Europe's leaders scrambled Friday to reassure investors the continent's banks were safe, stepping up calls for fresh cash injections as Paris played down reported differences with Germany over the crisis.

While EU leaders agree on the need for action to shore up over-exposed banks, a division of opinion reportedly emerged between France and Germany on how to proceed, two days before their leaders are due to meet in Berlin.

Russia has granted Venezuela a new $4-billion line of credit for "military and technical cooperation," the South American nation's leader Hugo Chavez said.

The two countries also signed accords late Thursday to accelerate oil production in Colombia's Orinoco belt and explore for offshore gas.

Thousands of anti-corporate demonstrators backed for the first time in large numbers by trade unions poured into New York's financial district Wednesday, raising the stakes in a more than two-week long street revolt.

More than 5,000 people crammed into Foley Square in lower Manhattan, where the city's courts and government buildings are located, before marching toward Wall Street. Union officials estimated the number at 8,000 to 12,000 and it was clearly the biggest protest yet for the fledgling movement.

Yahoo! shares surged more than 10 percent Wednesday driven by speculation that Microsoft would lodge a new bid for the web giant more than three years after being spurned.

Neither side was commenting on the speculation, but Microsoft's shares also took a jump as analysts saying the companies' current search-related tie-up made a Microsoft buyout logical.

U.S. President Barack Obama warned Thursday Europe must "act fast" on a debt crisis threatening the fragile U.S. recovery and accused China of gaming the global currency and trading systems.

In a White House news conference, Obama also said Republicans must pass his $447 billion dollar jobs bill as insurance against a double dip recession and warned Pakistan was hedging its bets by maintaining ties with extremists.

The BBC said Thursday it will cut around 2,000 jobs in the most far-reaching change in its history as the world's largest public broadcaster falls prey to government austerity measures.

Director General Mark Thompson told staff that the corporation plans annual savings of £670 million pounds over five years but no services would be completely cut.

Egypt may reconsider an International Monetary Fund loan which it turned down in June, with donor countries having fallen short of meeting pledges, the finance minister was quoted as saying Wednesday.

Hazem al-Beblawi added Egypt was also negotiating financing of up to seven billion dollars from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the English-language website of state-owned daily Al-Ahram reported.

Prime Minister David Cameron faced criticism Wednesday for telling householders to pay off their credit cards to help the country weather the global economic crisis.

In advance extracts from his closing speech to the Conservative party's annual conference which were released by his office, Cameron was to dismiss calls to ease austerity measures and stimulate economic growth.

Germany's automobile market, Europe's biggest, continued to outperform its rivals in September, sector federation VDA said Wednesday, with a sharp rise in new cars sold in the country and exported.

A total of 280,800 new cars were registered in Germany, a rise of eight percent compared to the same month last year. There were 426,600 cars exported from Germany, an annual gain of six percent.

Apple shares slipped on Wall Street on Tuesday as the California gadget-maker unveiled an updated version of the iPhone but not a transformative new model many had been expecting.

Apple's new chief executive Tim Cook, who replaced ailing founder Steve Jobs in August, presided over the launch of the iPhone 4S at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.