The annual inflation rate in the Eurozone has remained stable in August compared to July, at 0.2%, according to a preliminary estimate published on Wednesday by the European Statistics Office (Eurostat).  According to Eurostat, in the month of August, the most significant price increases were seem in food, alcohol and cigarettes, which have posted an annual increase of 1.3%, compared to 1.4% in July, followed by services, which have seen an annual increase of 1.1%, compared to 1.2% seen in July. On the other hand, energy prices have seen an annual decrease of 5.7% in August, compared to a decline of 6.7% seen in July.  Eurostat had previously announced that in July, compared to June 2016, annual inflation dropped in nine EU member countries, has remained stable in seven countries and has increased in 12 states, including Romania, according to Agerpres.   Eurostat has also announced on Wednesday that in July 2016, compared to June 2016, the unemployment rate has remained stable at 10.1% in the Eurozone, while in the European Union the unemployment rate has remained stable at 8.6%. Among the member states, the highest unemployment rates were seen in Greece, (23.5% in May 2016) and Spain (19.6%). On the opposite is Malta, with an unemployment rate of 3.9%, Czech Republic and Germany, both with 4.2%. Romania is below the EU average, with an unemployment rate of 6.1%. Compared to the situation in July 2015, the unemployment rate decreased in 24 member states, including Romania, has remained stable in Denmark and has increased in Estonia, Austria and Belgium.  In Romania's case, according to data notified by the National Statistics Institute, (INS), the annual inflation has remained in negative territory in July as well, at -0.8%, down from -0.7% in June. Calculated based on the harmonized consumer price index, the drop has been -0.3%, the INS states. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate also stood at 6.1%, at the end of July, up 0.1 percentage points over the previous month (6%), according to the standards of the International Labor Bureau.

Hiring in the US slowed in August following a summer surge in a sign that the Federal Reserve will hold off on raising interest rates this month. Employers added 151,000 staff to their payrolls last month, according to the US Labor Department. This was below the 180,000 expected by analysts, and down from an upwardly revised increase of 275,000 in July. The steady jobs growth kept the unemployment rate at 4.9pc. Economists expected the rate to fall to 4.8pc.  The dollar fell against the pound and the euro after the data were released, while traders reduced their bets on a September rate hike.  Financial markets now believe there is a 26pc that the Fed will raise rates this month, down from 34pc just before the jobs data were released.  The probability of a rate hike this year fell to 56pc, from 60pc.... Janet Yellen, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said last week that she believed that the case for raising interest rates in the world’s largest economy was strengthening. Stanley Fischer, vice chairman of the Fed, signalled that two rate increases were possible, though Ms Yellen and Mr Fischer stressed that any move up from the current federal funds target of between 0.25pc and 0.5pc would depend on the data they saw. The average monthly jobs gain over the past 12 months has been 204,000.  Separate US data showed the trade deficit narrowed in July as exports rose to their highest level in 10 months.  This suggests economic growth picked up at the start of the third quarter following annualised growth of 1.1pc in the second quarter.

Fiica cea mica a fostului presedinte Traian Basescu, Elena Basescu, si Bogdan Ionescu au divortat, anuntul fiind facut pe contul de Facebook al Elenei Basescu, scrie News.ro. Cei doi au precizat ca separarea s-a facut "de comun acord si de maniera amiabila".

"Familia Ionescu - Basescu, de comun acord si de maniera amiabila, a decis sa puna punct casniciei incepute in 2012. Separarea se produce prin procedura notariala. In acest moment, locuim deja separat", se arata intr-un mesaj postat pe contul de Facebook al Elenei Basescu, dar semnat atat de ea, cat si de catre Bogdan Ionescu.

Ei isi exprima speranta ca reprezentantii mass media "vor da dovada de intelegere" si le vor respecta "intimitatea si dreptul la viata personala".

"Acesta este singurul comentariu pe care il vom face pe acest subiect", mai precizeaza cei doi.

