Algerian flagship carrier Air Algerie plans to spend around 60 billion dinars ($762 million/556 million euros) upgrading its fleet, chairman Mohamed Salah Boultif said on Saturday.

"The company plans to acquire 16 new aircraft between now and 2017 for around 60 billion dinars," Boultif told a news conference.

Protesters clashed with police at anti-austerity demonstrations in Rome, Turin and Venice on Saturday, as part of a wave of social action led by Italy's Forconi (Pitchforks) movement of farmers and truck drivers.

Students threw paint bombs at the police in Turin in northern Italy, a once-mighty industrial hub that has been laid low by the economic crisis and has been at the epicenter of protests that began this week.

The International Monetary Fund approved the 12th and last review of Ireland's progress under its three-year rescue program Friday, allowing a final $890 million in support of its financial rebuilding.

"Owing to steadfast policy implementation by the authorities, the EU-IMF supported program has been completed successfully," the IMF said.

When the top U.S. Republican in Congress slams far-right groups as "ridiculous," it's clear the Tea Party is in trouble and that its influence in the halls of power has hit a snag.

This week, the House of Representatives achieved a first since 1986 by resoundingly approving a two-year bipartisan budget deal in a divided government.

Is Europe on the verge of a popular uprising? The question was asked by one of Greece's most respected newspapers as another year of painful austerity drew to a close.

If public anger does explode on the streets, wrote Kathimerini, it will not be provoked by politicians or labor unions, but come from ordinary people who "never imagined themselves doing such a thing".

No bailout of crisis-hit Slovenia will be needed, the country's government and the European Commission said Thursday as results of long-awaited bank stress tests were published.

Slovenian central bank governor Bostjan Jazbec announced Thursday that the small eurozone state will need 4.8 billion euros ($6.6 billion) to recapitalize its troubled banks, citing the results of EU-supervised stress tests.

Japan and Southeast Asian countries agreed Saturday to strive for freedom of movement in the skies, in the first major gathering of the continent's leaders since China ramped up regional tensions with a controversial air defense zone.

The cautious show of support for Tokyo in its bitter row with Beijing came as Japan pledged $20 billion in aid and grants for the region.

Spain's public debt, which has risen unchecked for the past five years of economic crisis, hit a new record of 93.4 percent of gross domestic product in the third quarter, the Bank of Spain said Friday.

Spain's center-right government, which last month announced it would ease its austerity reforms over the coming two years since the economy appears to be emerging from recession, has set a year-end debt-to-GDP target of 94.2 percent.

China on Friday trimmed its export quota for rare earth resources for the first half of next year.

The country produces more than 95 percent of the world's rare earths, 17 elements critical to manufacturing everything from iPads to low-emission cars.

World stock markets were tentative Friday as investors prepared for the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision next week on whether to reduce its monetary stimulus.

Asia's heavyweight market benchmark, Tokyo's Nikkei 225, rose 0.4 percent to 15,403.11 and Hong Kong, Taiwan and Sydney also rose. Shanghai and Seoul declined.