Myanmar is moving at ``warp speed'' in opening up after years of authoritarian rule but needs to build institutions to improve transparency and economic governance, the World Bank said Thursday as it approved $80 million in development aid.Pamela Cox, the bank's vice president for East Asia and the Pacific, said the bank has a further $165 million in loan assistance committed for Myanmar after it clears its $900 million in arrears to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Japan is helping th

ATHENS (AP) — Greek lawmakers are to vote Wednesday on a privatization bill that will be the first major test for the country's troubled governing coalition, while journalists have walked off the job at the start of rolling 24-hour strikes to protest austerity plans that will affect their healthcare funds.The bill gives the government more power to privatize public utilities. But it has faced growing dissent from lawmakers among the Socialists and Democratic Left, the two junior partners in the

ATHENS (AFP) - Greece on Tuesday reached agreement with its international creditors on a new wave of austerity measures necessary to unlock new bailout loans, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said."Today we concluded the negotiation on the measures and the budget," Samaras said in a statement, adding that approval by parliament of a new round of cuts will keep Greece in the 17-nation eurozone."If this deal is approved and the budget is voted, Greece will stay in the euro and exit the crisis," the

Apple Inc. shook up its executive ranks Monday, saying the head of its store operations is leaving after just six months on the job and the long-serving head of its iPhone software development operations is exiting next year.Apple didn't say why retail senior vice president John Browett and iOS software SVP Scott Forstall were leaving, but both have presided over missteps this year.Browett cut staffing hours at Apple's retail stores, a move the company reversed and acknowledged as a mistake. For

LONDON (AP) ― The world’s markets may believe that the worst of the financial crisis in Europe is over after three turbulent years, but those people who control the purse strings of the world’s businesses are not breathing any easier. An annual survey of finance directors from global business consultancy BDO finds that the crisis over too much government debt in Europe remains one of their key concerns ― so much so that Greece is considered a riskier place to invest and set up business in than w

The New York Stock Exchange and the NYMEX are shutting their trading floors in New York Monday as Hurricane Sandy bears down on the city.But trading will continue electronically on both exchanges.NYSE Euronext said Sunday it is putting in place its contingency plans beginning Monday and will announce later when the trading floor will reopen.The New York Mercantile Exchange, a commodity futures exchange, also will be shutting on Monday its trading floor which is located in a mandatory evacuation

China's economy will probably rebound in the fourth quarter, Jia Kang, a Ministry of Finance researcher, said at a conference reviewing China's economic performance in Beijing today.China will achieve its full-year growth target of 7.5 percent and "the rebound in the fourth quarter is likely to extend into next year," Jia said at the quarterly conference at the China Center for Economic Research, Peking University.The median forecast in a Bloomberg news survey of 30 economists, which was publish

Less than two weeks before China's once-in-a-decade leadership transition, a top official said economic reforms should center on its state-owned enterprises that have been the major driving force behind the country's explosive growth."Facing the current political and economic circumstances inside and out of the country, it is necessary to further promote and enhance the reform of state-owned enterprises, so that they can fully play the leading role in the national economy," said Wu Bangguo, Chin

Chinese industrial companies' profits rose in September for the first time in six months, adding to signs economic growth is picking up following a seven-quarter slowdown.Net income rose 7.8 percent from a year earlier to 464.3 billion yuan ($74.3 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said today in Beijing. That compared with a 6.2 percent decline in August, the year's largest drop.Today's report followed data showing industrial production and retail sales accelerated in September and a ma