Government support of the Republic of Ireland's banks was a major reason for the bail-out The Republic of Ireland's credit rating has been cut again due to concern that weak economic growth will affect its ability to pay back its debts. The credit rating agency Moody's has marked the country down two notches on the scale to a status just one notch from "junk".
Such a move typically means that the government will have to pay more to borrowing money.
Meanwhile, the country is seeking approval for deficit cutting plans.
It needs the European Union to sign off any moves to cut spending and raise funds as a condition of its giant bail-out package which was granted earlier this year.
The EU and the International Monetary Fund gave 85bn euros (£70bn, $113bn) in support for the country when it could no longer cope with its debts, largely the result of support for its over-stretched banking sector.
The bail-out came with strict conditions, which the newly elected government said were too tough to meet.
Moody's cut the Republic's credit score on Friday to Baa3 - one level above junk-bond status - saying it could struggle to cut its budget deficit because of weaker-than-expected economic growth.
It stands alone though among the three leading ratings agencies. On Thursday Fitch ratings upgraded its outlook, while Standard and Poor's gives the Republic the same grade as Fitch.
The government is expected to announce a revised agreement with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF on terms of Ireland's bail-out agreement.
Some changes are expected, including a reversal of the recent cut in the minimum wage.
However, the lenders are keen to send a signal that the country must get its finances in order, and are likely to stress that the Irish Republic must stick with spending cuts to qualify for continued funding.
It has a target to cut the gap between government income and spending to 3% of gross domestic product by 2015.
The Republic's 2010 deficit hit a European record of 32% after it bailed out its crippled banks.
Analysts believe a rate rise from the Indian central bank is now likely India's inflation rate rose to 8.9% from 8.3% in February, driven higher by fuel and manufacturing costs, the government has announced. The January inflation rate was also revised upwards to 9.35% from 8.23%.
Earlier this week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned about inflation building in Asia's fast-growing economies.
The body said "boom-like dynamics" should not be allowed to get out of control.
The Reserve Bank of India has raised its key interest rate eight times since March 2010.
The cost of borrowing currently stands at 6.75%
Analysts believe another rate rise from the Indian central bank is now likely.
"It seems that inflation trajectory has changed. The expected decline in inflation is just not happening and looks like we have underestimated the underlying pressure on prices," said Ashutosh Datar, an economist at IIFL in Mumbai.
"More monetary tightening is inevitable after today's data and the case for a 50 basis point hike in May is strengthened," he added.
On Friday China revealed that inflation rose by 5.4% in March compared with a year earlier. This was up from 4.9% in February.
Residents close to the Fukushima plant have been living in evacuation centres for more than a month The Japanese government has ordered the operator of the nuclear plant damaged by last month's quake and tsunami to pay compensation to affected families. About 48,000 families who lived within 30km (18 miles) of the Fukushima Daiichi plant will be eligible.
The compensation is described as provisional, with payouts beginning on 28 April.
The plant operator, Tepco, is still trying to stabilise the nuclear facility.
"Tokyo Electric Company (Tepco) is to make an urgent and speedy payment in order to compensate for the losses incurred by evacuation and orders to stay indoors," said chief government spokesman Yukio Edano.
"The basic idea is that one household will receive 1 million yen ($12,000, £7,331). We think that such an amount is necessary as a provisional payment," he said.
The BBC's correspondent in Tokyo, Roland Buerk, says the payments are the first of what is likely to be a massive compensation bill.
JP Morgan has estimated Tepco may face claims of up to 2 trillion yen, nearly $24bn (£15bn) by the end of this year. Protests Tepco and the Japanese government have faced criticism for not offering compensation earlier.
People forced to leave the area near the nuclear plant have been living in evacuation centres for more than a month.
With businesses shut, fields untended and fishing abandoned many have lost their livelihoods as well as their homes, our correspondent says.
There have been protests outside the headquarters of the plant's operator, with some protesters travelling long distances to make their feelings known.
Announcing the compensation, Tepco President Masataka Shimizu offered "heartfelt apologies" to residents hit by events at the plant. He said the company would cut costs to finance the payments.
"We want to streamline operations with no exceptions in what we consider," he said. "We are obviously thinking about pay cuts for our board and managers."
Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato said more was needed.
"This is just a beginning. The accident has not ended. We will continue to ask the government and Tepco to fully compensate evacuees," he said. Search continues Work to stabilise the nuclear plant is continuing. Engineers are pumping water into three reactors to cool fuel rods after cooling systems were knocked out by the quake and tsunami.
They have discharged waste water with low levels of radioactivity into the sea to make room to store more highly contaminated waste water on site.
Water needs to be removed from the basements of reactors 1, 2, and 3 before vital work on the cooling systems can begin.
On Thursday Tepco said that water levels in the basement of reactor 2 were continuing to rise, even as some was being pumped to storage.
Meanwhile, Japanese police are continuing their search for victims of the 11 March disasters within a 10km zone around the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant.
Up to 1,000 bodies are thought to be in the area, but their retrieval has been delayed because of radiation fears.
The earthquake and tsunami left 13,538 people dead and another 14,589 are missing. More than 150,000 have been made homeless.
Google has seen a rise in the number of people looking at paid-for adverts Internet giant Google has reported a sharp rise in first-quarter earnings, the first figures with co-founder Larry Page back at the helm as boss. The world's leading search engine reported $6.54bn (£4bn) in net revenue in the first quarter, up 29% from $5.06bn the same time a year ago.
Google has about a 65% share of the US search engine market and about 90% in Europe.
The firm said it would continue "to invest for the long term".
Announcing the results, Patrick Pichette, Google chief finance officer, said: "These results demonstrate the value of search and search ads to our users and customers, as well as the extraordinary potential of areas like display and mobile." UK revenues shrink During the quarter, paid clicks - which measures the number of times people click on Google ads that are sponsored by the advertisers - rose by 18%.
Meanwhile, average cost-per-click for its search advertisements increased by about 8% on the same quarter 12 months earlier, and decreased about 1% from the fourth quarter of 2010.
However, on some measures Google came in below analysts' expectations.
Revenues from the UK were $969m, representing 11% of income in the first quarter of 2011, against 13% in the first quarter of 2010.
The firm has been engaged on a staff hiring spree, looking to employ more than 6,000 workers this year, but that has been driving up its costs.
"Clearly the company is still in growth mode and for Google that means spending too," said Jordan Rohan, analyst at financial services firm Stifel Nicolaus.
He said Google was spending on sales and marketing, and "they've hired 1,900 more people this quarter, which might be a new high".
In trading of its shares after the New York Stock Market closed, Google stock fell by 4% to $553.09.
Concerns grew after two planes had to land without help in Washington because of a sleeping controller The head of the US air traffic control agency has resigned after a number of incidents where air traffic controllers fell asleep while on duty. Randy Babbitt, chief of the Federal Aviation Administration, said he had accepted Hank Krakowski's resignation.
On Thursday, Mr Babbitt pledged a "top to bottom review" of the air traffic control system.
In the past month, several planes have landed safely at US airports without controller guidance.
"Over the last few weeks we have seen examples of unprofessional conduct on the part of a few individuals that have rightly caused the travelling public to question our ability to ensure their safety," Mr Babbitt said in a
"This conduct must stop immediately."
Mr Babbitt said David Grizzle, chief counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), would assume Mr Krakowski's duties as acting head of the Air Traffic Organization. Night shifts Mr Babbitt announced on Wednesday that the FAA would place an additional air traffic controller on the midnight shift at 27 control towers across the country; previously, they had been staffed with only one controller during that shift.
The issue rose to prominence last month when two jets were forced to land at about midnight at Reagan National Airport, just by Washington DC, without help from the local control tower.
The pilots, who carried 165 people aboard the two planes, were unable to raise the tower controller on the radio, and a subsequent investigation revealed he had inadvertently fallen asleep during the shift.
This week, the FAA revealed that an air traffic controller at a major airport in Seattle had fallen asleep during a morning shift on Monday; the FAA said he had also fallen asleep on two separate occasions during an early evening shift on 6 January.
And a controller in the US state of Nevada was asleep and out of communication for about 16 minutes on Wednesday while a medical plane was landing, federal officials have said.
