Eric Linton

Asian stocks are set for their first weekly rise in a month buoyed by coordinated central bank actions, while the euro held on to hefty gains before European policymakers make a fresh stab to tackle its crisis at a summit next week.

Egypt will hear the results of elections which Islamist parties look set to win Friday, and protesters have called a rally to remember 42 people killed in clashes with police last month.

The Nikkei average edged up Friday, with investors focused on whether the benchmark can hold above its 25-day moving average ahead of crucial U.S. employment data later in the day.

The new head of the European Central Bank signaled Thursday it was ready to take stronger action to fight Europe's debt crisis if political leaders agree next week on much tighter budget controls in the 17-nation euro zone.

A year after four hedge funds were raided as part of a sweeping probe into insider trading, agents are ready to arrest as many as three people who worked at the raided funds, sources familiar with the investigation told Reuters.

Asian shares rallied to two-week highs Thursday, building on strong global gains after the world's six major central banks moved to tame a liquidity crunch for European banks by providing cheaper dollar funding.

Police in riot gear and biohazard suits began removing anti-Wall Street activists from an encampment outside the Los Angeles City Hall early Wednesday in a belated enforcement of an eviction order from the mayor.

Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo was arrested and flown to The Hague overnight to face charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, the first former head of state to be tried by the ICC since its inception in 2002.

Police in riot gear closed in on anti-Wall Street activists in Los Angeles early Wednesday, determined to enforce the mayor's order to evict protesters who have camped outside City Hall for the past eight weeks.

The Muslim Brotherhood has secured about 40 percent of the votes for its party list in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary election this week after counting so far, putting it ahead of other groups, a party source said on Wednesday.

Throngs of anti-Wall Street protesters braced for eviction Tuesday night from their encampment outside Los Angeles City Hall, as word spread by broadcast news reports and the Internet that a police raid was imminent.

Asian shares fell and the euro trimmed gains Wednesday as caution set in over the chance for more progress in resolving euro zone debt woes after officials agreed to strengthen a rescue fund and seek more aid from the International Monetary Fund.

Hundreds of anti-Wall Street activists who faced eviction early Monday from their eight-week-old encampment outside Los Angeles City Hall will be allowed to stay put until at least dawn, a police official said.

Stock index futures pointed to a sharply higher open for equities on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 rising 2.2 to 2.6 percent.

Egyptians began voting Monday morning in the first big test of a transition born in popular revolutionary euphoria that soured into distrust of the generals who replaced their master, Hosni Mubarak.

President Barack Obama will press European Union officials Monday to reach a definitive solution to their sovereign debt crisis which is emerging as a major 2012 U.S. election worry, Reuters reports.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh arrived in Saudi Arabia Wednesday to sign a power transfer initiative made by the Gulf Cooperation Council, the country's state TV said.

Stock markets put in gains Tuesday after a heavy session of losses the previous day, though the respite from worries over U.S. and European government debt looked only temporary.

Egyptian activists called for a huge turnout in protests Tuesday to put an end to rule by the military which also saw its authority challenged by the resignation of the civilian Cabinet, casting uncertainty on elections due next week.

Asian shares edged down Tuesday as fears about the ability of politicians on either side of the Atlantic to tackle huge debt burdens sapped investors' confidence in the outlook for Western economies.

Gold fell by more than one percent on Monday, swept lower by a firm dollar and falls in other financial markets as worries deepened about government debt in Europe and the U.S.

Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will run in a parliamentary by-election expected by the end of the year, a top party official said Monday, giving legitimacy to moves toward democracy after decades of military rule.

Mariano Rajoy's center-right People's Party stormed to a crushing election victory Sunday when voters punished the outgoing Socialist government for the worst economic crisis in generations.

Washington's most ambitious effort in years to come to grips with its mounting debt is set to end with a whimper on Monday as negotiators plan to announce they have failed to reach a deal.

Republican Mitt Romney, looking to close the deal in the early primary state of New Hampshire, picked up an important endorsement on Sunday from U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte.

More than 50,000 Egyptian protesters flocked to Cairo's Tahrir square Friday to pressure the military government to transfer power to elected civilian rule, after the Cabinet tried to enshrine the army's role in a constitutional proposal.

President Barack Obama said Thursday the U.S. military will expand its role in the Asia-Pacific region despite budget cuts, declaring America was here to stay as a Pacific power which would help shape the region's future.

Asian shares wobbled Thursday as doubts deepened about Europe's ability to stop its sovereign debt crisis from spinning out of control, with Germany and France split over the European Central Bank's bond buying role.

Pressure eased on Europe's government debt market Wednesday, with Italian borrowing costs back below the 7 percent level viewed as unsustainable after the European Central Bank was seen buying up bonds.