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European governments have agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian oil, EU diplomats said on Wednesday, dealing a blow to Tehran that crowns new Western sanctions months before an Iranian election.

Stocks rose sharply on the first trading day of 2012 as upbeat U.S. economic data overshadowed continuing concerns about the European debt crisis.

Greece faces another tough year in 2012 but must stick to its program of austerity and reform to stay in the euro, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said in a pre-recorded New Year's Eve address.

Spain's new government said on Friday the public deficit for 2011 would come in at 8 percent of gross domestic product, well above a target of 6 percent, and announced income and property tax hikes and a civil servant wage freeze in response.

Just three years ago, the euro was being praised as the can-do currency that had delivered unprecedented prosperity in Europe. Now, it's widely derided as a hugely flawed experiment in the wake of a debt crisis that's threatening its very existence — an uncomfortable backdrop as the currency's notes and coins hit their first decade in circulation on Jan. 1.

Italian bond yields are expected to fall from recent record highs in an auction on Thursday in a sign the European Central Bank has managed to ease market pressure, at least for now, with its big injection of longer-term funds earlier this month.

To protect Venice from periodic floods that are increasingly heightened by the double whammy of rising seas levels and sinking land, a team of Italian researchers suggests lifting up the canal-laced city by pumping seawater into the aquifers below it.

Britain's government says experts are considering developing a bespoke iPad app that would deliver key data straight to Prime Minister David Cameron's tablet computer....

Italy’s Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a package aimed at eliminating Italy’s budget deficit by 2013 and stimulating its economy as part of a broader plan to stabilize the euro.

French health authorities are considering whether to suggest that an estimated 30,000 women in France get their breast implants removed, amid warnings by leading doctors about the risks of rupture and possible cancer....