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Gazprom announced its international cooperation plans for 2007. Gazprom's main challenge is to continue developing as a world class global energy concern capable of making a substantial contribution in the global energy market sustainability and predictability.

Worldwide PC shipments grew by 8.7% in the fourth quarter of 2006, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. While Europe, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), Canada, and Latin America continued to grow at a healthy clip, shipments in the United States and Japan continued to decline.

Technological innovations are rapidly redrawing the Chinese telco landscape. Operators are compelled to diversify in order to thrive in the competitive environment. The November 2006 announcement of Jiangsu Telecom’s network expansion effort to meet subscribers’ demand for IPTV, VOD, and other advanced IP services was just the latest in a similar series of moves to support multi-play service offerings.

Mortgage rates increased for the sixth time in 7 weeks with the average 30-year fixed rate rising to 6.26 percent. This is the highest point in the past 10 weeks. According to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large lenders, the 30-year fixed rate mortgages had an average of 0.32 discount and origination points.

The top economic growth and fiscal performances in 2007 are likely to be from countries outside the ranks of the most developed Western nations, according to a new set of sovereign risk forecasts from Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

comScore Networks, a leader in measuring the digital age, today released its final report on European online holiday shopping activity in the U.K., France and Germany. According to the analysis, of the three countries studied, Germans spent the most online during the holiday period - an estimated 5.4 billion EUR from 30 October - 31 December, 2006. U.K. consumers spent an estimated 4.0 billion EUR online during the same period, and the French spent an estimated 1.9 billion EUR. This compares to an estimated 18.8 billion EUR ($24.6 billion) spent in the U.S. during the holiday shopping period (1 November to 31 December).

The Asian region has continued to experience a generally stronger run of economic growth through 2005 and into 2006. The region, however, continues to share the concerns of the rest of the world about rising oil prices and the likely impact on the global economy. There is also a degree of anxiety about a slowdown in China.

Is IT spending slowing down? Not soon. According to newly updated figures on worldwide IT spending from IDC, end users spent $1.16 trillion on information technology in 2006 and will increase spending at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3% to reach $1.48 trillion in 2010.

Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Report shows former British colonies in Asia are world's freest. Europe remains home to most economically free countries. Limited progress charted on all continents.

Generally speaking, Europeans enjoy a higher-than-average level of economic freedom. However, restrictive labor policies are slowing the region's growth, according to the 2007 "Index of Economic Freedom" published annually by The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation.