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EU27 trade in goods with Russia partly recovered in 2010, after the sharp drop recorded in 2009 which interrupted a long period of growth. EU27 exports to Russia fell from 105 billion euro in 2008 to 66 bn in 2009, then rose to 87 bn in 2010. Imports decreased from 178 bn in 2008 to 118 bn in 2009, then increased to 158 bn in 2010. As a result, the EU27 trade deficit with Russia increased from 52 bn euro in 2009 to 72 bn in 2010. In 2010, Russia was the EU27's third most important trading partner after the USA and China, accounting for 6% of EU27 exports and 11% of EU27 imports.

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released a study of how Internet users spend their time online in Greater China (defined as Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong) based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The report found that Portals commanded the largest share of online minutes, accounting for 24.4 percent of total time in Greater China, followed by the Entertainment, Search/Navigation, Social Networking and Retail site categories. These five categories combined accounted for half of all time spent online in Greater China during April. Separately, comScore also announced the appointment of Xinyu Huang to the position of senior vice president of Greater China.

The EU27 external current account recorded a deficit of 32.8 billion euro in the first quarter of 2011, compared with a deficit of 27.7 bn in the first quarter of 2010 and a deficit of 18.2 bn in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Just as employees have gotten comfortable with the idea of work life flexibility, worrying less about the impact it has on their paychecks or careers, new research shows increased workloads or no time are now the biggest obstacles.

GDP increased by 0.8% in both the euro area (EA17) and the EU27 during the first quarter of 2011, compared with the previous quarter, according to second estimates released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the fourth quarter of 2010, growth rates were +0.3% in the euro area and +0.2% in the EU27.

There were 3.0 million job openings on the last business day of April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The job openings rate (2.2 percent), the hires rate (3.0 percent), and the separations rate (2.9 percent) were essentially unchanged in April. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector by industry and by geographic region.

Consumer sentiment remained stagnant in May, as both spending expectations and economic confidence saw little change from the prior two months, according to the Discover U.S. Spending Monitor. The Monitor, a poll of 8,200 consumers tracking economic confidence and spending intentions on a daily basis, rose 0.1 to 89.5 in May. That figure is down from this year’s high of 93.1, reported in January, and reflects the pressure that high gas prices and continued high unemployment are putting on budgets and finances.

The last year has seen a rise in U.S. companies using social networks to win new business, reveals a new survey from Regus, the global provider of flexible workplace solutions. According to the survey, 43 percent of firms are successfully using social networking to win new customers, up eight percentage points from last year's survey.

Regulators and policy makers should boost competition among mobile telephone operators to cut the high prices being charged for international data roaming, according to a new OECD report. Analysis of pricing plans at 68 operators in the 34 OECD countries points to a strong case for new consumer protection and empowerment measures. “Current pricing levels indicate that there is, in general terms, either insufficient retail or wholesale competition,” says the report.

With high pump prices, Consumer Reports says that the most effective way to cute your gasoline use is to buy a more fuel-efficient car. CR named the best cars for fuel economy of those recently tested by the magazine in its own real-world fuel-economy tests. Also listed are the ones that got the lowest mpg in each class.