1620 Despite the uncertainty created by the Italian vote, the FTSE 100 is set to end the day about 1 per cent up, standing at 5,563 in the final minutes of trading. The DAX has dropped back to be up just 0.6 per cent, as has Milan - now up 0.7 per cent, while Paris has held up better, adding 1.3 per cent. 1610 Could Cyprus be the next eurozone nation to need a bailout? Moody’s today downgraded Cyprus’ three most Greece-exposed commercial banks because of what it considers to be the island nation’s inability to bail them out. The ratings agency downgraded Marfin Popular Bank by three notches to Ba2 and cut Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank by one notch to Ba1. Moody’s added that the three banks, which are the island’s largest lenders, could be downgraded again. The downgrade illustrates how the Cypriot economy, which is projected to grow by a mere 0.2 percent in 2012, is caught in a vicious spiral. Last week, Moody’s cut Cyprus’ sovereign credit rating by two notches, to Baa3, over what it said was the increased likelihood that its large financial system -- equivalent to six times the island’s GDP -- may need government support next year. Another cut and Cyprus’ sovereign rating will be considered junk, raising fears that it may join the ranks of eurozone countries needing a financial bailout. 1555 Traders are not happy about the outcome of the Italian vote. Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Br

Everywhere they go in the world there are traditional dancers laid on to perform for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall - with drums, with spears, even umbrellas. Then, every once in a while, the tables are turned. Today, in the searing heat of the Zanzibar sun, the Prince and the Duchess got the rhythm. The Duchess shimmied and swayed to the tune of a zumari pipe, the Prince got into his familiar twisting-with-the-locals groove, and if the next season of Zanzibar’s Strictly Come Dancing did not get its first two contestants signed up the moment they had finished, something has gone terribly wrong. It did, admittedly, take the persuasive powers of Jihad Hassan, the Tourism Minister, to get the Prince to join the chapauringe dancers performing in the island’s Old Fort. But once he did - and once one of the women dancers had swathed th

Nicolas Sarkozy described the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, as a liar during a conversation with President Obama that was overheard by journalists at last week’s G20 summit. “Netanyahu, I don’t want to see him any more,” the French President told Mr Obama, in remarks that were meant to be private. “He is a liar.” Mr Obama responded: “You’re fed up with him, but me, I have to deal with him every day.” President Obama then reproached his French counterpart for having failed to warn him that Paris would approve the Palestinian Authority’s successful application to join the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). Reporters covering the summit in Cannes were able to listen in on the exchange because of a blunder by French officials. They distributed equipment enabling jour