European Union leaders piled pressure on Italy on Sunday to speed up economic reforms to avoid a Greece-style meltdown as they began a crucial two-leg summit called to rescue the euro zone from a deepening sovereign debt crisis.

A double-notch downgrade to Spain's credit ratings has piled more pressure on European leaders to make rapid progress on solving the region's debt crisis or face unbearable borrowing costs.

(Reuters) - Standard & Poor's on Tuesday downgraded 24 Italian banks and financial institutions, citing renewed "market tensions" and lower economic growth prospects.

Fitch Ratings downgraded UBS AG (UBS.N) on Thursday and placed seven other U.S. and European banks on credit watch negative, citing challenges in the economy and financial markets, as well as the impact of new regulations.

Almaty, Kazakhstan, October 12, 2011-IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is training bankers in Central Asia to develop their ability to provide financial services to small and medium enterprises, helping create new jobs and sustain economic recovery.

Almaty, October 12, 2011 - Eurasian Bank presented its results for the first nine months of 2011. The continued positive dynamics of key financial information in the unconsolidated statements shows that the Bank has transformed into a reliable and growing financial institution with leadership ambitions.

A bill that aims to punish Beijing for holding down its currency passed the Senate on Tuesday despite a warning from China that the legislation could plunge the global economy into a 1930s-like depression.

The parliament of tiny Slovakia stalled the expansion of a bailout fund to rescue the euro zone from its debt crisis on Tuesday, but international lenders said they were likely to grant a loan to Greece next month, buying time for a broader response.

The Chinese government will boost its stakes in the country's largest banks, as it attempts to shore up slumping financial stocks and to restore investor confidence.

David Cameron has urged European leaders to take a "big bazooka" approach to resolving the eurozone crisis, warning they have just a matter of weeks to avert economic disaster.

The eurozone is confronted with a crisis of not just labour costs and prices - but culture.

London's banks fell on Friday after Moody's cut its rating on a dozen UK financial institutions, sending the sector to the bottom of the FTSE 100.

The people now in charge of Apple are still enigmas to most outside the technology industry, and it is difficult to imagine any of them taking on the mythic proportions of Steve Jobs, the co-founder who died on Wednesday.

Europe's central banks have escalated dramatically their use of unconventional policy weapons in a bid to calm nervous financial markets and prevent the continent's economies from sliding into recession.

The eurozone is confronted with a crisis of not just labour costs and prices - but culture.