European Union

Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro zone countries, stripping France and Austria of their coveted triple-A status but not EU paymaster Germany, in a Black Friday 13th for the troubled single currency area.

Euro zone ministers agreed on Tuesday to ramp up the firepower of their rescue fund but couldn't say by how much and raised the possibility of asking the IMF for more help after Italy's borrowing costs hit a euro lifetime high of nearly 8 percent.

The International Monetary Fund is being lined up potentially to help Italy and Spain amid growing fears that a European rescue scheme will not be able to prop up the countries.

Greece will not receive any more money from the eurozone emergency bailout fund until after its referendum, the leaders of France and Germany warned ahead of a G20 summit set to be dominated by the fallout from the decision.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy conferred with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao as European policy makers seek to build support for an enlarged rescue fund designed to resolve the region’s sovereign-debt crisis.