Emerging Asia needs to be on guard against "asset bubbles" as central banks globally loosen monetary policy, the Asia Development Bank's managing director warned on Friday.

Last month, Japan's central bank announced it would pump $1.4 trillion into the economy over the next two years, administering unprecedented financial shock treatment to end two decades of stagnation through bold monetary expansion.

International ratings agency Standard and Poor's has lowered its long- and short-term local currency sovereign credit ratings for Israel , while maintaining its foreign currency rating and predicting a stable outlook.

The local currency rating slipped from AA-/A-1+ to A+/A-1, while the foreign currency ratings remain at A+/A-1, S&P said on Thursday.

State-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland plans a return to the private sector next year following a massive restructuring program, it said on Friday as it also announced a swing back into profit.

RBS chairman Philip Hampton said that the Edinburgh-based bank hoped to begin offloading the government's 81-percent stake from the middle of next year or possibly earlier.

India's central bank cut its main interest rate by 25 basis points on Friday in the third such move this year, but said there was "little space" for further reductions to help the slowing economy.

After meeting in the financial capital Mumbai, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that the benchmark repo rate, at which it lends to commercial banks, would fall to 7.25 percent, as expected by most economists.

The Turkish Karadeniz power company, which leased the “Fatmagul Sultan” power vessel to the Lebanese government, announced on Thursday that the fuel it had received to operate the ship “was not convenient”, explaining the reasons for the barge's malfunction.

"Shortly after the production process had started, the results of tests conducted by international laboratories revealed that the fuel we have been receiving was not convenient,” a statement issued by the company said.

A Japanese-French consortium has won a $22 billion dollar contract to build a nuclear power plant on Turkey's Black Sea coast, a senior energy ministry official said on Thursday.

"An inter-governmental agreement is expected to be signed between the prime ministers of both countries on Friday," the official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

The head of France Telecom complained on Thursday of interference after the state blocked plans by U.S. Internet firm Yahoo! to buy a majority stake in French video-sharing website Dailymotion.

In an interview with business newspaper Les Echos, chief executive Stephane Richard said the firm's management -- and not the government -- should be deciding the strategy for Dailymotion, owned by France Telecom, which uses the brand name Orange.

European Council chief Herman Van Rompuy said Wednesday he had assured visiting Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta that the European Union will remain "flexible" while debt-laden Rome pursues the goal of sound public finances.

"I reiterated that the EU will continue to stand by Italy in pursuing our common commitment to overcome the economic crisis and promoting growth and jobs, in making full use of the existing flexibility while keeping sound public finance as a key objective," Van Rompuy said after meeting with the new Italian leader.

Chinese home prices picked up in April in their fifth consecutive monthly rise, an independent survey showed on Thursday.

The cost of a new home in 100 major cities rose 5.3 percent year-on-year to an average 10,098 yuan ($1,638) per square metre, said the China Index Academy.

Thousands took to the streets of Rabat and Casablanca on Wednesday demanding jobs and higher pay during May Day demonstrations marked by tension, with a large security contingent deployed in the capital.

Several thousand people marched up Rabat's central boulevard around midday, waving Moroccan and Berber flags, holding placards and chanting slogans, some of them strongly critical of the government.