AP - Wolfgang Schmitz, former Austrian finance minister and president of the country's central bank, died early Sunday, his People's Party said in a statement. He was 85.

AP - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Saturday that Europe's biggest threat is recession and countries should be allowed leeway in running up deficits.

AP - Britain's government risks seeing the value of its currency collapse unless public borrowing is kept under control, one of the country's senior opposition politicians said in an interview published Saturday.

AP - Sweden's financial markets minister is warning that the government's bank guarantee scheme could become compulsory for the Nordic country's main banks unless more of them sign up for it.

AP - The Netherlands' prime minister has left the economic summit in Washington following the death of his father, his office said Saturday.

AP - A planned Royal Air Force mission to police Iceland's airspace has been called off amid a diplomatic feud triggered by the global financial crisis, Britain and Iceland said Friday.

AP - Russia and Ukraine should coordinate efforts in facing the global economic turmoil, given that enterprises in the two former Soviet republics were still economically linked, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday.

AP - The U.S. dollar was mixed against other major currencies in European trading Friday. Gold rose.

AP - Share prices were higher Friday on the London Stock Exchange.

AP - France's economy grew 0.1 percent in the third quarter, the national statistics agency said Friday, just enough to permit the euro zone's second largest economy to avoid entering a recession.