Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will hold an investment trip to Qatar later this month and similar trips to China and Russia are planned at a later date, the state agency said on Friday.

"Samaras will travel to Qatar on November 27 and (his office) is planning journeys to China and Russia with the aim of attracting investors," the ANA agency said.

Putin, Merkel Spar over Pussy Riot in Russia Talks

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday clashed with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the jailing of feminist rock band Pussy Riot in a meeting aimed at soothing tensions over human rights.

Markets remained under pressure Friday ahead of the start of budget discussions between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders and as investors fretted over a military escalation in Gaza.

Japanese stocks, however, enjoyed solid gains on hopes that elections next month may lead to more stimulus measures being enacted, in the latest attempt to get the stuttering economy moving.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will hold an investment trip to Qatar later this month and similar trips to China and Russia are planned at a later date, the state agency said on Friday.

"Samaras will travel to Qatar on November 27 and (his office) is planning journeys to China and Russia with the aim of attracting investors," the ANA agency said.

Britain could lose the £66 billion ($105 billion, 82 billion euros) it spent on rescuing Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group and made key errors over failed lender Northern Rock, lawmakers said on Friday.

The Public Accounts Committee -- a panel of British lawmakers -- issued the gloomy verdict in a eagerly-awaited report into the government's handling of Northern Rock, which has since been taken over by Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

A crucial meeting of Eurozone finance ministers next week will be key to getting Greece "back on its feet", IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Friday, as she cut short her visit to Asia to attend the talks.

The International Monetary Fund managing director told a news conference in Manila that the Eurogroup's focus was getting the debt-wracked country on a "sustainable" path as soon as possible.

The International Monetary Fund's extension of talks with Egyptian authorities is a sign of progress on Egypt's loan request, an IMF spokesman said Thursday.

BP agreed Thursday to pay a record $4.5 billion in U.S. fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill and will plead guilty to obstruction and criminal negligence in the deaths of 11 workers.

The company's reputation was ravaged after an April 20, 2010 explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and unleashed the biggest marine oil spill in the industry's history.

After accusing the French of being in "denial" during the presidential election campaign in late March, the British weekly The Economist now says that France is "the time-bomb at the heart of Europe."

"The crisis could hit as early as next year," the magazine warned in a cover story to appear on Friday with the sub-title: "Why France could become the biggest danger to Europe’s single currency."

Russian gas giant Gazprom signed on Thursday a deal allowing a major new pipeline to pass through Bulgaria on its way to Western Europe, stealing a march on rival EU-backed projects aimed at reducing the bloc's energy dependence on Moscow.

"With the signing today of the final investment decision for the Bulgarian section of South Stream, we move towards the implementation of the project," Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said after inking the deal with the head of the state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) Mihail Andonov.