Business news for Thu, 29 Nov 2007 & with word european. 32 news.

UK telecoms company BT might have to pay more money into a pension insurance fund after European watchdogs launched an investigation into whether it enjoys illegal state aid

Privatise the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and use its capital and experienced staff to establish a similar bank in the Middle East, writes Antonio Maria Costa

A clutch of Europe's top economists have called on the European Central Bank to cut interest rates at its policy meeting next week, warning of severe downturn unless confidence is restored quickly to the banking system.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Union nations on Thursday asked the European Union not to call for a Nokia-backed mobile TV standard for Europe.

European shares ended higher, as gains from copper miners offset lower travel stocks and retail weakness in Europe on Thursday, as investors continued to prepare for a widely anticipated U.S. interest-rate cut in December.

Trying to pick the top 10 among luxury hotels in Europe is like trying to pick just one from a box of Fauchon chocolates.

The European Commission is to investigate whether BT is getting unfair financial help with its pension liabilities.

Once again, our Lords and Masters in the European Union seem intent upon making us all poorer. What worries Berlin, Paris, and Brussels are mega-funds under the control of Russia and China. Beijing's new State FX Investment Corp is kicking off with $200bn but will be world leader nearing $1 trillion within two years, according to Morgan Stanley. They're going to try and make it more difficult for such Johnny Foreigner money to be invested in the European economies. Ho hum. Our general level of wealth is pretty much set by one thing: our productivity. The higher

Upon launch of an EU forum on the issue, the European Commission says nuclear energy has a role in the bloc's low-carbon future

The European Parliament voted Thursday to allow Britain and Ireland to keep some of their old imperial measurements so pubs can still serve pints and road signs can show miles instead of kilometers.

Peter Mandelson, the European Union trade commissioner, said a free trade pact between India and the EU would provide a big boost to both economies and would shore up global demand if the world economy begins to cool.

Manners may change, but it is national interests that still shape the inner life of the European Union CRASS, amateurish and deplorably nationalistic. That is how the Brussels elite sums up the Polish government that has just left office. To many, the nationalistic label was the worst jibe of all. Ask Euro-types for a memory of the twins who ran the government, Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and they are likely to recall the time when Jaroslaw, as prime minister, unsuccessfully demanded voting rights for his war dead. (Without the second world war, Mr Kaczynski argued in June, Poland would today have an extra 28m people, so should be given the votes of a bigger country.) This nationalistic sally broke all the rules of European Union behaviour, which dictate that the war may be cited only to highlight the miracle of post-war reconciliation. Yet when it comes to Poland's recent failures in Brussels, crass and amateurish are the epithets that matter more. The twins were never as anti-European as their rhetoric suggested. Perched on the edge of Europe near Russia, they backed things that give Eurosceptic nations, such as Britain, the shivers, for example a stronger defence role for Europe. The Kaczynski government contributed troops to an EU mission in the Congo, and promised to send more to an EU operation in Chad. Poland supports both a common EU defence policy and a strong NATO. If you live near a "forest full of bandits", it is best to have two locks on the door, explains Bronislaw Komorowski, the new speaker of parliament. ...

Why Venus is lifeless FOR a planet named after the goddess of love, Venus is something of a misfit. Its clouds of sulphuric acid, crushing atmosphere of carbon dioxide and blast-furnace surface temperature of 457A°C are anything but lovely. Yet in its youth it was, like its gentler sister Earth, swathed in oceans that provided a suitable breeding ground for life. What went wrong? Since 1962 more than 30 spacecraft have made the trip to Venus, seeking to understand Earth's nearest neighbour and so-called twin planet. The most recent of these, Venus Express, was launched by the European Space Agency in 2005. In the current issue of Nature, nine papers report what it has found so far. ...

Japan is reluctantly embracing globalisation THROUGHOUT its history Japan has oscillated between openness to foreign ideas and fierce isolationism. This ambivalence is still reflected in its attitude to globalisation. Despite the worldwide presence of companies such as Toyota, Honda, Canon and Sony, Japan's integration into the world economy is surprisingly weak. Japan has the lowest levels of import penetration, inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign workers in the OECD (see chart 8). Foreign affiliates' share of turnover in manufacturing and services, at 3% and 1% respectively, is the lowest in the OECD. Nor has Japan participated in the global wave of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In 2004 the sale of companies in the European Union to foreign firms accounted for 47% of global M&A by value, and that of American firms for a further 22%. The Japanese share, by contrast, was just 2.3%. In an era of unprecedented mobility of people, as well as goods and services, Japan's net migration since the second world war has been approximately zero. And so on. ...

On trade or the exchange rate "LET China sleep, for when she wakes the world will shake." So, purportedly, said Napoleon some 200 years ago. In Beijing this week European leaders have been telling their Chinese counterparts that such unease is at risk of spreading. Once content to let the Americans do the worrying, the EU is joining in. In the build-up to an annual China-EU summit in Beijing on November 28th, European officials raised hackles by complaining about Chinese trade practices and exchange-rate policy in the kind of direct language that China had thought an annoying American trait. The European Commission's president, Jose Manuel Barroso, told Communist Party officials that the emergence of China risked being seen by Europeans "as a threat". Mr Barroso gave warning of "protectionist pressures which would be very difficult to contain" if nothing were done to curb the EU's huge trade deficit with China. ...

There is no Spanish or Italian solution to the problems of Iberia and Alitalia FOR all the brave talk of liberalisation, the airline business has yet to escape the bane of economic nationalism. American airlines will still be out of bounds to foreign ownership when the new "open skies" agreement with Europe comes into force next April. And within the European Union, although such obstacles officially do not exist, the reality is rather different. This week a EURO3.4 billion ($5 billion) consortium bid for Iberia, the Spanish "flag carrier" by British Airways (BA), Texas Pacific Group and three Spanish private-equity firms crumbled in the face of political resistance. Caja Madrid, a savings bank controlled by Madrid's regional government, raised its stake in Iberia to 23.3%. The move was designed to force BA, which owns 10%, to exercise pre-emption rights and raise its own stake, or back off. Having promised not to spend BA's cash on the bid, Willie Walsh, its chief executive, had no option but to retreat. ...

Love them or hate them, Germany's two power giants keep the lights on IN AN apparent victory for the little man, the burghers of Ensdorf this week successfully blocked plans by RWE, a huge German power company, to build a spanking new coal-fired power station in their back yard. But those Saarland villagers have won an incomplete victory. Germany needs to add about 35,000 megawatts (MW) of new capacity by 2020, plus another 16,000MW if its nuclear plants are to be phased out by then, as planned. So new power stations will have to be built somewhere. RWE and E.ON, the other German power giant, are treading on eggshells these days. Their duopoly over electricity generation and distribution in Germany is under attack from almost every quarter: the European Commission, the Federal Cartel Office, the Federal Network Agency and, of course, consumers. People are livid that the two giants recently announced price rises of 7-10% for next year, despite record profits in the first three quarters and windfall gains from CO2 emission certificates that they were given free. ...

AFP - European stocks mostly rose Thursday, though winnings were less strong than in Asia and overnight on Wall Street, where gains were extended on hopes of another US interest rate cut to bolster the economy.

THE European Commission has proposed the suspension of import duties on all cereals except oats for the current marketing year, which ends on June 30, 2008.

The High Court considers whether a pub can show live English football from European satellite firms.