French bank ratings downgraded again by Moody's
Credit rating agency Moody's has downgraded France's three big banks due to their difficulty borrowing money.
The agency cut Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas from Aa2 to Aa3, and Societe Generale from Aa3 to A1.
The move follows a previous rating cut by Moody's for Credit Agricole and Societe Generale in September.
"Liquidity and funding conditions have deteriorated significantly" for each of the banks, Moody's said, adding that the problem was likely to worsen.
"The probability that the bank will face further funding pressures has risen in line with the worsening European debt crisis," the rating agency said of each of the three.
It also assigned a negative outlook to all three banks' ratings, warning that it will continue to monitor the European bank debt markets, and would downgrade them again if conditions look set to worsen.
Markets shrugged off the news, with share prices in all three banks closing higher, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole finished more than 4% up. Societe Generale made a more modest gain of over 2%.
Dollar shortage
The latest downgrades follow a review launched by Moody's immediately after the previous downgrades, "to consider the implications of the persistent fragility in the bank financing markets, given the banks' continued reliance on wholesale funding".
The markets for short-term cash lending between European banks have become increasingly stressed since the summer.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank unveiled a string of new measures to ensure that eurozone banks do not run out of cash.
Eurozone banks have also found it particularly hard to maintain their borrowing in US dollars, as many US money market funds have refused to lend to them since the summer.
Last week, the problem prompted the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve and four other major central banks to agree to help each other provide cheap emergency loans to their banks in each other's currencies.
The surprise move sparked speculation that one or more major European banks may have been on the point of collapse.
Both BNP Paribas and Societe Generale have announced large asset sales in recent months, in order to reduce their total exposures and their reliance on short-term wholesale funding.
BNP plans to sell 70bn euros of assets, or 10% of the bank's entire balance sheet, with a focus on its dollar-denominated loans.
Moody's welcomed these moves, but it also warned that if a lot of European banks all tried to sell off assets at the same time - as seemed likely - that would depress their market value, meaning they would be sold at a loss.
Capital call
The September downgrades were due to the bank's exposure to Greece in the case of Credit Agricole, and Moody's view that the bank no longer enjoyed the same level of government support in the case of Societe Generale.
In its latest decisions, Moody's again flagged up the banks' continuing, albeit reduced, exposure to troubled European governments such as Greece and Italy.
The rating agency's announcement came a day after the European Banking Authority said that the continent's banks would have to raise 115bn euros ($154bn, £96.25bn) in capital to be sure of withstanding future financial shocks.
Capital is the bank's buffer for absorbing losses, and can be raised by selling new shares, or by retaining profits by cutting dividends and bonuses.
French banks were told to raise 7.3bn euros in total - considerably less than their peers in Germany, Italy or Spain.
German exports drop as southern Europe markets shrink
German exports fell 3.6% in October as demand from crisis-hit southern European markets shrank, data shows.
It was the biggest fall in six months, and much bigger than the 1% decline expected by markets.
German imports shrank by 1% versus a month earlier - also more than expected - suggesting demand is also weakening in Europe's biggest economy.
The country's trade surplus fell from 17.3bn to 11.6bn euros ($15.5bn; £9.9bn), or about 5.5% of its GDP.
"We are seeing the beginning of a strong hit to German exports," said Holger Schmiedling, economist at Berenberg Bank.
"It is telling that the exports fell by more than the imports. It's the euro crisis. If our neighbours aren't doing well, Germany can't remain an island of tranquillity."
Meanwhile, German inflation fell marginally in November to 2.4% versus a year earlier, compared with a 2.5% rate the month before.
In France, industrial output and manufacturing production both registered zero growth in October versus the previous month - slightly beating expectations of a mild contraction.
US trade deficit narrows further to $43.5bn
The US trade deficit narrowed further in October as imports fell faster than exports, official data has shown.
Total exports of $179bn (£115bn) fell 0.8% from September, while imports fell 1% to $223bn, giving a total deficit of $43.5bn, or roughly 3.5% of GDP.
Imports have largely stagnated over the past six months as the US economy has slowed, while exports have continued their steady post-recession recovery.
The US Commerce Department data was in line with market expectations.
