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The United States will hold talks with North Korea in Beijing Thursday on the possibility of providing food aid to the impoverished country, the State Department said.
The Obama administration has been deliberating on the issue for months. The United Nations and U.S. charities say aid is badly needed, but it remains a controversial issue. North […]

A closely-watched survey shows German investor sentiment grew in December, ending a nine-month downward trend.
However, the rise was not as big as expected as Europe’s raging debt crisis weighs heavily on the continent’s largest economy.
The ZEW investor sentiment index for December released Tuesday was up 1.4 points to minus 53.8 points overall. Analysts had forecast […]

The chief executive of St. Louis University Hospital says that his health system is seeking the assistance of a third-party mediator to break an impasse in contract talks with a national health insurer.
SLU Hospital Chief Executive Phillip Sowa said the hospital’s parent company, Tenet HealthCare Corp. of Dallas, faxed a letter Friday to Anthem Blue Cross and […]

The president of the European Council says a new treaty will include 17 euro states plus 6 other EU states _ but not all 27 EU members.
Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, said the countries would provide up to euro200 billion ($268 billion) in extra resources to the International Monetary fund.
French President Nicolas […]

China’s attempts to deflate its property bubble come at a perilous time.
Fears that the euro might collapse, unleashing a tsunami of financial and economic disruptions around the globe, have added urgency to concerns that China’s campaign to cool overheated housing prices may go too far.
As economic growth wanes, Beijing has begun easing tight credit policies […]

The unemployment rate, which has refused to budge from the 9 percent neighborhood for two and a half frustrating years, suddenly dropped in November, driven in part by small businesses that finally see reason to hope and hire.
Economists said there was a long way to go but liked what they saw.
The rate fell to 8.6 […]

The investigation into a bullet train crash in China last summer that killed 40 people has come and gone with scarcely any fresh information released about what led to the disaster.
The secrecy surrounding the investigator’s report, originally due in September and reportedly extended until late November, is typical of the sensitivities shown toward wider troubles […]

WILDWOOD

A maker of coal-mining equipment says it is investing more than $13 million to expand a southern Illinois plant, creating or retaining 150 jobs.
Magnum Steel Works Inc. said Friday the investment will be made over four years to nearly quadruple the size of the Mount Vernon factory to 128,000 square feet.
The company says 52 of […]

The European economy has stalled, and is likely to start shrinking soon, just when eurozone countries need help the most.
Growth slowed nearly to a stop this summer, and a recession afflicting small countries like Greece and Portugal threatens to spread to some of Europe’s stronger economies as financial market uncertainty erodes confidence among businesses and […]