Economy, Elections | featured news

Italy's new parliament met on Friday for the first time since last month's inconclusive election with no sign of a deal to end the stalemate and yield a government able to address the deep problems in the euro zone's third-largest economy.

French voters are choosing a new parliament Sunday that will determine how far Socialist President Francois Hollande can push for economic stimulus in France and around a debt-burdened, stagnant Europe.

The crushing defeat follows elections that rejected austerity policies in Greece, France and Italy, severely weakening Chancellor Merkel's hand at her first talks with FranCois Hollande, the new French President, in Berlin tomorrow (TUES).

Germany and the European Commission on Tuesday called on EU nations to stick to their promised budget cuts despite mounting voter discontent, but promised some new efforts to boost growth to alleviate economic hardship.

The economy may be king on the American campaign trail, but as President Obama sets out on his re-election bid and Mitt Romney tries to unseat him with a free-market-centered message, foreign policy is clearly creeping back into the mix.

Far-rightist Marine Le Pen threw France's presidential race wide open on Sunday by scoring nearly 20 percent in the first round - votes that may determine the runoff between Socialist favorite Francois Hollande and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.

President Cristina Fernandez, buoyed by Argentina's booming economy, was re-elected by a landslide Sunday, exit polls predicted. The polls aid Fernandez won 54 percent to 55 percent of the votes cast -- the widest victory margin for any Argentine president since democracy was restored in the country three decades ago.

Portugal will elect a new government on Sunday which will lead the country through a period of deep austerity and recession after it received a 78-billion-euro ($114 billion) bailout from the European Union and IMF.

President Barack Obama is acknowleding in the wake of this week's election rout that he hasn't been able to successfully promote his economic-rescue message to anxious Americans.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday's elections, in which Republicans won control of the House of Representatives and gained seats in the Senate, signaled that Americans were frustrated with the pace of economic recovery.