Hungary

European Union leaders, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, rejected a call by Hungary for a sweeping bailout of Eastern Europe, as the bloc struggled to find consensus on an approach to the spiraling financial crisis at a summit Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The global recession has greatly strained the bonds holding together the 27 nations that now make up the European Union, formed in the wake of World War II, and poses the most significant challenge in decades to its ideals of solidarity and common interest. Ms.

One of Europe’s most high profile architects, Erick van Egeraat Associates, has called in the receivers after a number of major projects were put on hold due to the credit crunch, BD reported. The sudden cancellation of work caused a cash-flow crisis at the Rotterdam-based firm, which also has offices in London, Budapest, Moscow and Prague. Law firm De Bok Roijers Gasseling was appointed by the Dutch courts after van Egeraat himself declared the practice insolvent. The practice has about 50 projects on its books from Leipzig to Budapest to Prague.

Icelanders will take to the streets in the thousands tomorrow to protest the government's failure to clinch a $6 billion International Monetary Fund-led loan while countries in less dire economic straits jump the IMF queue, Bloomberg reported today. Weekly protests in downtown Reykjavik may swell to 20,000 soon, or 6 percent of the population, said Andres Magnusson, chief executive of the Icelandic Federation of Trade and Services. The Atlantic island, which had the fifth-highest per capita income in the world last year, needs the money to finance imports and revive the banking system.