GERMANY

European stocks were up around mid-day on Friday in a roller coaster session, with a key index bouncing between major technical levels following an agreement by European leaders for tighter Eurozone budget rules.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open for equities on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 up 0.1 to 0.4 percent.

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.

The striker has also attracted attention from Italy and Russia.

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.

The European Union failed to secure backing from all 27 countries to change the EU treaty at a summit on Friday, meaning any deal will now likely involve the 17 euro zone countries plus any others that want to join, three EU diplomats said.

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.

A senior Pakistani military officer said a NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops on the border with Afghanistan last month was pre-planned, newspapers reported Friday, comments likely to fuel tension with the United States.

A little less than a year after one of the most daring Oscar nominations ever, the defiantly odd Greek film Dogtooth, voters are still steaming over the foreign-language process.

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) reported a bigger-than-expected rise in November sales at established restaurants across the board, led by big gains in Japan, China and a strong showing in its top revenue market of Europe.

EU leaders are committed to a new fiscal compact for the euro zone, including much tighter control of public finances and, in the longer term, could consider joint debt issuance, an early draft of conclusions at an EU summit said on Thursday.

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.

Europe's banks must find 114.7 billion euros of extra capital, more than predicted two months ago, to make them strong enough to withstand the euro zone debt crisis and restore investor confidence.

With the millions of iPhones, BlackBerrys and Androids sold in the U.S., the massive demand for data use is far exceeding the supply of spectrum - the range of all possible frequencies through which signals can be transmitted.

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.

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.

A letter bomb addressed to Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann contained a fully functional bomb, and capable of exploding had it not been intercepted in the bank's mailroom, was the work of far-left Italian group, German authorities said Thursday; and more explosives may still be in the post.

Wall Street fell on Thursday, dragged down by financial stocks, after the European Central Bank tempered hopes that policymakers were readying a financial bazooka to contain the debt crisis.