Imports have also been held down by the average price paid by the US for imported oil, which fell for the fifth month in a row to $98.84 per barrel.
It helped the trade deficit reach its lowest monthly level this year.
The US ratified new trade treaties with South Korea, Panama and Colombia in October - the first such treaties in four years.
The government expects the deals to boost US exports by $13bn a year in the future.
Russian election: Moscow braced for fresh protests
Moscow is braced for what the opposition claims will be the biggest demonstration in Russia for 20 years.
Tens of thousands are expected to gather in a square south of the Kremlin, in the latest show of anger over disputed parliamentary polls.
Smaller rallies are due to take place in cities across the country.
The protesters allege Sunday's elections - which gave Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party a small lead - were fraudulent.
Hundreds of people have been arrested during anti-Putin protests over the past week, mainly in Moscow and St Petersburg.
'School classes extended'
At least 50,000 police and riot troops have been deployed in Moscow ahead of Saturday's protests.
The opposition says it is hoping for a turnout of 30,000 in the capital in the demonstration dubbed "For Fair Elections", due to begin at 14:00 (10:00 GMT).
The BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow says that if the protests come even close to expectations, they will shake the 12-year-long political domination of Mr Putin.
The authorities agreed to allow Saturday's demonstrations to go ahead following negotiations with opposition leaders.
The two sides reached a deal in which Moscow would allow a high-turnout if the rally was relocated from downtown Revolution Square to Bolotnaya Square, a narrow island in the Moscow River.
The official results of the elections to Russia's Duma showed that the ruling party United Russia lost 77 of its 315 seats, just retaining a small majority.
But there is a widespread view, fuelled by mobile phone videos, and accounts on internet social networking sites that there was wholesale election fraud, and that Mr Putin's party cheated its way to victory, our correspondent says.
On Friday, the presidential Council for Human Rights advising Mr Medvedev said the reports of vote-rigging were of deep concern, and that the elections should be rerun if they were confirmed.
However the council has no power to order a fresh ballot, correspondents say.
Earlier this week, security experts said attempts had been made to counter online dissent in Russia, with hijacked PCs being used to drown out online chat on Twitter.
Analysis of the many pro-Kremlin messages posted to some discussions suggested they were sent by machines, according to security firm Trend Micro.
Mr Putin, who was president between 2000 and 2008, is widely predicted to win a presidential election in March.
On Thursday, he blamed the US for stoking the recent unrest, after Secretary of State Hilary Clinton expressed reservations over the poll.
The prime minister said Mrs Clinton's remarks had "set the tone for some opposition activists".
Appeals for calm after disputed DR Congo election
There have been appeals for calm in the Democratic Republic of Congo following the victory of President Joseph Kabila in disputed elections.
Main opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi has rejected official results and declared himself the winner, raising fears of violence.
Mr Tshisekedi along with the EU, the US, Britain, France and former colonial power Belgium appealed for calm.
Riot police are patrolling the capital, Kinshasa, and gunshots have been heard.
Columns of smoke were seen rising over districts backing Mr Tshisekedi as groups of young men burned tyres.
Meanwhile, in areas loyal to President Kabila, residents cheered and supporters staged victory parades.
"I reject these results, and in fact I see them as a provocation against our people," said 78-year-old Mr Tshisekedi.
"It is scandalous and vulgar. We have done our own calculations and I received 54% to Kabila's 26%. His term is finished. I am the president."
Mr Tshisekedi later appealed to his supporters to "stay calm and peaceful".
However, he added that he was waiting to see if diplomatic efforts would change the situation.
The army says it has about 20,000 soldiers on standby in Kinshasa. The atmosphere in the city is said to be tense.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for "any differences regarding the provisional results of the polls to be resolved peacefully through available legal and mediation mechanisms".
The French Foreign Ministry appealed for peace, saying: "France calls on all Congolese political players to show restraint and a spirit of responsibility."
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington was calling on DR Congo's leaders and their supporters "to act responsibly, to renounce violence, to resolve any disagreements they might have through peaceful dialogue".
Earlier, election commission chief Daniel Ngoy Mulunda said President Kabila had gained 49% of the vote against 32% for Mr Tshisekedi.
