U.S. President Barack Obama urged G20 countries to accelerate financial reform and strengthen public finances in a letter released on Friday before the group's meeting in Toronto. In an apparent nod toward China, Obama also stressed the importance of market-determined exchange rates to global economic strength. "The signals that flexible exchange rates send are necessary

World stocks rose for a ninth day running on Friday, extending a modest rally that has seen U.S. and European shares regain all their losses for the year as the worst fears about euro zone sovereign debt have eased. The dollar was lower against a basket of currencies and the euro. MSCI's all-country world index

China told the rest of the world on Friday not to meddle with the way it manages the yuan, calling the exchange rate a sovereign matter for it alone to decide and all but ruling it out of bounds at next week's G20 summit. Beijing is under pressure from Washington in particular to let the

The House of Representatives yesterday by majority a government bill enabling the Council of Ministers to alienate state land. The Bill allows the Government to proceed with the agreement signed recently between Cyprus and Qatar for the creation of a joint venture for a major project in Nicosia, which will include a five – star

House Plenary, at the presence of Cyprus Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis, approved on Thursday a government bill for tax hikes on fuel products. Twenty six MPs from the ruling party AKEL, the Democratic Party (DIKO) and the Cyprus Greens voted in favour of the bill, while 15 members of the Parliament from the right wing

Greece's international backers gave it good marks on Thursday for austerity measures demanded as part of a huge bailout, as unions called a 24-hour strike in protest at cuts that have pushed unemployment to a 10-year high. A team from the European Union, IMF and European Central Bank said Greece seemed on track with reforms

Most Asian stocks rose on Friday, encouraged by a late rebound on Wall Street, while the euro hovered near 3-week highs against the dollar after a strong investor response to Spanish bond auctions. Crude oil extended losses, however, as weak economic reports reinforced worries that the U.S. economic recovery was losing steam. "While the immediate

European Union leaders agreed broad plans to toughen budget rules and improve coordination of economic policy at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. Following are details of the agreement, meant to show financial markets the EU can contain a debt crisis. ENHANCING ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE * EU member states reaffirmed their position that better economic policy

European leaders agreed to publish details of "stress tests" showing the financial health of individual banks next month and to toughen budget rules to restore confidence in their currency union. The euro rose to a three-week high against the dollar and concerns about Spain's financial health eased somewhat after Madrid's successful sale of 3.5 billion

European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to start membership negotiations with Iceland, while urging Reykjavik to move quickly to resolve a dispute over $5 billion in debts to Britain and the Netherlands. Iceland applied to join the 27-member bloc last year, after the global financial crisis devastated its banking system. The crisis persuaded the country