Euro crisis: Monti upbeat, but unemployment rises

Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti has said he sees "light at the end of the tunnel" on the eurozone debt crisis. Mr Monti met French President Francois Hollande in Paris after which the two renewed their support for the euro.

Speculation on France's Rating Persists

PARIS—French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said Wednesday that a credit-ratings downgrade wouldn't be "cataclysmic," further fueling market expectations that the government is preparing for an imminent loss of its cherished triple-A ranking.

Europe pushes ahead with fiscal union, UK isolated

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe secured an historic agreement to draft a new treaty for deeper economic integration in the euro zone on Friday, but Britain, the region's third largest economy, refused to join the other 26 countries in a fiscal union and was left isolated.

Merkel Says EU Summit Will Be Important, Not Final, Crisis Step

Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that a European Union summit in five days will mark an “important step,” though not the final one in solving the euro-area sovereign debt crisis.

“These sovereign debts have built up over decades, so they won’t be ended with one summit,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin late today. While European officials recognize their responsibility to stop the crisis, “this will require tough, long-term work.”