Europeans feel the pinch of higher prices this holiday season
One theme is increasingly being heard around Europe: namely the notion that inflation is eating into purchasing power.
- German banks rally to rescue the subprime casualty IKB

'Caught in the middle' of French unrest
Despite a return to calm in Villiers-le-Bel, shaken by riots this week, the police remain unpopular.
- Sarkozy promises broad program to change work rules

With opponents divided, Iran continues nuclear effort
Nothing seems to be bending the will of Iran, which is flush with oil revenues. Representatives of six nations will meet in Paris on Saturday to discuss a possible new Security Council resolution.

British Muslim leaders introduce guidelines to fight extremism
The guidelines represent a new effort by moderate Muslim leaders to combat alienation among disaffected Muslim youth and to foster a new atmosphere of openness and tolerance.

EU legislators push tougher gun controls
Against the backdrop of deadly school shootings in Finland and Germany, European Union legislators overwhelmingly backed tough new gun control rules.

Musharraf sets a date for end of emergency rule in Pakistan
Hours after being sworn in to a second five-year term, the president announced that he would lift the state of emergency rule on Dec. 16.

Tough test at polls for Ch??vez
Economic concerns related to shortages of basic foods and rising inflation are weighing on voters.
- In Venezuela, petrodollars breed opacity

China agrees to end a dozen subsidies that trouble trade relations
The WTO settlement came only two weeks before a high-level meeting between U.S. cabinet members and China aimed at reducing tensions with Beijing.

EU regulator moves ahead with mobile TV standard
Despite opposition, the bloc's top telecom regulator said approving a single standard would open up a market worth as much as ??0 billion.

Topic of immigration animates testy Republican debate
The range of issues and the increasingly barbed exchanges reflected the wide-open race in the final sprint to the Iowa caucuses.

Seized uranium had potential to build nuclear bomb
The uranium that two Hungarians and a Ukrainian were trying to sell was sufficiently enriched to build a nuclear bomb, Slovak diplomats and police authorities said.

Philippine police quell mutiny at a luxury hotel
The seven-hour standoff began when about 30 officers and soldiers on trial for attempting coups walked out of the courtroom and commandeered the Peninsula Manila Hotel.

An African boomtown still awaits the benefits
The peace treaty that ended decades of war between north and south Sudan has yet to deliver the kind of progress many expected for Juba, the southern capital.

For toddlers, toy of choice is tech device
Laptops, digital cameras and MP3 music players are among the hottest gift items this year. For preschoolers.