Mideast investment firm Abraaj Capital says it has bought French asset manager Amundi's private equity business in North Africa.

The Dubai-based private equity house said Sunday the deal includes assuming control of Amundi's offices in Morocco and Tunisia and the management of a $161 million regional buyout fund. It will also acquire Amundi's stake in the fund.

Germany is celebrating this year the birth of the automobile, with a patent applied for by Carl Benz 125 years ago for a motorized tricycle, in hopes of drawing tourists smitten by cars.

The national tourism office has made the auto industry a highlight of its annual program for the first time and the southwestern region of Baden-Wuerttemburg alone has organized 200 events from May through September.

The head of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), Klaus Regling, believes the Eurozone will overcome its current debt crisis by 2014.

"One can justifiably expect the crisis to be over within two to three years," he told the magazine Spiegel out Sunday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has a message for Congress: Do more to stimulate hiring and growth — or risk delaying the economy's return to full health.

Bernanke held out the prospect Friday that the Fed may take further steps later to help the economy. But he offered no new plans for now.

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrived in Washington late Friday for a visit with his onetime colleagues which his successor Christine Lagarde said would be "a sort of reconciliation."

Strauss-Kahn, who was arrested in May on sexual assault charges but saw those charges dropped this week, made no statement to journalists outside his home in an upscale district of Washington, waving them away with his hand.

U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke takes center stage Friday facing hopes from around the world that he will shore up faith in the US economy and offer more stimulus to boost business.

Bernanke is to address a gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming beginning at 1400 GMT on the U.S. economy in what many hope will reprise his speech a year ago, when he signaled the coming of the $600 billion "QE2" quantitative easing and delivered a much-needed shot of adrenalin to markets.

Growth in Eurozone money supply, a key indicator of demand in the economy, edged higher in July, the European Central Bank said on Friday.

The M3 indicator rose 2.0 percent following a gain of 1.9 percent in June.

It's not every day that a U.S. governor accepts an invitation to the launch of a Japanese-built car, but Nissan's all-electric Leaf offers environmental credentials that top any nationalistic concerns.

"Illinois is laying the groundwork for electric vehicles and a more green economy, and our efforts are paying off," Governor Pat Quinn said Thursday, as he thanked Nissan for bringing the Leaf to his state months earlier than originally planned.

The Emmental Show Dairy has cranked out tons of cheese for years. But now it's in trouble — production is down by a third and the company fears it may be forced to cut back to just a few wheels a day, enough to show tourists.

The dramatic slide in sales of Emmental, popularly known as "Swiss cheese" in North America, is caused by the strength of the Swiss franc, a financial phenomenon that is driving down profits in sectors across all of export-driven Switzerland.

European stock markets rose Thursday after strong gains in Asia and overnight on Wall Street, on hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve could soon unveil new economy-boosting plans, dealers said.

In midday trade, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares added 0.11 percent to 5,211.49 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index gained 0.80 percent to 5,726.65 points and in Paris the CAC 40 was up 0.87 percent to 3,166.99 points.