Standard & Poor's carried out a mass downgrade of euro zone countries on Friday, stripping France and Austria of their top-grade AAA ratings in a move that may complicate efforts to solve a two-year o

A congressional 'super committee' is expected to formally announce on Monday that its three-month-long effort to forge a $1.2 trillion deficit reduction plan has failed, aides told Reuters.

Barring a

The head of the International Monetary Fund called on Thursday for greater 'political clarity' in Greece and Italy, after talks with Chinese leaders dominated by Europe's worsening debt crisis.

Laga

German and French officials have discussed plans for a radical overhaul of the European Union that would involve setting up a more integrated and potentially smaller euro zone, EU sources say.

"Franc

The world's leading economies pressed Europe on Saturday to act decisively within eight days to resolve the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis which is endangering the world economy.

In unusually dire

Gold slipped more than 1 per cent on Friday, heading for its biggest weekly drop since March 2009, as stock markets gained and the euro rose after major central banks around the world strived to fight