DUBROVNIK, Croatia (AFP) – European Union and Balkan leaders held talks on Friday to discuss the region's integration into the bloc and the challenges it faces due to the global economic crisis.

"All of us here are striving for the same goal -- eventual integration of southeastern European countries in the Euro-Atlantic political and security framework," Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said on opening the two-day meeting.

PARIS – Officially, France has no single grand plan to cut the enormous national debt that has contributed to fears about Europe's financial stability.

Bit by bit, though, President Nicolas Sarkozy's government has revealed that it's putting the squeeze on billions of euros of spending. While neighbors including Germany, Britain and Spain have publicly announced sweeping programs for tens of billions in cutbacks, Sarkozy and other French leaders have announced savings plans one-by-one, often in private meetings and always avoiding the word 'austerity.'

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poles began voting on Sunday in a presidential election run-off that will help decide the speed and scale of economic reforms and set the tone for Warsaw's ties with its European Union partners and with Russia.

Billed as Poland's strangest election since the fall of communism in 1989, it was called after the death of President Lech Kaczynski and many other top officials in a plane crash in Russia on April 10.

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poles choose a new president on Sunday in an election run-off that will help decide the speed and scale of economic reforms and set the tone for Warsaw's ties with its European Union partners and with Russia.

Billed as Poland's strangest election since the fall of communism in 1989, it was called after the death of President Lech Kaczynski and many other top officials in a plane crash in Russia on April 10.

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poles will choose between two conservative candidates with contrasting views on market reforms, the euro currency and Poland's place in the European Union in Sunday's presidential election run-off.

Bronislaw Komorowski of the centrist ruling party, Civic Platform (PO), is tipped to win but faces a stiff challenge from rightist opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of President Lech Kaczynski who died in a plane crash in April.

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Belgium on Thursday assumes the EU presidency for a six-month term, hoping to help the bloc out of economic crisis despite the lack of a new national government after a general election.

Outgoing Prime Minister Yves Leterme will provide a willing face for the Belgian EU presidency, as Spain handed over the reins after its stint in the chair, but he is only running day-to-day affairs nationally while talks on forming a new coalition trundle on.

TORONTO (AFP) – The leaders of the world's most powerful economies pledged to slash back spiraling debts on Sunday as they sought to rebalance a global economy knocked off its axis by a financial crisis.

HUNTSVILLE, Ontario – After failing to resolve their differences on economic strategy, world leaders are turning their attention to grappling with some of the globe's toughest foreign policy problems.

TORONTO – As world leaders gathered to deal with the aftermath of the global financial crisis, President Barack Obama boasted about a congressional compromise on overhauling the U.S. banking system and called for an international effort to prevent future economic meltdowns.

BANGKOK – Asian stock markets mostly rose Thursday but gains were tentative after the Federal Reserve struck a note of caution in its latest assessment of the world's No. 1 economy.

The U.S. central bank's statement, which accompanied a decision to leave interest rates at a record low, added to unease after weak housing figures suggested economic recovery is uneven.