Welcome to our live coverage of the eurozone crisis. We’ll bring you all the developments. By Tom Burgis and Ben Fenton in London with contributions from FT correspondents across the world. All times are GMT.

17.37: As the EU’s political leaders get down to talks, we are closing down the live blog for today, but it will be up again bright and early tomorrow to pick up on whatever is decided overnight. Meanwhile, elsewhere on FT.com you’ll be able to find coverage of the summit kept fresh by our sleep-deprived Brussels team.

17.29 More bleak news for the UK’s Triple A credit rating, via FT markets editor Chris Adams:

Sterling tumbling on reports S&P has put UK AAA on negative outlook

December 13, 2012 6:22 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@chrisadamsmkts

Chris Adams

17.24 More twists and turns in this tale of what said what to whom about the Italian elections at the centre-right EPP’s pre-summit meeting today (see 15.49 and 17.06).

Antonio Tajani, the Italian EU commissioner and a Berlusconi ally, is quoted by Italian news agency Adnkronos as saying that none of the leaders of the EPP “expressly asked Monti to be a candidate”.

“Everyone spoke well of Monti but no one wants to interfere.”

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