An air traffic controller in Tennessee was found to have lain down for a nap during an overnight shift in February, the Washington Post reported.
Republicans led by House Speaker John Boehner earlier pressed for $61bn in cuts
The US Congress has passed a budget bill that would cut $38.5bn (£23.6bn) in government spending over the rest of the fiscal year.
The measure, which was agreed on Friday, passed by 260 votes to 167 in the House and 81 to 19 in the Senate.
The bill is expected to be signed by President Barack Obama later on Thursday.
With its passage, Republicans and Democrats will turn their attention to a fight over next year's budget.
The budget bill was crafted after weeks of fraught negotiations between the White House and congressional Democrats and Republicans, six months after the last budget expired.
During negotiations, Republicans pushed for greater spending cuts than Democrats had been willing to concede.
The ballooning US deficit is forecast to reach $1.5 trillion (£921bn) this year and is set to be a top issue in the 2012 election campaign, with Democrats and Republicans offering contrasting visions on how to reduce it.
Jacob Lew, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said on Thursday that all parties believed it would be "unthinkable" for the US not to meet its debt obligations. 'Stop the bleeding'
It halts the spending binge and starts us moving us back in the right direction”
End QuoteHouse Speaker John Boehner
The 2011 budget bill passed by Congress, which covers the fiscal year up to 30 September, slashes some domestic spending but also relies on accounting changes that some economists say create the illusion of deeper spending cuts.
Though Republican negotiators led by Speaker John Boehner in the House of Representatives initially pressed for $61bn in budget cuts, many analysts in Washington have scored the budget bill as a victory for the Republicans.
"It stops the bleeding. It halts the spending binge and starts us moving us back in the right direction," Mr Boehner said of the legislation on Thursday.
"Does it cut enough? No. Do I wish it cut more? Absolutely," he added.
The debate over the budget for the fiscal year 2012, which begins on 1 October, has already begun in earnest. 'Shared sacrifice' Last week, Republican House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan introduced a budget proposal that would slash $6.2 trillion in government spending over the next decade.
It would achieve those cuts in large part by requiring the elderly to pay more for their healthcare than they do currently and cutting healthcare and social programmes for the poor.
It would lower taxes for the wealthy, a move fiscal conservatives say will boost US economic growth.
Mr Obama on Thursday defended his call for raising taxes on the wealthy, made in a speech a day earlier focused on debt reduction.
Mr Obama said all Americans must share the burden of reducing the long-term budget deficit.
"It's not appropriate for us to ask for sacrifices from everybody except for the 2% of Americans who are doing best," he said.
His fiscal policy plan, set out on Wednesday, also includes changes to social programmes.
The government has been trying to rein in food and property prices
China's economy continued its boom in March and inflation accelerated to the fastest rate since 2008. Growth was at a faster-than-expected 9.7% between January and March from the same period a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
Consumer prices rose by 5.4% in March compared with a year earlier. In February, the annual figure was 4.9%.
The government has been taking steps to try to cool property and food prices.
Chinese inflation has been accelerating despite four interest rate rises since October.
"The figures are higher than market expectation, especially the CPI (consumer prices index), which means the inflationary pressure is really big," said Nie Wen from Hwabao Trust in Shanghai.
"So I think the tightening measure will continue." Tackling inflation Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Friday that China's economic growth was still unbalanced.
For months now, the authorities have been insisting that tackling inflation is their top priority.
But despite taking measures such as increasing interest rates which makes borrowing more expensive, inflation remains stubbornly high.
The Chinese authorities have placed great store in their handling of the economy.
And that's why the issue of inflation is so sensitive in China.
With millions of households spending half of their incomes on food, the fear always is that high inflation could trigger social unrest.
The price rises are a consequence of a massive government spending and lending programme to ward off the effects of the global financial crisis in 2008.
The lending boom also pushed up house as well as stock prices leading to fears of an asset bubble.
He pledged to boost the role of domestic consumption in the economy.
Mr Hu made the comments at Asia's version of the World Economic Forum, taking place in Boao on the Chinese Island of Hainan.
This week, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said that the government would use all the tools at its disposal to tackle inflation.
