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International Paper said on Monday that it had agreed to acquire Weyerhaeuser's packaging business for $6 billion to become North America's largest maker of corrugated boxes. The paper and packaging industry in North America and Europe has been consolidating and reducing production capacity in an effort to tackle soaring raw material costs and dwindling demand for paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

International Paper's quarterly profit slid 31 percent, hit by one-time charges and higher costs, and the company warned that weaker demand resulting from the global slowdown would hurt results for the rest of the year. Falling demand for its paper and packaging products in North America and declining prices for pulp in both North America and Europe will combine to lower fourth-quarter results, the company said. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reports European Union's investigation into the European paper manufacturers to inquire their alleged involvement in manipulating the prices. Names of the companies raided by the European Union.

Reports that Bunzl P.L.C. agreed to sell its German and Italian fine-paper businesses to Koninklijke KNP BT N.V. for approximately $103 million. Reasons for sale; Names of units.

The article reports that the government of Switzerland has been conducting criminal investigations to track down the source of a leak to the Zurich-based newspaper SonntagsBlick of what it reported was a secret document citing clandestine Central Intelligence Agency prisons in Eastern Europe.

This article reports that the European educators and students are complaining that the recent shift toward administering the Test of English as a Foreign Language exclusively in an online format is hurting thousands of foreign students who want to take the important examination. The test is a gateway to study in the United States and other English-speaking countries because universities use the test, known as the Toefl, to evaluate the English-language proficiency of foreign applicants. In October, however, the Educational Testing Service, the nonprofit organization that owns and administers the test, began phasing out the paper test, offering an Internet-based version instead in Canada, France, Germany, and Italy. Lonnie R. Johnson, executive director of the Austrian-American Educational Commission, which manages the Fulbright Program in Austria, said that administering the test in France and Germany has been especially problematic. Arnaud Roujou de Boubé, executive director of the FrancoAmerican Commission for Educational Exchange, remarked that the decision to introduce the new version of the test in the fall, the most busy test-taking time of the year.

The article discusses anti-American sentiment around the world. Though many nations have shown open animosity towards America during the George W. Bush presidential administration, some countries, like India, have a more sympathetic view. The dislike for America by European countries stems from the view that Europeans are mostly modern and secular, while many Americans are drenched in religiosity and traditionalism, according to Dutch historian Rob Kroes, whose paper "European Anti-Americanism: What's New?" is analyzed.

Reports on the acquisition of Raisio Chemicals by paper manufacturer Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp. in Europe.

THE European Commission, angered over what it sees as unfair Chinese trade policies, this week imposed what it said were the ''first ever antisubsidy tariffs against imports from China.'' The commission said China was ''significantly subsidizing its coated fine-paper industry by giving cheap loans, allocating land below market value and granting various tax incentives,'' and announced duties of up to 12 percent on imports of high-quality paper used for magazines and brochures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that investors are awaiting an announcement by the U.S. Federal Reserve that they will cut the overnight interest rate on September 18, 2007. Problems with mortgage defaults in the U.S. have lead to issues in asset-backed commercial paper, essentially causing commercial credit to become harder to get and cost companies higher interest, both in the U.S. and Europe.

Addresses issues surrounding the death of Gennady M. Danilenko, a Russian law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, in June 2001. Information on Danilenko; Allegations of being a drug addict and smuggler; Events that led to his death.

