Spain has passed a decree curbing evictions of lower income homeowners unable to pay their mortgage, a bid to ease a trend that has seen hundreds of thousands of people lose their homes because of the brutal economic crisis.

Thursday's decree stops evictions for two years of people who are unemployed or who earn less than €1,200 ($1,527) a month after tax. It also suspends evictions of the elderly or disabled residents.

Superstorm Sandy drove the number of people in the U.S. seeking unemployment benefits up to a seasonally adjusted 439,000 last week, the highest level in 18 months.

The Labor Department says applications increased by 78,000 because a large number of applications were filed in East Coast states damaged by the storm. People can claim unemployment benefits if their workplaces close and they don't get paid.

Moody's announced Wednesday that it will review Britain's Aaa rating early next year, saying the country's strengths were challenged by weak growth and the eurozone crisis.

In its yearly credit report on Britain, the agency said its review would hinge in part on the government's upcoming Autumn Statement, its mid-term economic review.

The Dexia board on Wednesday announced it had endorsed an amended plan to dismantle the ailing Franco-Belgian bank and will call an extraordinary meeting next month for shareholders to do the same.

The new plan calls for a change in the way the French and Belgian governments share state guarantees for the bank, but this remains subject to approval by European Union competition authorities.

Nuri al-Maliki may have trumpeted Iraq last week as the top destination for investment in the region, but experts warn that myriad problems keep it from being a good choice for all but the most adventurous.

Excessive red tape, rampant corruption, an unreliable judicial system and still-inadequate security, as well as a poorly trained workforce and a state-dominated economy all continue to plague Iraq, which completed its biggest trade fair in 20 years last week to much domestic acclaim.

The European Union has approved a 5.0 billion euro ($6.4 billion) financial aid package to Egypt after its economy was battered by a 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, the EU and Egypt said on Wednesday.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told a press conference in Cairo the Europeans would "provide additional loans and grants worth about 5 billion euros."

More than 86 percent of workers worldwide who lost their jobs after the global economic crisis -- about 34.4 million people -- had no unemployment benefit to fall back on, the International Labour Organization said on Wednesday.

"More than 86 percent of the almost 40 million people who dropped out of the labor market since 2008 found themselves without a regular income from one day to the other,” said ILO social protection expert Florence Bonnet.

World stock markets were mixed Wednesday, with European indexes down on worsening economic prospects and labor union strikes, while U.S. shares followed Asia's lead higher.

On Wall Street, stocks opened higher as Cisco's earnings came in ahead of expectations, September retail sales data were revised higher, and renewed efforts got under way in Washington to resolve the impending "fiscal cliff."

Baton-wielding riot police and demonstrators clashed in central Madrid on Wednesday as Spain held a general strike as part of a Europe-wide anti-austerity protest.

Across Spain meanwhile, an interior ministry spokeswoman said that by late morning police had arrested 62 people and 34 people had been injured in "isolated incidents," 18 of them police.

Jordan on Wednesday was hit by more protests and strikes as anger mounted against a government increase in fuel prices a day after mobs attacked a police station and surrounded the prime minister's house.

The sudden price hike drew sharp condemnation from the opposition Islamists, who warned of civil disobedience and increased opposition to the government in the run-up to general elections in January, which they are boycotting.