Washington - Ford Motor Co on Friday reported a third- quarter operating loss of 2.98 billion dollars and said it would cut jobs and spending to preserve its perilous cash reserves.

One of the US' "Big Three" automakers, Ford said it used up 7.7 billion dollars in cash as revenues plunged.

The losses reported by Ford, the second-largest US automaker, are likely to be reflected by General Motors Corp, which also reports its third-quarter results Friday.

Beirut - A Syrian state television broadcast showing people tied to Lebanese organizations confessing to a September Damascus bomb attack is an attempt to smear Lebanese institutions, Lebanese politicians said Friday.

Tehran - Iran said European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana asked for continuation of talks with Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme, official news agency IRNA reported on Friday

"Solana, in a letter sent to Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on Thursday, has emphasized the six countries (the five UN veto powers and Germany) are still committed to find a diplomatic solution for the disputed issue," the report said citing a statement released by Jalili's office.

Riga - The three Baltic stock exchanges registered small losses overall Friday, with a dip in a high-profile Estonian stock dragging the rest of the region down.

The NASDAQ OMX Tallinn exchange in Estonia was down 2.68 per cent, and the Vilnius exchange in Lithuania was almost unchanged, down just 0.63 per cent, while the Riga exchange in Latvia actually rose by 1.30 per cent on thin trading.

Brussels - European Union leaders agreed Friday to a common position on reforming the global financial system, officials at an emergency EU summit in Brussels said.

"There is a pretty detailed common position from Europe," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The proposals, drafted by the French presidency of the EU, call for global measures to strengthen controls over financial operators, harmonize accounting standards, make financial managers responsible, control rating agencies and strengthen international financial bodies such as the International Monetary Fund.

Ljubljana,- Slovenia's parliament on Friday endorsed youthful centre-left leader Borut Pahor as the nation's new prime minister.

Pahor, 45, has pledged to focus on the small European Union nation's economy.

He won 59 votes in the 90-seat parliament, becoming the sixth prime minister since Slovenia won independence from Yugoslavia after a brief 1991 war.

Pahor's Social Democrats won the most seats in September parliamentary elections and will lead a four-party coalition government.