BBC News with Marion Marshall

The White House has called on US politicians from both parties to work together to tackle the country's fiscal and economic problems. The appeal comes a day after the American credit rating was downgraded by the Standard & Poor's agency. The agency said the last-minute standoff between the parties over the raising of the US debt ceiling made it less likely that the growing political divides could be bridged in future. John Chambers is the chairman of Standard & Poor['s].

"We took a dimmer view of the political settings in the United States - the governability. The fact that you had a debt ceiling agreement that resulted in the government not reaching an agreement until 10 hours before they had a cash management programme, I mean, this is not how most highly-rated governments run themselves."

The BBC Washington correspondent says the White House has implicitly blamed the Republicans for the downgrade as they blocked President Obama's efforts to cut the US deficit.

More than 200,000 Israelis across the country have joined protests against the rising cost of living. The largest demonstration was in Tel Aviv, where demonstrators chanted slogans like "people before profits". It's the third Saturday of protests and the largest yet. Wyre Davies reports from Jerusalem.

If the Israeli government was hoping this extraordinary movement of middle-class protesters was losing momentum and direction, the message from the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities across the country is that they are not giving up. Inspired by the success and impact of social uprisings in the Arab world, the goal of the Israeli protesters isn't political change, but they are demanding the government of Benjamin Netanyahu do something to tackle the soaring cost of living. The inaffordability of housing, childcare and even some basic foods has driven many Israelis to despair.