EUROPEAN UNION

Stocks rose on Friday as European Union leaders agreed on measures to tackle the region's sovereign debt crisis and data showed U.S. consumer confidence rose to a six-month high.

The European Central Bank is capping its weekly bond purchases at 20 billion euros and euro zone officials want banks to use its big new liquidity offer to buy more sovereign debt, ECB sources said on Friday.

Stocks advanced on Friday as European Union leaders agreed on measures to address the region's sovereign debt crisis, while U.S. consumer confidence rose to its highest level in six months.

Kabila, who has been in power since 2001, will serve another five years as president.

The euro rose in early Friday trading after a report indicated China plans to create an investment fund to deal with the eurozone debt crisis.

Gold prices edged higher Friday after Eurozone leaders, in their eighth sovereign debt crisis summit this year, agreed to craft a treaty that will limit the ability of members to run-up unsustainable government debts.

Europe divided on Friday in a historic rift over building a fiscal union to preserve the euro, with a large majority of countries led by Germany and France agreeing to move ahead with a separate treaty, leaving Britain isolated.

Crude oil prices dropped below $98 a barrel in Asian trade Friday as investors' hopes dimmed over the outcome of a crucial European Union summit later in the day.

European stock markets and the euro fell on Friday on fears that EU leaders were struggling to come to terms on immediate measures to halt the slide of euro zone government bond markets after two years of deepening crisis.

European Union leaders paused from their summit after hours of talks focused on trying to find a solution to the euro zone debt crisis.

European Union leaders paused from their summit after hours of talks focused on trying to find a solution to the euro zone debt crisis.

European leaders agreed on stricter budget rules for the euro zone Friday, but failed to secure changes to the EU treaty among all 27 member states, meaning a deal will instead have to involve just euro zone states and any others that want to join.

Asian shares, commodities and the euro fell Friday on growing doubts that European leaders could forge a credible plan to solve the euro zone's debt crisis at a summit later in the day.

Support grew on Thursday for an EU plan to agree a global climate change pact with binding targets by 2015, after poor nations vulnerable to climate change forged alliances with developed countries.

Talk of Greece voluntarily leaving -- or being kicked out of -- the eurozone was once verboten. Now bank economists, investors, and even central bankers are talking about it as though it's a done deal. The divide between rhetoric is also growing. Those predicting the future Greek exit are calling it "manageable," while those saying it won't happen are labeling the possibility "catastrophic."

Wall Street fell on Thursday after the European Central Bank dashed hopes that policy-makers were preparing a financial bazooka to contain the debt crisis, and Germany rejected some proposals to add power to the euro zone's bailout fund.

European Union leaders gathered on Thursday for a critical two-day summit focused on trying to find a solution to the euro zone debt crisis.

Gold prices tumbled more than two percent Thursday after the European Central Bank doused hopes that it would accelerate purchases of debt-choked Eurozone nations.

The European Banking Authority noted banks within the 27-nation European Union need to raise €114.69 billion ($152.8 billion) by June of next year in order to meet the authority's capital requirements. That amount is €8.24 billion, or 7.18 percent, more than the supranational regulator had noted on October 30. The balance sheet apparently worsened at certain banks, most notable in Germany, Belgium and Austria.

European shares fell to a one-week closing low on Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi gave no indication it would aggressively increase its bond-buying program and said the region's economy faced increased downside risks.

The following are remarks by EU leaders at a meeting of the conservative European People's Party in Marseille, southern France, ahead of an EU summit in Brussels.