
US District Judge Thomas Griesa told Argentina it should not even consider evading a recent ruling requiring it to pay bondholders who did not participate in two major debt restructurings after the country's 2002 default.

Newly re-elected President Barack Obama said on Friday the wealthy must pay more taxes under any political deal to avert a looming budget crisis. He said Congress must act against the so-called fiscal cliff, a package of tax rises and spending cuts due early next year.

International Airlines Group has reaffirmed that it would keep Vueling as a stand-alone entity within the group if it completes its plan to acquire the outstanding shares in the Barcelona-based low-cost carrier.

Loss-making Iberia on Friday announced plans to axe 4.500 jobs to save Spain's biggest airline from collapse and warned more cuts could follow against the backdrop of economic crisis in the Euro zone country.

China is projected to overtake the US to become the world's largest economy as early as 2016, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released on Friday.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has held the benchmark Euro zone interest rate at the record low of 0.75%, as had been expected. The rate has been at this level for four months, after July's cut from 1%.

The FAO Food Price Index fell 1% in October 2012, and for the first ten months of the year food prices were on average 8% lower than in the same period in 2011. The Index dipped two points to 213 points from September's revised level of 215 points. The decline was largely due to lower international prices of cereals and oils and fats, which more than offset increases in dairy and sugar prices.

The Bank of England has decided not to extend its quantitative easing (QE) stimulus program, which has injected £375bn into the UK financial system. Under QE, the Bank creates money and uses it to buy government bonds to try to stimulate the economy.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Wednesday that inflation has peaked and indicators are pointing to a retreat to a lower level. Consumer prices rose in October at their fastest pace since April due to higher food prices, government data showed, though a measure of wholesale costs suggested relief should arrive in coming months

Brazilian companies are moving into Africa amid a government drive to build closer economic ties with the continent. A year ago Vale, the Brazilian mining giant, exported its first overseas coal shipment from Mozambique.