Thousands of striking students and teachers protested across crisis-wracked Spain Thursday against spending cuts they say are destroying the country's public education system.

In Madrid the protesters, many of them wearing green T-shirts that have become a symbol of their movement against the budget cuts, marched to the education ministry where they called on Education Minister Jose Ignacio Wert to resign.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday launched yet another effort to pressure Congress to act on his plans to invest in education and innovation to create a new generation of high-paying jobs.

Obama flew to Texas to highlight school and industry programs seen as a model method of firming up sluggish growth and taking aim at unemployment, which remains at 7.5 percent more than four years into his presidency.

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said it would likely disburse its first bailout loan to Cyprus after next week's board meeting.

The IMF executive board is expected to discuss the bailout program for Cyprus on Wednesday, Fund spokesman Gerry Rice said at a regularly scheduled news conference.

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's on Thursday downgraded Egypt's long- and short-term credit rating over the government's failure to meet the country's fiscal needs.

Egypt's long-term rating was lowered to 'CCC+' from 'B-', while its short-term rating dropped to 'C' from 'B', the agency said in a statement.

Crédit Agricole Suisse has reported consolidated net profits of CHF 130.2 million for 2012, compared with CHF 158.1 million in 2011, amid tough conditions. The year was marked yet again by a deepening economic crisis, low interest rates and a strong Swiss franc. The bank’s performance helped maintain the Crédit Agricole Group’s solid position in Switzerland while strengthening its capital base, evidenced in a Core Tier 1 ratio of 13.2%.

In 2012 Crédit Agricole Suisse showed that it was both stable and quick to respond to challenging economic conditions, regulatory changes and concerns among private banking clients about financial market uncertainty.

Kuwaiti telecom giant Zain's net profits dived 26.7 percent in the first quarter of 2013, the company said on Wednesday, blaming currency fluctuations in Sudan where it operates and massive investments.

The company posted a net profit of 52 million dinars ($182.4 million) in the first three months of 2013, compared to 71 million ($249.1 million) in the corresponding period of last year, it said in a statement.

The new government of struggling eurozone member Slovenia is expected to announce Thursday an action plan aimed at avoiding a bailout, reportedly including privatizations, "crisis" taxes and austerity cuts.

Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek's program, which will be sent to Brussels, is crucially also expected to set a timeframe for the "bad bank" to stop Slovenia's lenders from drowning in a sea of debts.

Inflation in China accelerated to 2.4 percent year-on-year in April, official data showed Thursday, above market expectations, but analysts said counter-measures were unlikely due to weak economic momentum.

Month on month, the consumer price index (CPI) -- a main gauge of inflation -- increased by 0.2 percent in April, reversing a decrease of 0.9 percent in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.

South Korea unexpectedly trimmed its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points Thursday -- the first cut for seven months aimed at boosting an economy hit by slumping exports.

The move announced by the central Bank of Korea (BOK) leaves the key policy rate at 2.50 percent, following two similar cuts last year in July and October.

President Mohamed Morsi pressed for closer bilateral trade and investment ties with Brazil here Wednesday on the first official visit by an Egyptian leader to Latin America's dominant economic power.

"We want more cooperation with Brazil," Morsi told a press conference after two hours of wide-ranging talks with his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff.