European interest rates go up to 3.75% as European economy show signs of improvement. According to "European Greenspan" Jean-Claude Trichet head of ECB, economy runs way above projected 4.5% and it is now 9.8%.The decision was made after controversial AirBus layoffs in Germany and France. Remarkably Bank of England keeps its interest rate unchanged to battle inflation.

World oil markets tightened in recent weeks in response to production cuts by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the return of cold winter weather in North America.

Oil prices dropped sharply Monday, losing more than $1 a barrel, in a market driven by stock market declines and concerns about the world economy.

Leading Russian economist Leonid Grigoriev told an audience at Washington's Woodrow Wilson Center that income levels in Russia have tripled since the low point of transition in 1996. Per capita gross domestic product, says Grigoriev, has reached $7,000 and finally returned to the pre-transition levels of 1990.

A coalition of civil-society groups in the United Kingdom has urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to do all he can to prevent any possible U.S.-led military strike on Iran. The U.K.-based unions, think tanks, and religious groups warn in a report issued today that an attack on Iran could further destabilize Iraq, undermine Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, strengthen Iranian hard-liners, and drive up oil prices.

Energy-rich but democracy-poor former Soviet republics are wielding newfound clout in ways that pose difficult new challenges to the European Union and the wider community of democratic states. Drawing on massive energy windfalls, these post-Soviet petrostates -- first and foremost Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia -- are becoming increasingly repressive at home.

Oil prices rose above US$53 a barrel Monday amid reports that OPEC may hold an emergency meeting to try to reverse the 13 percent plunge in oil prices this year.

The price of crude oil has fallen to its lowest level in more than 18 months as mild weather in the northern hemisphere has caused inventories to rise.

Delegates to the OPEC meeting in Nigeria say the oil cartel plans to cut production by 500,000 barrels a day starting in February.