Top negotiator Saeed Jalili said Iran was ready to rejoin EU-led talks with major powers on assuaging Western concerns over its nuclear program even as tensions with the United States soared in the Gulf.

"We will give a resounding and many-pronged response to any threat against the Islamic Republic of Iran," Jalili told Iranian diplomats gathered in Tehran in comments reported on Saturday.

The German government summoned the Egyptian ambassador to Berlin Friday over the "unacceptable" raid by Cairo police of a German political foundation, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman, Andreas Peschke, said Berlin was troubled by the searches Thursday targeting the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which has close ties to Angela Merkel's conservative party, and other local and foreign rights groups.

The German economy is starting the new year in "downright robust" form, Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said in a newspaper interview Tuesday.

"Our economy is downright robust, even if the environment, both at an international and a European level, has become more difficult," Roesler told the business daily Handelsblatt.

German's foreign ministry said Thursday it had summoned Syria's ambassador to Berlin to demand an immediate halt to the "brutal" repression of anti-regime demonstrators by government forces.

"The brutal acts by the security forces against the Syrian population are absolutely unacceptable and a flagrant violation of Syria's agreement with the Arab League," said Boris Ruge, in charge of Middle East affairs at the foreign ministry.

European Union powers led condemnation by U.N. Security Council members Tuesday of Israel's increased settlements in the occupied territories and growing attacks by settlers on Palestinians.

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal said in a joint statement after a council meeting on the Middle East conflict that they were "dismayed by these wholly negative developments" and the threat they pose to the peace process.

Syria will be judged by actions rather than words, Germany's foreign minister said Tuesday, urging Damascus to immediately implement an accord to allow Arab observers to monitor a deal ending a nine-month protest crackdown.

Guido Westerwelle, Germany's top diplomat, noted that Syria had broken promises in the past.

Europeans are tightening their belts and spending less on Christmas gifts this year as they struggle with incomes hit by austerity measures or fear the economy could worsen in 2012.

Mother Nature is helping retailers in many countries this year as there have been no snow storms keeping consumers home and playing havoc with deliveries.

Toyota announced on Tuesday plans for a joint venture with a Canadian junior mining company to speed up the development of a rare earth elements mine in Quebec to supply Toyota hybrid and electric vehicles.

The Japanese auto maker said it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Montreal-based Matamec Explorations Inc. to collaborate to "fast track the development" of Matamec's Kipawa heavy rare earths deposit.

Germany, one of Europe's fastest-ageing societies, has seen a sharp drop in the life expectancy of its poorest citizens, according to official data published Monday.

Workers with below-average incomes reached a median age of 75.5 years in 2010, down from 77.5 years in 2001, with the trend particularly marked in the economically depressed states of the former communist east.

The leaders of 23 European countries moved to tie their economies much closer together in a new treaty in their latest attempt to shore up the euro, but failed to get the four other European Union members, including Britain, to join in.

Following marathon all-night talks, the 23 decided to back a new treaty with strict oversight over national budgets, as they try to convince markets that the euro has a future in the wake of a crippling debt crisis.