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Between 2000 and 2007, EU27 trade in goods with Russia nearly tripled in value. This rapid growth continued in the first six months of 2008, with the value of EU27 exports to Russia rising to 50 bn euro from 40 bn in the first half of 2007, and imports rising to 88 bn from 69 bn.

In September 2008 compared with August 2008, seasonally adjusted industrial production fell by 1.6% in the euro area (EA15) and by 1.1% in the EU27. In August production grew by 0.8% and 0.3% respectively. In September 2008 compared with September 2007, industrial production decreased by 2.4% in the euro area and by 2.1% in the EU27.

The Conference Board announced that the leading index for Spain declined 0.2 percent and the coincident index remained unchanged in September.

The European Court of Auditors presented its report on how EU funds were spent in 2007 at a meeting of the Budgetary Control Committee on Monday. Although the accounts themselves have been approved without qualification, the same cannot be said of the "transactions underlying the accounts": the Court said that for the 14th year in a row it was not able to issue a "statement of assurance" that the EU money had been spent well and according to the rules in all policy areas.

Swiftcover.com has uncovered the top ten cheapest car makes and models to insure in the UK, illustrating the best car insurance deal for second-hand drivers, together with the best value quotes for an average driver across a range of popular makes and models in the UK.

The results of the October 2008 bank lending survey indicate a significant increase in the net tightening of credit standards for loans to enterprises in the third quarter of 2008. The most important factors in this net tightening remained the expectations regarding future economic activity and the industry or firmspecific outlook. At the same time, the impact of banks’ funding costs and balance sheet constraints also contributed to the net tightening, particularly banks’ ability to access market financing.

Fitch Ratings says in a special report that international financial market dislocation since September 2008 will have an impact on the H208 performance of big Italian banks, but the agency believes Italian banks are in a relatively good position to weather the ongoing global credit crisis.

The EP Internal Market Committee has adopted a report aimed at making toys safer. The new legislation will beef up safety regulations and ban the use of certain chemicals and heavy metals.

Petitions Committee MEPs called on Member States to act together to put an end to misleading advertising by business directory companies, further to 400 complaints from small firms across Europe that they had been misled into committing themselves to pay for adverts costing €1,000 per year.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to reduce the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves by 1.5 percentage points to 3%.