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Access to the Internet via a broadband connection is quickly becoming the norm in the UK. According to eMarketer, more than 17 million households in the UK, or 67.2% of the total, will subscribe to various broadband technologies in 2009. That’s an almost 6.5% increase from the 16.1 million households using broadband in 2008.

comScore, Inc. released its December rankings of the largest and fastest-growing Internet properties and site categories in the Latin American region based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.

The euro area (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 8.2% in January 2009, compared with 8.1% in December 2008. It was 7.3% in January 2008. The EU27 unemployment rate was 7.6% in January 2009, compared with 7.5% in December 2008. It was 6.8% in January 2008.

Euro area annual inflation was 1.1% in January 2009, down from 1.6% in December. A year earlier the rate was 3.2%. Monthly inflation was -0.8% in January 2009.

The largest multilateral investors and lenders in Eastern Europe - the EBRD, the EIB Group, and the World Bank Group - have pledged to provide up to €24.5 billion to support the banking sectors in the region and to fund lending to businesses hit by the global economic crisis.

According to UEAPME, relieving micro enterprises from financial reporting obligations is unlikely to generate a net cost reduction, since most will keep filing accounts anyway for national administrations, banks, suppliers and customers. Moreover, the Commission's proposal will decrease transparency and go against the single market, creating an uneven playing field between businesses operating in different Member States, only some of which will use the exemption. UEAPME therefore recommended simplifying the existing harmonised accounting rules as a more viable and less distortive alternative.

While many states have taken steps in recent years to strengthen the rights of renters, only a handful of states have updated their home foreclosure laws, which are now "tilted against homeowners" and acting as a little-understood factor that is helping to accelerate the U.S. home foreclosure crisis, according to a major new report by the National Consumer Law Center. Based on a survey of existing state laws, the NCLC report identifies some of the most antiquated state law provisions, including "fast track" foreclosures without any court oversight in 30 states and no requirement of direct notification to homeowners in 33 states upon the initiation of foreclosure proceedings.

MerchantCircle released survey results compiled from nearly 11,000 local business owners in all 50 states. More than 73% of business owners say they have seen a "moderate" to "severe" decline in sales and revenue from the same point last year. Only 3% of business owners believe the stimulus bill proposed by the Obama administration does enough for small business owners, while 65% say the plan does not. 31% say they "don't know enough about [the plan]" to have an opinion.

The European Commission has put forward a new proposal which would allow Member States to completely abolish financial reporting obligations for the EU's smallest companies. In a deteriorating economic climate, the new rules are designed to alleviate the regulatory burden on micro entities. The aggregate administrative burden reduction potential is estimated at around € 6.3 billion.

The global economic slowdown has cast a pall over the mining industry with the vast majority of mining executives saying they expect a severe pull back in exploration activity and at least 30 percent of exploration companies going out of business, according to the Survey of Mining Companies 2008/2009, released by independent research organization the Fraser Institute.