Merkel & Sarkozy finally agreed to changes to Eurozone Treaty to be presented to Eurozone today, only then voting on implementation on Friday.

Not quite world wide risk, many countries with AA ratings and above are more or less ok.
AAA rated countries according to Wiki:
Australia
Austria -
Canada
Denmark
Finland -
France -
Germany -
(Guernsey)
Hong Kong
(Isle of Man)
Luxembourg -
Netherlands -
Norway
Singapore
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom

On monday S&P warned Germany, France, Holland, Austria, Finland and Luxembourg that they are on "credit watch negative" and at risk of their ratings downgraded.

The world does take notice because it means that according to the ratings the respective countries face financing charges through interest rates, example on their bonds. This directly reflects in their budgets and resultant debt.

I for one, take notice because they give me tell tale signs of what is happening and those events put pressure on when the PMs will finally find their true value in Fiat currencies.