A senior financial analyst says even if US politicians pass a deal to prevent the US economy going over the so-called fiscal cliff, lawmakers will still have a lot of work to do to put the country's finances back in order.

John Noonan from Thomson Reuters says the latest deal is just a stop gap measure."There's a perfect storm brewing at the end of February, beginning of March, when the debt ceiling will have to be dealt with and will have to be extended at the same time [that] they're going to seriously have to address spending cuts to entitlement programs and revenue raising that seriously deals with the fiscal crisis the US faces," he warned. This deal does not do that - it's just a patch.Mr Noonan says until US politicians come up with a more comprehensive plan, uncertainty will hang over the US economy."Business spending will be curtailed, which means higher unemployment in the US," he predicted.

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Five people, including a child, have been killed and 18 others injured in a pre-dawn apartment fire in Paris.

According to rescue workers, the five dead lived in the same flat on the fifth floor of a six-storey building in a disadvantaged area of Gennevilliers in the north west of the French capital.Around 100 firefighters fought the blaze that began in the building's fourth-floor flat.Fifteen of the 18 people injured were taken to hospital, while two of the injured were firefighters who suffered hand burns. The cause of the fire is unknown. AFP

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