"We will try every means to stabilise prices, the top priority of our economic controls this year and also our most pressing task," Mr Wen said at a cabinet meeting. Food prices Rising food prices have been the main cause of inflation. The cost of food was up 11.7% in the year to March. Housing costs have also risen sharply.
Prices have also been driven up by demand. Retail sales in the first quarter of the year were up 16.3% on a year ago.
In another sign of the impact of strong growth, oil demand for February increased by 10.3% on a year ago, driving global oil prices higher.
The Chinese central bank has increased the amount of money Chinese banks need to keep as a reserve in order to limit lending and to try to control inflation.
Analysts are expecting the bank to order further increases alongside possible interest rate rises.
Rebekah Brooks is now News International's UK chief executive A criminal investigation into claims journalists paid police officers for information is being considered by Scotland Yard, it has been confirmed. Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks (nee Wade) told a Commons committee in 2003 journalists "had paid police for information in the past".
Last week Mrs Brooks denied she had any "knowledge of any specific cases".
It comes ahead of a High Court meeting on Friday relating to News of the World phone hacking allegations.
News International said it was not currently commenting. 'Scoping exercise' In a letter to Keith Vaz MP, chairman of the home affairs committee, Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick said police planned "to conduct a scoping exercise to establish whether there are now any grounds for beginning a criminal investigation", following the 2003 comments.
Mrs Brooks was editor of the News of the World from May 2000 until January 2003, leaving the post for the editorship of the Sun two months before she appeared before the Culture, Media and Sport committee. End QuoteRebekah Brooks
She is now UK chief executive of Murdoch-owned News International, publisher of the Sun, News of the World and Sunday Times newspapers.
In a letter to the home affairs select committee last week, Mrs Brooks said her answer in 2003 had been in response "to a specific line of questioning on how newspapers get information".
"My intention was simply to comment generally on the widely-held belief that payments had been made in the past to police officers.
"If, in doing so, I gave the impression that I had knowledge of any specific cases, I can assure you that this was not my intention."
Police are also currently re-investigating allegations of phone hacking by journalists at the News of the World.
Three journalists have been arrested - one on Thursday and two last week - on suspicion of conspiracy to unlawfully intercept communications.
A meeting between a High Court judge and lawyers is scheduled for later on Friday could shed light on the wider situation.
News International recently apologised for "voicemail interception" between 2004 and 2006 and announced it was setting up a compensation fund to deal with "justifiable claims fairly and efficiently".
The BBC's legal correspondent Clive Coleman said more might emerge about which victims will accept compensation under the scheme, who will fight on, and how many more are bringing civil claims.
The BBC understands News International was ready to settle claims with eight people, including former Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, her estranged husband, lawyer David Mills, designer Kelly Hoppen, sports broadcaster Andy Gray, and Joan Hammell, a former aide to ex-deputy prime minister Lord Prescott.
But it is rumoured there may be as many as 5,000 potential victims of phone hacking.
With so many cases, High Court judge Mr Justice Vos will try to find the most efficient way to establish common legal and factual issues, so that claims can be resolved as speedily as possible, our correspondent added. 'Full investigation' Speaking to the BBC, Lord Prescott said police had confirmed 44 of his messages had been accessed.
He also called into question the takeover of BSkyB by News International's parent company, News Corporation, saying the deal should be witheld until a full investigation into the phone-hacking allegations.
Lord Prescott said he had received a response to a letter he had written to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt about the issue.
"He's replied to me to say 'the matters for criminal courts are about hacking and cannot interfere with the separate matter of media plurality'.
"He then goes on to say 'the merger involved two established reputable media enterprises when they discussed it in November'."
Lord Prescott said Mr Hunt "should not be actually saying this is a reputable company, it's one where there should be due diligence taken into account" to see whether it is fit for purpose to take over BSkyB.
The BBC's Orla Guerin reports from a crowded Misrata hospital
The leaders of the US, the UK and France have said in a joint letter that there can be no peace in Libya while Muammar Gaddafi stays in power. Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy say Nato must maintain military operations to protect civilians and maintain pressure on Col Gaddafi.
To allow him to remain in power would "betray" the Libyan people, they write.
Signs of division remain within Nato, which is struggling to find additional combat aircraft for its strikes.