The announcement had been delayed since Tuesday, with election officials blaming logistical problems.
Mr Tshisekedi's supporters have been protesting in South Africa, Belgium, France and the UK, accusing the international community of backing Mr Kabila.
Four other candidates have said the election was rigged and should be annulled.
International observers said the vote was flawed but stopped short of calling it fraudulent. Most said the irregularities were not enough to change the outcome.
Deadly clashes marred the period leading up to the election and thousands of foreigners and Congolese have fled the country for fear of further violence.
Mr Kabila, 40, has been president since 2001 following the death of his father, Laurent.
In 2006 he won the first elections since the end of a five-year conflict and is due to be sworn in on 20 December for his second term.
But his victory must first be confirmed by the supreme court.
Mr Tshisekedi has said he has no intention of taking an election dispute to the court, which he regards as "Kabila's private institution".
Earlier this year, the constitution was amended so that the candidate with the most votes would win the election, removing the need for a second round.
Although DR Congo is rich in minerals such as gold and diamonds, years of conflict and mismanagement mean it recently came bottom of a survey of living standards around the world.
US General Martin Dempsey warns of unrest
The top US military commander, Gen Martin Dempsey, says he is concerned about "the potential for civil unrest" as Europe's financial crisis unfolds.
Gen Dempsey said it was unclear the latest steps taken by EU leaders would be enough to hold the eurozone together, adding that a break-up could have consequences for the Pentagon.
Twenty-six of the 27 EU countries have agreed to forge a tighter fiscal union.
Only the UK refused to sign up to a new treaty, citing national interest.
Gen Dempsey, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an event hosted by the Atlantic Council, a Washington think-tank: "The eurozone is at great risk."
"I know that they've taken some measures here with the 17 members of the eurozone to try to better align... monetary and fiscal policy. But it's unclear, to me at least, that that will be the glue that actually holds it together."
Gen Dempsey previously served as the Army's Chief of Staff and as a general in Iraq.
He suggested that part of his concern was that the US military could be exposed to any unravelling of the eurozone "because of the potential for civil unrest and the break-up of the union".
The US military has more than 80,000 troops and 20,000 civilian workers in Europe, many based in Germany.
Gen Dempsey also said he was concerned that an international project to develop the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft could be put in jeopardy if European national defence budgets were cut.
"It will clearly put [budgets] at risk if all the economic predictions about a potential collapse were to occur," Gen Dempsey said.
At an emergency EU summit that ended in Brussels on Friday, the UK effectively used its veto to block an attempt, led by the French and Germans, to get all 27 members states to support changes to the union's treaties.
Instead, eurozone members and others will adopt an accord with penalties for breaking deficit rules. It will be backed by a treaty between governments, not an EU treaty.
The announcement on Friday produce little reaction from financial markets, which are still hoping for more intervention by the European Central Bank (ECB).
The BBC's Chris Morris says that without further action to lower the cost of borrowing, likely by the ECB, the eurozone still faces a threat.
The rising costs of borrowing in some eurozone countries have pushed governments to pass new austerity measures and to the International Monetary Fund as they struggle to pay their debts.
Europe's debt crisis has already unseated two political leaders and their governments: former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi.
Egypt's new government seeks to achieve people's aspirations: PM
Egypt's Prime Minister Kamal el- Ganzouri stressed on Friday that the new government seeks to achieve people's aspirations in the coming period, official news agency MENA reported.
At Friday's conference of the new government, Ganzouri urged all Egyptians to stand together and support him for the sake of the homeland.
He announced that four ministerial committees will be established this month consisting specialists in all fields to discuss issues of high priority and provide solutions as soon as possible.
The first committee will be charged with providing care for the injured as well as families of those who died in the unrest in January.
The second will be entrusted with discussing the issue of national security.
The third committee, which includes economists, will be responsible for reviewing mechanisms to improve the economic performance on all fronts.
The fourth one will explore means to carry on large projects which has been postponed.
The Egyptian prime minister called on protesters in the People' s Assembly Street and outside the Cabinet headquarters to end their sit-in and put the country's interests at their heart.
