EU names Trichet as next ECB boss

BANK of France Governor Jean-Claude Trichet has won the backing of European government leaders to become the next European Central Bank president.

He will take on the task of steering the euro countries away from deflation and recession.

Trichet, who was promised the post in 1998, overcame the biggest hurdle to taking command of interest rates in the $8 trillion 12-nation economy on Wednesday, when a Paris court cleared him of false-accounting charges.