Submitted By:-KARAN KAPOORMBA 2B

NEWS FILE FROM 8th NOVEMBER TO 14th NOVEMBER 2010

Ireland 'in preliminary talks with EU on bailout'

The Republic of Ireland is in preliminary talks with EU officials for financial support, the BBC has learned.

It is now no longer a matter of whether but when the Irish government formally approaches the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) for a bailout, correspondents say.

The provisional estimate for EFSF loans is believed to lie between 60bn and 80bn euros ($82-110bn; £51-68bn).

Dublin says there are no talks on an application for emergency EU funding.

A spokesman for Ireland's department of finance said the country was funded until the middle of 2011, the public-service RTE broadcaster reported.

RTE had earlier said talks had been held on how a bail-out might happen in a theoretical worst-case scenario.

The European Commission would not formally comment on the matter.

Eurozone officials told the Reuters news agency on Friday that discussions were under way, with one saying that it was "very likely" Ireland would receive financial assistance.

Tata Steel profits from India sales

India's Tata Steel has reported a return to profit for the second quarter of the financial year, thanks to a rise in demand in domestic markets.

Net profit came in at 19.8bn rupees ($442m; £273m), comfortably beating analysts' expectations, compared with a loss of 27.1bn rupees a year earlier.

Revenue rose by 11% to 281bn rupees after sales in India rose by a quarter.

But the company said the demand outlook for Europe, where it operates as Tata Europe, formerly Corus, was uncertain.

"We registered strong sales in India in the second quarter, aided by growing strength in industrial activity and intensifying demand from the infrastructure, construction and auto sectors," said Tata Steel managing director HM Nerurkar.

He added he was confident that Tata would record "fairly strong performance" for the full financial year.

In Europe, the group also posted profits, in part thanks to cost-cutting and restructuring measures implemented since the onset of the global financial crisis.

NATO summit will mark improvement' in Russia ties

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that a NATO summit in Lisbon next week would mark an "improvement of relations" between the defence alliance and Russia.

The Russian leader is to attend the summit on November 19, marking a major thaw in relations after the crisis caused by the war between Russia and the pro-Western ex-Soviet state of Georgia in 2008.

Medvedev, speaking after talks with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of a summit in Japan, said the NATO meeting would mark the "improvement of relations between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation".

Obama said the NATO-Russia council would help NATO and Russia to "ease tensions and increase cooperation on various security issues”.

In Lisbon, the NATO powers are due to unveil their new "strategic concept", the framework within which the Euro-Atlantic allies intend to coordinate their defence and foreign policy goals.

Bolivia defends seizing foreign energy firms

Bolivia's government has defended its policy of nationalising companies that it says are vital to the economy.

Businesses in the energy sector have been seized by President Evo Morales's left-wing administration.

It follows a trend started by Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez, who has called on all Latin American nations to follow his lead.

Bolivia's government has said it is redistributing oil and gas wealth to the country's indigenous population.

In May 2010, four electricity firms, which between them account for more than half of Bolivia's electricity market, were expropriated.

"We're just fulfilling the promise we made when we were elected, to recover all these areas that were in the hands of the state before these privatisations", Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera told the BBC World Service.

Growth slows in Europe's leading economies

The pace of economic recovery has slowed in Europe's major economies, according to official estimates.

Germany, Europe's largest economy, has seen a sharp slowdown in the third quarter, with growth of 0.7% compared with the record expansion of 2.3% it reported in the previous three months.

In France, GDP grew by 0.4% between July and September, compared with growth of 0.7% in the previous quarter.

The 16 eurozone members grew 0.4% on average, down from 1% growth before.

Italy also saw its rate of recovery decline, to 0.2% from 0.5% in the second quarter. But in crisis-hit Greece, the economy contracted at a slower rate of -1.1%, compared with -1.7%.

Last month, figures revealed that the UK economy had grown by 0.8% in the third quarter.

Germany's growth rate in the second quarter - now revised from 2.2% to 2.3% - was the fastest since the country reunified.

Announcing its first estimate of third-quarter growth, the German statistics office Destatis said the upturn was continuing.But it said the slower pace had been expected, given the record result in the second quarter.

Demand for its goods is crucial to the world's second largest exporter, and Destatis said both domestic and foreign demand had made a positive contribution to growth. It said the reasons for expansion were wide-ranging, with household and government expenditure, demand for machinery and equipment, as well as imports and exports all contributing.

Higher foreign demand for German-made machinery could indicate that companies overseas are investing for future growth.

But Capital Economics said that although it was expecting Germany to continue to outperform other European economies, it thought that the eurozone's recovery would "grind to a halt" next year.