European Union finance ministers tried to broaden efforts to contain the region's debt crisis on Tuesday and Spanish public sector workers protested over government cutbacks. Spanish unions said about 75 percent of the country's 2.3 million public employees stayed away from work to protest cuts that will lower wages by five percent this year and

  Renewed worries about European sovereign debt, this time Britain's, knocked equities back on Tuesday and ate into early euro gains against the dollar. Wall Street looked set for some gains at the start, but Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 was down 0.9 percent, giving up an early rise. That pushed MSCI's all-country world stock index into

Financial markets stuck to their recent script on Tuesday, following a day of volatility with modest equities gains and a small lift for the euro. Comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the U.S. economy should avoid a double dip recession and that he believed European leaders were committed to the euro's survival also

Britain's leading shares fell on Tuesday, as BP led energy shares lower to outweigh gains in miners, while banks were mixed as policymakers attempted to sooth fears over Europe's debt crisis. By 0802 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 3.13 points, or 0.1 percent at 5,065.93, having shed 1.1 percent on Monday. Euro zone ministers

The euro edged up but was still near four-year lows against the dollar on Tuesday as a short squeeze showed signs of waning and funds were expected to resume selling on persistent worries about Europe's financial system. Higher-yielders such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars bounced 1 percent up against the yen as investors

Countries setting up an emergency loan company for the euro zone will each guarantee 120 percent of their share of the loans to secure the highest rating for the debt, euro zone officials said on Monday. By providing more than 100 percent of the loan guarantees, euro zone countries hope to ensure that creditors can

The first World Cup in Africa initially sparked high hopes of a credible challenge for honours from some of the continent's top teams but a double blow has since made the likelihood of success slim. Africa's chances were severely dented late last year by the draw in Cape Town when almost all their six representatives

Oil edged higher towards $72 on Tuesday as forecasts for a drop in U.S. inventories helped stabilise a volatile market driven by concerns that Europe's debt crisis would cut into energy demand. U.S. crude stockpiles probably fell by 900,000 barrels last week as imports declined, a Reuters poll showed on Monday, in their second straight

European finance ministers sought to calm nervous markets on Monday by nailing down details of a massive financial safety net for the euro zone as Germany unveiled new budget cuts it hopes will set an example for its partners in the bloc. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition agreed to pursue savings of 11.2 billion euros

President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias has called a meeting of the Informal Council of Leaders for Tuesday, to discuss the situation in the Cyprus problem. The Council, comprising political party leaders, is convening in view of the adoption of a Security Council resolution on the renewal of the mandate of the UN