Brussels - The European Commission on Wednesday proposed tough rules designed to improve the functioning of credit rating agencies, which have been partly blamed for the global financial crisis.

The proposals, put together by European Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, are designed to "restore market confidence" by imposing strict conditions on rating agencies wishing to operate in the European Union.

If approved by member states and the European Parliament, the proposals will place rating agencies under the control of European supervisors.

Brussels - The European Commission on Wednesday imposed an unprecedented 1.38-billion-euro (1.76-billion-dollar) combined fine on four car glass manufacturers found guilty of forging a cartel designed to keep prices artificially high.

An investigation concluded that managers of Asahi of Japan, Britain's Pilkington, Saint-Gobain of France and Belgium's Soliver had taken part in a series of illegal talks in a number of European airports and hotels between 1998 and 2003 to fix prices and market share and allocate customers to each other.

Brussels - Struggling carrier Alitalia will have to pay back a 300-million-euro (382-million-dollars) loan it received from the Italian government after it was judged Wednesday to constitute "illegal state aid" by the European Commission.

Brussels - The European Commission on Wednesday ruled that a 300-million-euro (38

The fact that Europe and Russia need each other economically, especially as the global financial crisis reorders priorities, is obvious as the European Union (EU) said Monday that it would resume negotiations with Russia that it had halted during Russia’s war with Georgia.

On September 1, EU leaders decided to postpone the talks indefinitely after Russia, responding to a Georgian attack on the pro-Moscow enclave of South Ossetia, invaded Georgia, and then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Brussels - Most of the money given by the European Union to member states is well spent, though problems remain when it comes to payments designed to boost employment, EU officials said Monday.

Officials in Brussels said the bloc's annual audit debunked the "myth" that EU spending is either mismanaged or riddled with fraud.

It found that more than 98 per cent of direct payments made in 2007 to farmers or on administrative expenditure was error free.

Other budget areas such as research grants and humanitarian aid also registered errors of less than 5 per cent.

However, spending in so-called structural funds - money designed to boost employment in the EU's poorest regions - remains a problem.