challenged world leaders on Thursday to make major changes to the global financial system, saying short-term answers to the financial crisis weren't sufficient.

AP - The euro dropped slightly against the dollar in light post-holiday trading Friday, a day after Slovakia became the most recent nation to adopt the common European currency.

AP - Romania's economy minister has called a meeting with gas officials after supplies from Russia through a pipeline traversing Ukraine dropped by around a third.

AP - Waterford Wedgwood PLC said Monday that its U.K. operations are being placed in administration and a receiver has been appointed for its Irish businesses after it failed to secure new financing.

AP - Sir Alan Walters, a top economic adviser to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has died at age 82.

AP - The troubled business empire of German billionaire Adolf Merckle, who threw himself under a train this week in apparent despair over the impact of the financial crisis, has won a bridging loan from banks, his holding company said Wednesday.

AP - U.S. computer maker Dell Inc. announced Thursday it will slash its Irish work force and shift its European manufacturing operations to Poland in a move certain to undermine Ireland's recession-hit economy.

AP - France's Renault SA said Friday that vehicle sales fell 28.5 percent in December as the global financial and economic crisis led to a 'brutal' collapse of the market.

AP - Russia's Central Bank allowed the ruble to drop sharply against the dollar as the country's long New Year's holiday ended Sunday, resuming a controlled devaluation of the currency that began Nov. 11.

AP - Senior members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition are coming together Monday to hammer out the final details of a broad new multibillion-euro economic stimulus package.

AP - EADS chief Louis Gallois said Tuesday that his priority during the financial crisis is protecting cash reserves, but that the aerospace and defense group is prepared to help customers struggling to raise money.

AP - The EU Commission's president warned Wednesday that the European economy is getting worse and that EU leaders should hurry to approve a proposed stimulus program.

AP - The European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates again on Thursday amid a persistent drip of increasingly bad economic news from the 16-nation euro zone.

AP - The International Energy Agency is predicting that the worsening global economy will cause a decline in worldwide oil consumption for a second straight year in 2009.

AFP - The EU economy faces a new round of bad news on Monday when the European Commission issues new forecasts against the backdrop of a worsening recession and spiraling public deficits.

AFP - The economy of the 16 nations using the euro will contract 1.9 percent this year as unemployment surges and government deficits explode in the midst of a severe recession, the European Commission forecast on Monday.

AP - Air France-KLM warned Tuesday it was likely to fall to an operating loss for the last three months of 2008, when it said sales were hurt by the global economic turmoil.

AP - Two of Britain's largest mutual banks said Wednesday they will merge to form a financial business with 70 billion pounds ($98 billion) in assets and more than 9 million customers.

AP - The euro fell slightly against the U.S. dollar Thursday as traders responded positively to President Obama's first day in office, on hopes he will act aggressively to prop up the world's biggest economy.

AP - A top presidential aide says Ukraine may later seek changes to a hard-won gas deal with Russia because it hurts the national economy.

AP - Norway's finance minister said Saturday that the government plans to unveil new measures to strengthen the lending capacity of the country's banks amid the global financial turmoil.

AP - Credit Suisse Group said Sunday it has paid around 100 million Swiss francs ($86.7 million) in compensation to 2,000 clients who lost money in collapsed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.

AP - The euro and pound fell against the dollar Monday as worries about European economies continued.

AP - Iceland's president planned to appoint interim leaders to run this island nation Tuesday after the coalition government toppled amid an economic crisis and widespread public dissent.

AP - The German and Austrian chancellors stressed the importance of helping Eastern European nations weather the global financial crisis, but stopped short of discussing any specific aid measures after talks Wednesday.

AP - A nationwide strike Thursday by French public and private sector workers fearful about the global economic crisis shut down rail and subway lines, choked public services and left millions of schoolchildren without their teachers across the country.

AFP - China and the European Union set aside past differences Friday and vowed to work together to confront the global economic crisis and climate change.

AP - Thousands of protesters rallied across Russia on Saturday to criticize the government's economic course and its response to the global financial crisis.