Late on Thursday Col Gaddafi's daughter appeared before cheering crowds and accused the Western leaders of "insulting" Libyans.
"To speak of Gaddafi's resignation is a humiliation for all Libyans," Aisha Gaddafi told young loyalists at a rally at the Bab al-Aziziya barracks in Tripoli, damaged in a previous round of air strikes against Libya back in 1986.
Earlier, Libyan TV broadcast pictures which appeared to show Col Gaddafi surrounded by cheering supporters as he stood through the sunroof of a car driving through Tripoli, pumping his fists in the air. 'Pariah state' The letter comes at a time of growing unease at the failure of Western military action to dislodge Mr Gaddafi and tensions within Nato over the reluctance of certain members to do more.
The three leaders clearly feel that this is an important moment to present a united front and they are saying that it is not enough simply to protect Libyan civilians.
It is an uncompromising message at a time of rising frustration at the way the military operation is going. At the meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Berlin, there were calls for some members, including Spain, to do more. And France's Foreign Minister, Alain Juppe, said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had resisted his plea for American warplanes to resume air strikes.
Apart from a handful of raids in recent days, the US has allowed British and French warplanes to take the lead, concentrating instead on a variety of support roles. President Obama would prefer to keep it that way, and the latest opinion polls suggest that an overwhelming majority of Americans agree.
The letter from the three leader was published in the UK's Times newspaper as well as the The BBC's Paul Adams, reporting from Washington, says the letter is an unusual step at a time of unease over Nato's ongoing mission.
Only a few of Nato's 28 members - including France, the UK, Canada, Belgium, Norway and Denmark - are conducting air strikes.
The alliance's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told foreign ministers at a meeting in Berlin he had received no offers from any ally to supply the extra jets, but said he remained hopeful.
Signed by US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the letter says Libyans in cities like Misrata and Ajdabiya continue to suffer "terrible horrors at Gaddafi's hands".
While the coalition has no mandate to remove Col Gaddafi by force, "it is impossible to imagine a future for Libya with Gaddafi in power", the leaders say.
To allow him to remain in power "would be an unconscionable betrayal" of Libya's people, they argue, and would make Libya both "a pariah state [and] a failed state".
Nato pilots are enforcing a UN resolution to establish a no-fly zone and to protect civilians in Libya. The country has effectively been split between forces for and against Col Gaddafi since a revolt against his rule began in mid-February.
"So long as Gaddafi is in power, Nato and its coalition partners must maintain their operations so that civilians remain protected and the pressure on the regime builds," the letter continues.
"Then a genuine transition from dictatorship to an inclusive constitutional process can really begin, led by a new generation of leaders."
The letter holds out the prospect of reconstruction for Libya with the help of the "UN and its members".
But French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet, speaking on French radio, conceded that ousting Col Gaddafi would be "certainly" beyond the scope of the existing UN resolution, and could require a new Security Council vote. New fighting Fighting on the ground, as well as Nato bombing missions, has continued while politicians debate the way forward.
Rebels said a rocket attack in Misrata by pro-Gaddafi forces killed 23 people on Thursday, and there were new reports of rocket fire into the city on Friday morning. Neither account could be confirmed.
The BBC's Orla Guerin entered the besieged western Libyan city, visiting a hospital where staff were battling to treat civilians injured by mortars and rocket fire.
The intensive care unit was full of patients with multiple shrapnel injuries, including a six year old girl, our correspondent says. Doctors say 80% of those killed or injured in the city are civilians.
The hospital is struggling to keep pace with the attacks, and its emergency ward is a tent in the car park, she reports. Patients are rushed in and out to make way for new arrivals.
Medical supplies are coming ashore here but there has been heavy shelling in the port area, raising fears that Col Gaddafi wants to cut this last link to the outside world, she adds.
In Berlin, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Nato would continue "day by day, strike by strike" to target Col Gaddafi's forces.
Government support of the Republic of Ireland's banks was a major reason for the bail-out The Republic of Ireland's credit rating has been cut again due to concern that weak economic growth will affect its ability to pay back its debts. The credit rating agency Moody's has marked the country down two notches on the scale to a status just one notch from "junk".
