Hundreds of Spanish police officers protested outside the interior ministry in Madrid on Saturday to denounce budget cuts and the elimination of benefits, as firecrackers burst into the air.

Like all Spanish civil service employees, police officers are taking the full blow of the austerity measures brought in by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's right-wing government in a bid to tackle the debt crisis.

Changes could be in store for U.S.-Asian relations, but that has little to do with the presidential race. Lost in the backbiting between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney over China is that they generally agree on their approaches to Asia. But whoever wins the Nov. 6 vote will have to deal with a region in flux — and figure out how to keep simmering tensions from boiling over.

Leadership changes are imminent in East Asia's dominant economies — China, Japan and South Korea — in the midst of territorial disputes that could spark conflict. The new leaders who emerge will be crucial in setting the tone for relations with the next occupant of the White House.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday underscored the importance of Wall Street reforms passed on his watch, saying they will help end taxpayer-funded bailouts of troubled companies.

"That's what Wall Street reform is all about -- looking out for working families and making sure that everyone is playing by the same rules," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Saturday for better financial market regulation, three days before she was due to host chiefs of the World Bank, IMF and other global economic organizations in Berlin.

"In my opinion, we're not yet there where we should be. We had planned to regulate every financial center, every financial actor, every financial product," Merkel said in her weekly video podcast.

Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan Saturday welcomed a decision by ratings agency Fitch to affirm the country's AAA credit rating, days after his mid-year economic review lowered this year's growth forecast.

The affirmation overnight of the AAA rating with a stable outlook comes after the government last week cut its growth and budget surplus forecasts as worsening global conditions hurt revenues in the mining-driven economy.

French banking shares fell sharply on Friday, a day after ratings agency Standard and Poor's downgraded giant BNP Paribas.

In morning trading, shares in BNP Paribas slumped 2.99 percent to 38.44 euros, Societe Generale fell 2.91 percent to 24.16 euros and Credit Agricole 2.52 percent to 5.85 euros in a Paris market down by 0.49 percent.

China's currency hit a record high against the U.S. dollar for the second straight day on Friday, amid U.S. political pressure and growing confidence in the domestic economy, analysts said.

The currency touched an intra-day high of 6.2380 to the dollar at the open, marking the highest level since 1994 when the country launched its modern foreign exchange market.

Irish government hopes of using the EU's latest financial firewall to help its indebted banks would require a bailout program with new terms, a German budget spokesman said on Friday ahead of Berlin talks.

Norbert Barthle, spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU group in the Bundesstag budgetary affairs committee, said the application by Dublin to use the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) would require new bailout conditions.

Relatives of China's reformist premier have amassed huge riches during his tenure, according to a report Friday that came as the Communist Party strives to clean house before a pivotal handover of power.

The New York Times report about the family of Wen Jiabao, who will be replaced in a 10-yearly leadership transition next month, coincided with an announcement clearing the way for the prosecution of disgraced leader Bo Xilai.

Greece will stand by extra reform efforts thrashed out with creditors, despite last-minute opposition within the government, a finance ministry source said on Thursday.

Against a background of uncertainty over a two-year extension to meet its fiscal targets, the source said Greece's representative to a preparatory Eurogroup meeting later in the day had been instructed to say that the government "is proceeding as scheduled."