A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Wednesday:

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LONDON _ The number of Britons claiming unemployment benefits fell in November for the first time in almost two years, giving a boost to hopes that the British economy is emerging from recession.

European markets rose. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 34.49 points, or 0.7 percent, at 5,320.26 while Germany's DAX rose 92.09 points, or 1.6 percent, to 5,903.45. The CAC-40 in France was 41.73 points, or 1.1 percent, higher at 3,875.82.

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ATHENS, Greece _ Standard and Poor's Ratings Services downgraded Greece's credit rating, voicing doubts that recent measures announced by the government would curb the country's ballooning public debt.

The downgrade came after another agency, Fitch, lowered its rating on Greece's national debt last week.

Greece has been facing its worst debt crisis in decades amid the global recession. It faces political pressure from the European Union to straighten out its finances and obey deficit limits intended to support the shared euro currency.

Standard and Poor's said in a statement it was cutting Greece's rating from A- to BBB+ with a negative outlook.

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OSLO _ The Norwegian central bank raised interest rates for the second time in the last three months, lifting its key rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.75 percent.

Maintaining however that it plans to keep rates low until the middle of next year, Norges Bank cited renewed economic growth, both at home and abroad, and sharper-than-expected inflation for the move.

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LONDON _ Britain opened an investigation into suspected fraud by collapsed Icelandic bank Kaupthing, a move that could revive diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

The Serious Fraud Office said it is particularly interested in efforts by the bank to attract British investors to its "high yield" deposit account, Kaupthing Edge.

The SFO estimates that more than 30,000 British individuals, companies and organizations invested in the Kaupthing Edge account.

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MOSCOW _ Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Russia's gross domestic product rose 8 percent in November month-on-month _ and is set to show 2 percent growth for the fourth quarter.

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