'Two-speed Europe driving unemployment'

The eurozone's unemployment rate hit a new record high in October, while consumer price rises slowed sharply.

The jobless rate in the recessionary euro area rose to 11.7%.

Alberto Gallo is Head of European Macro Credit Research at Royal Bank of Scotland and told BBC News that the eurozone was split into a "two-speed" economy between the northern and struggling southern countries.

In Spain, the jobless rate rose to 26.2% from 25.8% the previous month, and in Italy it rose to 11.1% from 10.8%.

In contrast, unemployment in Germany held steady at 5.4% of the labour force, while in Austria it fell from 4.4% to just 4.3%.