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On 1 November 2007, the Markets in Financial Services Directive will enter into force. The European Commission looks forward to the onset of this landmark law, which will play a central role in creating a robust, common regulatory framework for Europe's securities markets. MiFID will increase competition among exchanges, multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) and investment firms, giving them a "single passport" to operate throughout the EU on the basis of authorisation in their home Member State. Investors will not only have access to a greater number of trading venues, but also a more robust and comprehensive framework ensuring high levels of investor protection. Significant market developments are already underway in anticipation of this new, more competitive environment.

Europeans, across the countries surveyed, are fifty percent more likely than Americans to buy "green" products - from solar panels to hybrid cars to natural/organic foods, personal care and home products, according to the groundbreaking European LOHAS study based on a partnership between Porter Novelli (PN) and Natural Marketing Institute (NMI).

The European Union and Russia reached an agreement on trade in certain steel products at the EU-Russia Summit in Mafra, Portugal. The deal was signed for the European Union by Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado on behalf of the EU Presidency, and on the Russian side by the Minister of Trade and Economy, Elvira Nabiullina. The two sides agreed on quota levels for 2007 and 2008 on certain flat steel and long steel products, in order to replace autonomous EU measures that had been in place since January of 2007. Quota levels were raised to take into account the enlargement of the European Union with Bulgaria and Romania, as well as to cover deliveries to steel service centres in EU member states.

Central Asian countries must work together to remove barriers hampering trade and improve roads and other infrastructure if the region is to maintain its rapid economic growth, a senior Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said ahead of a regional cooperation meeting.

Culture plays a significant role in the daily life of European citizens. With nearly 300 cultural sites out of almost 700 on the UNESCO list, the 27 Member States of the European Union possess a significant cultural heritage. The importance of culture today is shown by the fact that cultural employment accounted for almost five million people, 2.4% of total employment in the EU27 in 2005.

Average annual expenditures per consumer unit, which is similar to a household, rose 4.3 percent in 2006, following an increase of 6.9 percent in 2005, according to results from the Consumer Expenditure Survey released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Heavy social networkers in the United States visit leisure-oriented retail Web sites more than average Internet users, according to comScore. Such Web sites include music, jewelry and luxury goods and accessories, consumer electronics and apparel.

The risk and compliance operating models of many of the world's largest banks are fragmented, inefficient and lack the flexibility to effectively support the pace and complexity of new regulatory and compliance requirements, according to Ernst & Young's survey, The Future State of Governance, Risk, and Control: Findings from a Survey of the World's Largest Banks. As a result, 54 percent of the survey respondents can't estimate the annual enterprise-wide cost of risk and control management.

Three-fourths of Americans surveyed believe that either being smarter about development or improving public transportation are both better long-term solutions for reducing traffic congestion than building new roads, according to a survey sponsored by the National Association of Realtors and Smart Growth America.