Berlin - Europeans turned the US elections into an all-night party with supporters of Barack Obama rewarded by news of his presidential win in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Across the continent, expatriates, political supporters or those who simply wanted to be part of history stayed up all night to watch election returns. People cast mock votes in Warsaw while Berliners partied with hula dancers, a call-out to Hawaii, the birthplace of president-elect Obama.

Brussels  - The French presidency of the European Union agreed Tuesday to scale back its ambitious 11-point plan on reforming global capitalism amid concerns that calls for a "global economic government" would encroach on national sovereignties.

The French proposal is meant to kickstart discussions on a common EU position ahead of a global financial summit due to take place in Washington on November 15.

At a preparatory meeting in Brussels, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said fellow EU ministers had shown "massive support" for the presidency's document, which outlines a series of key changes to the way global capitalism should be run.

Dublin - The man who spearheaded Irish opposition to the European Union's Lisbon Treaty said Monday that he hoped to turn his organization into a European political party.

Declan Ganley told Irish broadcaster RTE his aim was to run candidates in many EU states in the June 2009 European elections.

He said the move would provide an opportunity across the EU to provide a proxy referendum on the treaty designed to streamline the running of the 27-nation bloc.

Berlin - European inflation edged down in October, data released Friday showed, as a result helping to pave the way for the European Central Bank to deliver another hefty rate cut next week.

Based on its preliminary estimate, the European Union's statistics office said annual inflation in the 15-member eurozone edged down to 3.2 per cent this month from 3.6 per cent in September. Analysts had also expected inflation to come in at 3.2 per cent in October.

Berlin - European inflation edged down in October, data to be released Friday is forecast to show, adding to the likelihood of the European Central Bank delivering another hefty cut in interest rates next week.

Analysts expect the European Union's statistics office to say in its preliminary estimate for October that inflation in the 15-member eurozone edged down to 3.2 per cent or even 3.1 per cent from 3.6 per cent in September.

Berlin  - Economic confidence in Europe plummeted in October to its lowest level since 1993, according to a key survey released Thursday, adding to signs of a looming recession for the region.

The European Commission's closely-watched economic sentiment indicator (ESI) for the 15-member eurozone dropped from 87.5 in September to 80.4 October in the wake of share market chaos that has helped to fuel the deepening sense of economic gloom facing the currency bloc.

The release of the commission's latest survey comes just one week before the European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates to help shore up investor and economic confidence.