Rating agency Standard and Poor's on Monday downgraded Egypt's long-term credit rating because of "elevated" tensions over its political crisis, and warned it could be lowered further.

The country's long-term rating was lowered to 'B-' from 'B' because the turmoil has "weakened Egypt's institutional framework, and the increasingly polarized political discourse could diminish the effectiveness of policy-making," the agency said.

General Motors will recall 119,000 U.S. vehicles because some of them may be missing a backup hood latch, the U.S. automaker said in regulatory filings.

GM did not say whether it was aware of any accidents or injuries as a result of the defect, which affects certain Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon vehicles from the 2010 to 2012 model years.

South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering said Tuesday it had secured a 1.9 trillion won ($1.8 billion) order to build a fixed platform for Norway's Statoil ASA.

Daewoo said it would complete the 31,000-ton offshore platform for the production of oil or gas by the end of 2016.

Iraq and Jordan agreed on Monday to extend an oil pipeline to the Red Sea city of Aqaba for the export of Iraqi crude, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said after a fleeting visit to Amman.

"It was agreed to extend an oil pipeline across Jordan to Aqaba to export Iraqi oil and satisfy Jordan's crude requirements," the Iraqi premier told journalists, saying this would "end the transportation of oil using tankers."

President Dilma Rousseff urged businesses Sunday to expand their investments as Brazil cuts energy costs, in a bid to curb poverty and improve flagging industrial competitiveness.

"Our recipe for a stronger Brazil is to invest in overcoming poverty, guaranteeing home ownership, expanding employment, increasing education opportunities and improving our infrastructure and the competitiveness of our companies," Rousseff said in a Christmas broadcast to the nation.

Japan's new envoy to China urged stronger economic ties with Beijing in an interview broadcast Monday, after the incoming premier pledged to mend bilateral ties strained by a bitter territorial row.

Ties between Asia's two biggest economies have become increasingly strained over a disputed island chain -- the Tokyo-controlled Senkakus, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus -- with neither side willing to budge after months of wrangling.

Prime Minister David Cameron said 2012 has been an "extraordinary year" for Britain in which the country "showed the world what we're made of" with the London Games and Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee.

In his Christmas message, Cameron said the festivities were a good time to look back on the past 12 months.

Vietnam on Monday cut its key interest rates for the sixth time in 2012 in an attempt to boost an economy growing at the weakest pace in more than a decade.

The move comes as the communist-run economy struggles in the face of domestic banking sector turmoil, falling foreign direct investment and deepening financial troubles among state-owned companies.

Iran is engaged in a "smart economic war" with Western powers whose sanctions against its nuclear program are hurting some Iranians, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday.

"Targeted sanctions, which the enemies say are supposed to be crippling, have led to a drop in our oil" sales, Ahmadinejad said in a live interview on state television, referring to an oil embargo imposed by the European Union.

The U.S. industrial group General Electric said on Friday that it would buy the aviation activities of Italian engine maker Avio for $4.3 billion (3.3 billion euros), while Avio's space unit will stay with the company's present owners, the investment fund Cinven and aerospace company Finmeccanica.

A GE statement said that the acquisition would bolster its position in jet propulsion, and "will strengthen GE’s global supply chain capabilities as its engine production rates continue to rise to meet growing customer demand."