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The World Development Indicators (WDI) 2009 tells the story through comprehensive data of how developing countries benefited from a long period of prosperity which may now be set back due to the current crisis.

A text message sent from abroad in the EU will cost no more than €0.11 as of 1 July, instead of €0.28 today. The times where consumers had to expect "bill shocks" for downloading a picture or a movie with a mobile phone while roaming in the EU are over. The European Parliament, in its plenary session in Strasbourg, voted by a large majority in favour of new EU rules on SMS and data roaming, proposed by the European Commission in September 2008.

Even as many Americans hold a pessimistic view of the U.S. economy, there is a sign of rising optimism suggesting some may be seeing prospects for an end to the recession, according to a recent survey commissioned by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and conducted by Harris Interactive.

comScore, Inc. released its annual review of the online banking industry. The study, published in the April 2009 comScore State of Online Banking report, found that the number of online banking customers continued to grow strongly in 2008 despite the turbulent financial environment. The growth was fueled by banks' aggressive customer acquisition strategies and heightened financial interest among online banking customers wanting to keep a closer eye on their personal finances.

Unlimited computing power, computers mimicking the brain, mind-controlled wheelchairs and friendly robotic companions are part of a new European plan to boost visionary research, unveiled by the European Commission. With more investment and cooperation in high-risk research on future information technologies, Europe can lead the way in turning bright research ideas into future technologies. The Commission proposed to boost Europe's high-risk research into future technologies by doubling research investment at national and EU level in this area by 2015. The Commission will lead by example, increasing the current funding of € 100 million per year by 70% by 2013.

In 2008, the government deficit and government debt of both the euro area (EA16) and the EU27 increased compared with 2007. In the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio increased from 0.6% in 20073 to 1.9% in 2008, and in the EU27 it increased from 0.8% to 2.3%. In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio increased from 66.0% at the end of 2007 to 69.3% at the end of 2008, and in the EU27 from 58.7% to 61.5%.

RealtyTrac(R) released its Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report for Q1 2009, which shows cities in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona accounted for the 26 highest foreclosure rates in the first quarter among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more.

Following months of bleak economic outlooks, Main Street CEOs feel the recession has finally bottomed out and the end is in sight. The Q1 2009 Vistage CEO Confidence Index rose to 60.6 this quarter from 48.7 last quarter, largely due to expectations that economic conditions will improve. Every component recorded gains over the prior quarter’s survey. Although this was the largest quarterly gain the index has seen in the last six years, it still left the Confidence Index at its second lowest quarterly reading in the survey’s history.

According to the latest revisions, the EU27 external current account recorded a deficit of 57.3 billion euro in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with a deficit of 21.6 bn in the fourth quarter of 2007 and a deficit of 67.4 bn in the third quarter of 2008.

The United Kingdom has joined the 26 other EU Member States and the European Community as a signatory to the 2004 anti-contraband and anti-counterfeit agreement with Philip Morris International (PMI) and the 2007 cooperation agreement with Japan Tobacco International (JTI). Now all EU Member States are parties to these agreements. Every year, the European Community and the Member States lose hundreds of millions of euros in unpaid taxes from contraband and counterfeit cigarettes. Moreover, counterfeit and other forms of contraband create a parallel illegal supply chain that compromises legitimate distribution channels and competes unfairly with genuine products.