So Greece has officially defaulted on its debt to private lenders. It was an ''orderly'' default, negotiated rather than simply announced, which I guess is a good thing. Still, the story is far from over. Even with this debt relief, Greece -- like other European nations forced to impose austerity in a depressed economy -- seems doomed to many more years of suffering. And that's a tale that needs telling. For the past two years, the Greek story has, as one recent paper on economic policy put it, been ''interpreted as a parable of the risks of fiscal profligacy.'' Not a day goes by without some politician or pundit intoning, with the air of a man conveying great wisdom, that we must slash government spending right away or find ourselves turning into Greece, Greece I tell you. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The British auditor for newspaper sales said on Wednesday that an unusual distribution arrangement operated by The Wall Street Journal Europe appeared to comply with its reporting standards, saying an investigation had turned up ''no clear evidence'' of violations. Under a program, an educational consulting firm had bought 12,000 copies of the paper for 1 euro cent each. Payments were then made to the firm by The Journal through third parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BRUSSELS -- Amid a debt crisis that threatens to engulf the global economy, the European Union this week will try again to address a serious flaw in the construction of the euro: the lack of fiscal rules tough enough to provide a foundation for the currency. While steering far clear of transferring actual authority over national budgets here, the revamped rules, scheduled for a vote Wednesday in the European Parliament, are described as tougher, more credible and more sophisticated than the original set, on paper at least. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE debt crisis in Europe has finally, and officially, washed up on American shores. Last week, the mighty Federal Reserve moved to help European banks that have been having trouble finding people who are willing to lend them money. Some of these banks are growing desperate for dollars. Fearing the worst, investors are pulling back, refusing to roll over the banks' commercial paper, those short-term i.o.u.'s that are the lifeblood of commerce. Others are refusing to renew certificates of deposit. European banks need this money, in dollars, to extend loans to American companies and to pay their own debts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WITH the iPad 2 and the Kindle both blazing best sellers, the future looks a lot brighter for the pixelated word than the printed one. Refusing to go out without a fight, though, that old hidebound paper product known as the book is moving backward instead of forward, playing up its allure as desirable object and less as a democratic info-pack. Looking at the demand for old editions of classics and the robust art-book industry, one thinks back to late-15th-century Europe, when printed books were a luxury often sold without covers so buyers could have them bound as richly as they liked -- more like buying a sofa than the collected Plutarch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ONCE upon a time, a young man went for a walk. It was December 1933, and an 18-year-old Englishman named Patrick Leigh Fermor put on a pair of hobnail boots and a secondhand greatcoat, gathered up his rucksack and left London on a ship bound for Rotterdam, where he planned to travel 1,400 miles to Istanbul -- on foot. He had virtually no money; at best, he'd arrive in, say, Munich to find his mother had sent him $:5. But what he did have was an outgoing nature, a sense of adventure, an affinity for languages and a broad network of friends of friends. ''If I lived on bread and cheese and apples,'' he later wrote, ''jogging along on fifty pounds a year like Lord Durham with a few noughts knocked off, there would even be some cash left over for papers and pencils and an occasional mug of beer. A new life! Freedom! Something to write about!'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

HONG KONG -- Spreading problems in Europe's sovereign debt markets pose potential challenges for China, which has been stepping up its investments in European government bonds and relies on Europe as its biggest export market. The turmoil that Europe's difficulty has caused in financial markets already appears to have caused tens of billions of dollars in paper losses in China's foreign exchange reserves. And the problems may complicate the timing of an expected Chinese move to break the informal peg of the Chinese renminbi to the dollar, Chinese and Western economists and bankers said on Thursday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Whether he likes it or not, Jean-Claude Trichet is not just the president of the European Central Bank. Mr. Trichet, 67, is also the de facto president of Europe, at least for the 16 nations that rely on the euro as their common currency. On paper, the European Union has just established a new president in Brussels, and the central bank's sole responsibility is to keep inflation in check. Moreover, the bank, based here, has almost no formal policy tools to help an ailing member country like Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Seven European finance leaders have called for far-reaching curbs on bonuses for bankers in a strongly worded draft paper to be presented at a meeting on Friday of G-20 ministers in London. Citing the ''insatiable greed'' of some financial players and their ''destructive irresponsibility,'' the draft calls for the G-20 to impose a policy that would prohibit guaranteeing bonuses for more than a year and would require that bonuses be spread over several years. ''Bonuses should reflect the individual's and bank's true performances over time,'' the draft said. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on the response of U.S. graduate schools to the three-year undergraduate degrees being established in Europe under the Bologna Process, aimed at creating a standardized European Higher Education Area. The results of a survey by the Institute of International Education into the proportion of U.S. graduate programs that accept the degrees as equivalent to four-year degrees from the United States are discussed.

The article discusses European and European Union (E.U.) studies as an academic field. Particular focus is given to the discipline's popularity for college and graduate students in European higher education and its potential to prepare students for political careers within the E.U. as well as provide them with a broad, liberal-arts based education. Topics explored include E.U. public policy, the training and education of civil servants, and the Bologna Process. The article also offers information regarding the emergence of Romani studies, or the study of Romani peoples, as a scholarly field.

The article focuses on the preponderance of pigs in the history books of schools in America. Sixteenth-century buccaneers are reported to be named after the boucans or grills, on which they smoked the meat of stolen pigs. Swine, brought to America from Europe by early settlers, were the cause of fights over personal property between British colonists and their American Indian neighbors. Upton Sinclair's muckraking novel The Jungle, about the Chicago stockyards,resulted in the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. In the early 19th century, Cincinnati was the world's pork-processing capital and gained as a commercial center. Further, pigs were are alleged to be prominent at a prominent moment in Cincinnati's economic history. Indeed, it was there that assembly-line production models were pioneered as meatpackers made the butchering process more efficient by dividing it into discrete tasks-an approach that attracted the attention of the young Henry Ford. Furthermore, students take a midterm exam and write research papers on the history of pigs. They are divided into competing teams for special projects like designing a hypothetical exhibit on pigs for Cincinnati's history museum.