Elena Basescu si Bogdan Ionescu s-au casatorit pe 1 septembrie 2012. La exact un an de la casatorie, s-a nascut primul lor copil, Sofia Anais Ionescu Basescu.

In 31 ianuarie 2015, s-a nascut al doilea copil al cuplului, un baietel, botezat Traian, dupa numele bunicului sau. 

"It's simply incorrect to say that terrorism came only with the refugees," Merkel said.  "It was already here in myriad forms and with the various potential attackers that we have been watching,” she added, referring to the fact that most of the recent attacks in Europe had been perpetrated by EU nationals.  The chancellor’s mea culpa was issued on the one-year anniversary of her statement “wir schaffen das", or "we can do this”, which came to symbolise her open-door policy to migrants.  Germany last year took in almost 1 million people, prompting a political backlash against the government and rising support for anti-EU and anti-immigrant groups such as the AfD party and the Pegida movement.  Germany's top migration official Frank-Juergen Weise said last Sunday he expected the country to take in another 250,000 to 300,000 people this year.  Other EU leaders have also blamed Merkel’s policies for acting as a pull factor for refugees.  But her comments on how the problem had been initially mishandled could be aimed at central and eastern European leaders, who still reject migrant quotas, ahead of a summit on EU reform due in Bratislava later this month.  “It doesn’t work for some countries to say: ‘We don’t want to have Muslims at all, even if it’s necessary for humanitarian reasons’,” she told German broadcaster ARD on Sunday.

France wants the EU to stop its negotiations with the US for a free-trade agreement.

"That means the end" of the talks, not a suspension, he said, adding he would officially make the demand at an EU trade minister meeting at the end of September.

"There is no political backing by France to these negotiations anymore," Fekl told RMC radio and BFM TV, even though the Europeans can continue to negotiate "until the end of time [because] nobody can legally oppose it".

Fekl said that TTIP talks were "obscure" and that that the US "gives nothing or just crumbles".

"That is not how you negotiate between equals and allies," he said, adding that it was not the EU commission's fault.

The French minister's declaration comes two days after German vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said that TTIP talks had "de facto failed, even though nobody is really admitting it."

The EU commission, for its part, said on Monday that the "ball keeps rolling". Their chief negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero had also said that news of TTIP's demise was "greatly exaggerated".

The leaders of the Czech Republic and Hungary say a "joint European army" is needed to bolster security in the EU.  They were speaking ahead of talks in Warsaw with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They dislike her welcome for Muslim migrants from outside the EU.  Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said "we must give priority to security, so let's start setting up a joint European army".  The UK government has strongly opposed any such moves outside Nato's scope. The Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak leaders are coordinating their foreign policy as the "Visegrad Group". Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said building a joint European army would not be easy, but he called for discussion to start on it.  The EU has joint defence capabilities in the form of 1,500-strong battle groups, but they have not been tested in combat yet.  Last year European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called for a European army to give the EU muscle in confronting threats from Russia or elsewhere.

Business confidence in Europe's biggest economy, Germany, has fallen unexpectedly after the UK Brexit vote, according to a closely watched survey.  The Ifo business confidence index, based on about 7,000 company responses, fell to 106.2 points for August from 108.3 in July.  It was the steepest monthly fall in more than four years and took the index to its lowest since December 2014.

Despite the gloom, the euro was up slightly against the pound and dollar  The latest drop follows a much smaller decline in confidence in July immediately after the UK voted to leave the EU.  Economist Carsten Brzeski at ING-DiBa said the ongoing decline "suggests that German businesses have suddenly woken up to Brexit reality".  "It is not the first time that the Ifo reacts with a delay of one or two months to global events,'' he said, adding that at present, the German economy remained in a "virtuous circle".  Across the sectors it examines, the Ifo found confidence had fallen in all but construction and services.  "The German economy has fallen into a summer slump," Ifo president Clemens Fuest said.  Other official figures released earlier this month showed the German economy grew 0.4% in the second quarter compared with the previous three-month period.  That was a slower pace than the 0.7% growth in the first quarter, but double what economists had expected.