2.  The Republic of Ireland is in preliminary talks with EU officials for
financial support, the BBC has learned.
 It is now no longer a matter of whether but when the Irish government
formally approaches the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) for a
bailout, correspondents say.
 The provisional estimate for EFSF loans is believed to lie between 60bn
and 80bn euros ($82-110bn; £51-68bn).
 Dublin says there are no talks on an application for emergency EU
funding.

3.  A spokesman for Ireland's department of finance said the country was
funded until the middle of 2011, the public-service RTE broadcaster
reported.
 RTE had earlier said talks had been held on how a bail-out might happen
in a theoretical worst-case scenario.
 The EuropeanCommission would not formally comment on the matter.
 Eurozone officials told the Reuters news agency on Friday that
discussions were under way, with one saying that it was "very likely"
Ireland would receive financial assistance.

4.  India's Tata Steel has reported a return to profit for the second quarter of
the financial year, thanks to a rise in demand in domestic markets.
 Net profit came in at 19.8bn rupees ($442m; £273m), comfortably
beating analysts' expectations, compared with a loss of 27.1bn rupees a
year earlier.
 Revenue rose by 11% to 281bn rupees after sales in India rose by a
quarter.
 But the company said the demand outlook for Europe, where it operates
asTata Europe, formerly Corus, was uncertain.

5.  "We registered strong sales in India in the second quarter, aided by
growing strength in industrial activity and intensifying demand from the
infrastructure, construction and auto sectors," said Tata Steel managing
director HM Nerurkar.
 He added he was confident that Tata would record "fairly strong
performance" for the full financial year.
 In Europe, the group also posted profits, in part thanks to cost-cutting
and restructuring measures implemented since the onset of the global
financial crisis.

6. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that a NATO
summit in Lisbon next week would mark an "improvement of relations"
between the defence alliance and Russia.
The Russian leader is to attend the summit on November 19, marking a
major thaw in relations after the crisis caused by the war between Russia
and the pro-Western ex-Soviet state of Georgia in 2008.
Medvedev, speaking after talks with US President Barack Obama on the
sidelines of a summit in Japan, said the NATO meeting would mark the
"improvement of relations between Russia and the North AtlanticTreaty
Organisation".

7.  Obama said the NATO-Russia council would help NATO and Russia to
"ease tensions and increase cooperation on various security issues”.
In Lisbon, the NATO powers are due to unveil their new "strategic
concept", the framework within which the Euro-Atlantic allies intend to
coordinate their defence and foreign policy goals.

8.  Bolivia's government has defended its policy of nationalising companies
that it says are vital to the economy.
 Businesses in the energy sector have been seized by President Evo
Morales's left-wing administration.
 It follows a trend started by Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez, who has
called on all LatinAmerican nations to follow his lead.
 Bolivia's government has said it is redistributing oil and gas wealth to the
country's indigenous population.

9.  In May 2010, four electricity firms, which between them account for
more than half of Bolivia's electricity market, were expropriated.
 "We're just fulfilling the promise we made when we were elected, to
recover all these areas that were in the hands of the state before these
privatisations", Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera told the BBC World
Service.

10.  The pace of economic recovery has slowed in Europe's major economies,
according to official estimates.
 Germany, Europe's largest economy, has seen a sharp slowdown in the
third quarter, with growth of 0.7% compared with the record expansion
of 2.3% it reported in the previous three months.
 In France, GDP grew by 0.4% between July and September, compared
with growth of 0.7% in the previous quarter.
 The 16 eurozone members grew 0.4% on average, down from 1% growth
before.
 Italy also saw its rate of recovery decline, to 0.2% from 0.5% in the
second quarter. But in crisis-hit Greece, the economy contracted at a
slower rate of -1.1%, compared with -1.7%.

11.  Germany's growth rate in the second quarter - now revised from 2.2% to 2.3% -
was the fastest since the country reunified.
 Announcing its first estimate of third-quarter growth, the German statistics office
Destatis said the upturn was continuing.But it said the slower pace had been
expected, given the record result in the second quarter.
 Demand for its goods is crucial to the world's second largest exporter, and
Destatis said both domestic and foreign demand had made a positive
contribution to growth. It said the reasons for expansion were wide-ranging, with
household and government expenditure, demand for machinery and equipment,
as well as imports and exports all contributing.
 Higher foreign demand for German-made machinery could indicate that
companies overseas are investing for future growth.
 But Capital Economics said that although it was expecting Germany to continue
to outperform other European economies, it thought that the eurozone's
recovery would "grind to a halt" next year.