Meanwhile, Ganzouri said that Egypt had started its transformation process through holding the People's Assembly elections which will be followed by Shura Council polls, and then the draft of a new Constitution and presidential elections.
China Joins Joint Patrols of Mekong River
Chinese officials say more than 200 armed police began joint Mekong River security patrols Saturday, with forces from Burma, Laos and Thailand.
The patrols are a response to the deaths of 13 Chinese sailors who were attacked on two cargo ships in early October along the Thai section of the river near the border with Burma. Sailors have long complained of armed gangs that loot their boats or demand cash.
Chinese media did not give details on the scale of the operations or how far south Chinese forces would go. The Mekong River flows through China's southwestern province of Yunnan into several Southeast Asian countries.
Al Qaida Groups Claims Responsibility for Kidnappings
The North African branch of al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for two kidnappings in Mali last month but denied being involved in a recent abduction of foreigners in Algeria.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said it was behind the kidnapping of two French tourists from their hotel room in eastern Mali on November 24.
It also said it was responsible for a kidnapping the following day when gunmen abducted three foreigners — Dutch, Swedish, and South African nationals — from a restaurant in Timbuktu. The gunmen killed a German who tried to resist.
The militant group's statement was reported by the Mauritania news agency ANI on Thursday, but it could not be independently verified. The news agency released photos on Friday purportedly showing the two groups of hostages.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said it was not responsible for the kidnapping of three European aid workers taken in October from a refugee camp in Algeria.
The militant group operates across the Sahel, a strip of semi-arid land that separates the Sahara Desert from the rest of Africa. It has claimed responsibility for several kidnappings in the region in recent years.
Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Algeria are working together against the group that began in Algeria in 1998 as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. The name was changed following the September 2001 attacks
in the United States to more closely ally themselves with the broader al-Qaida movement.
Syrian Forces Kill 15 as Protests Spread
Syrian activists say security forces have killed at least 24 people, including several children, as anti-government protests spread nationwide.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told VOA three boys, ages 10, 12, 14, were shot and killed Friday in and around the restive city of Homs. Meanwhile, a 12-year-old girl was shot in the southern part of the country.
Despite a surge in violence this week, Syrians took the streets following Friday prayers in support of a “dignity strike.” Activists said large demonstrations and much of the violence was concentrated in the epicenter of the bloody crackdown, Homs. The opposition Syrian National Council also issued a statement warning of a looming “massacre” as government security forces surrounded Homs.
Protests were also being held in the southern city of Daraa, the northwestern city of Idlib, near the Turkey-Syria border, and in Deir el-Zour, in the eastern part of the country.
The United Nations reports that at least 4,000 people have been killed since the unrest erupted in March, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stood by that number on Friday, saying the U.N. death toll is based on “very credible sources.”
His comments came in response to a rare interview an American journalist conducted with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In the interview, aired on Wednesday, Mr. Assad denied that he ordered the killing of thousands of anti-government protesters. Mr. Assad told ABC News he does not control the forces implementing his country's brutal crackdown.
Separately, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay acknowledged that almost 1,000 security forces may have been killed in Syria. But, she said “it is not good enough for the president of Syria to simply brush all this aside with the unsupported assertion that the United Nations is not credible.”
Pillay once again, pressed Damascus to allow U.N. observers into Syria.
On Friday, Turkey also responded to Mr. Assad's remarks in the interview. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged the Syrian leader to punish the “murders” and to accept the proposal of the Arab League.
Davutoglu said his country does not want to intervene in Syria's internal affairs, but he says Turkey can not stand by when Syria's violence is affecting its neighboring countries. Turkey shares a southern border with Syria and is providing a safe haven to members of the opposition group, the Syrian National Council.
Meanwhile, Syrian activists are calling for a nationwide strike, beginning Sunday, in an attempt to bring down the regime through civil disobedience. The Local Coordination Committee, which is behind the country's peaceful protests, is urging citizens to hold sit-ins; to close shops, universities and public transportation; and to refuse to work in the public sector.
This has been one of the most violent weeks in Syria since the pro-democracy uprising began nine months ago, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting more than 70 people killed since last Sunday.