The article discusses Portugal's efforts to promote economic growth by investing in scientific research and development at its higher-education institutions. The article mentions the University of Coimbra's relationship with several U.S. universities, such as Carnegie Mellon University and the Harvard Medical School, to engage in research and academic exchange programs. Government spending has increased in these fields due to a commitment by the country to become a knowledge economy through innovation in science and technology. Relationships between Portuguese and U.S. universities have brought jobs to the country, attracted high-achieving students, and attracted business investments, but leaders fear funding from the federal government may decrease.

Reports on the victory of Europe over the United States in the 35th Ryder Cup golf competition. Highlights of the tournament; Impact of two early matches on the United States team; Comparison of the U.S. team on paper and the European team on the course; Reflections on why the U.S. lost the competition by such a large margin.

Focuses on the deal of Sonoco Corp. with Ahlstrom Oyj of Finland to combine their paperboard core units in Europe.

Focuses on the academic employment market in Europe focused on young talent, higher-education analysts as of March 8, 2002. Working conditions in British academies; Estimated number of French institutes' scientists who will retire in the next twenty years; Salary range for professors in Poland; Recruitment trends in Ireland.

Reports on the reactions of the European press to the war between Serbia and North Atlantic Treaty Organization for Kosovo. Information on the editorial which appeared at `La Repubblica of Rome,' about the war; Comments from the Belgian paper `Le Soir'; Common concern expressed by supporters of the bombings.

Argues that the only hope for leaders of Europe to save their single currency, the euro, is to follow the tradition of paper over fundamental disagreements with vague words. Threats to the European currency; Detailed information on the currency issue.

The article presents news briefs on issues related to higher education. John Rist, chairman of the department of classics at Aberdeen University in Scotland, has resigned due to budget cuts to the university. A collection of rare papers from fascist dictator Benito Mussolini has been returned by Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut to the government of Italy. Archeology professor Yigal Shiloh of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem has been awarded by Sweden's Göteborg University for his research.

The article explores ways in which European universities are being impacted by government austerity measures, or efforts to reduce public spending, due to the global financial crisis that began in 2008. Particular emphasis is given to increased tuition costs, reductions in services offered to students, and the elimination of job opportunities for college professors that have resulted from such higher education budget cuts. It also examines youth unemployment in Spain, comments on the increased government regulations of higher education in Portugal, and describes the financial instability of academic libraries in Spain.

The article discusses foreign study by U.S. students in Asia, noting that most students who choose foreign study go to Europe, except for those of Asian heritage who may be familiar with an Asian culture and language. It notes that faculty members are a key factor in students' decisions, often guiding students towards institutions where they have research relationships. It also notes that many Asian universities, particularly those in China, are focused inward on building their departments and serving the native population. Thus simple factors such as posting syllabi online are not priorities. Therefore, it states, increasing foreign study in Asia requires efforts by both U.S. and Asian schools.

The article reports that European educators predict chaos if Educational Testing Service expands Internet-based English test to 100 countries. The Internet-based test was introduced in France, Germany and Italy in October and administering the test in France and Germany has been especially problematic. With the planned expansion of the Internet-based test to 100 more countries, what has been a regional problem in Europe will quickly become a global one.

Reports good opportunities of San Diego, California companies involved in international trade. Exports to Mexico; Interest on maquiladoras; Partnership of life sciences industry with European companies.

Focuses on continuing-education in Europe. Trend among working people to go back to classrooms; National strategy for survival in the highly competitive global economy; Comments by Gerard Demazeay, at the University of Bordeaux I; Continuing education provided by private training schools; The attention given by the Association of European Universities to continuing education; Comments; Outlook.

The article discusses the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education, which was created in March 2008. The 46 countries involved in the process seek to improve the quality and assessment of higher education throughout Europe, thus facilitating students' mobility among institutions and countries and enhancing international use of courses and degrees from the participating countries. According to the author, the register is a good idea, but participants face problems because of the vast differences in government standards for higher-education oversight between member states.

The article discusses how 137 researchers in North America and Europe have reported that they have identified several chromosomal regions linked to autism. The researchers took blood samples from nearly 8,000 people who had a family member with some type of autism-spectrum disorder. The team focused on data from nearly 1,200 families that had at least two affected individuals. They then analyzed the data to find chromosomal regions that were present in people with autism more often than would be expected by chance. They identified a region on chromosome 15, which had been implicated before, and a part of chromosome 11 that had not previously been linked to autism.

Focuses on the role of photographs by Swiss writer, journalist and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach in depicting Europe and the U.S. in the 1930s. Background on a visit made by Schwarzenbach in the U.S. in 1936; Views of the contemporaries of Schwarzenbach on her personality; Cause of her death.