News Today - May 18

* Indian Financial markets are set to gain on election outcome that will strengthen the hand of the ruling Congress party.

* As top government and business leaders wrapped up a weekend forum on the Middle East, all eyes were moving toward Washington to restart the stalled Arab-Israeli peace process that many say lies at the heart of political and economic instability in the region. full story

* Europe experienced its worst quarterly drop in GDP in the first three months of the year, shedding 2.5 percent as German exports tumbled and investment plummeted across the 27-country bloc.

* The US economy is no longer in "free-fall" but is not out of the woods yet, White House budget overseer Peter Orszag said. "I think what happened is the free-fall in the economy seems to have stopped," Orszag, director of President Barack Obama's Office of Management and Budget, told CNN.

* US credit card defaults rose in April to record highs, with Citigroup and Wells Fargo posting double digit loss rates, as the recession slashed more than 2 million jobs since the beginning of the year.

* A regulatory filing shows the Berkshire Hathaway chairman expanded his company’s holdings in wells fargo during the first quarter as its shares swooned.