China designated a clearing bank in Seoul for yuan transactions in South Korea on Friday, coinciding with a visit by President Xi Jinping, as Beijing promotes greater use of its currency overseas.

China's central bank has authorised the Bank of Communications, the country's fifth largest lender, to undertake yuan clearing business in the South Korean capital, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement.

China will next month put on trial two foreign investigators linked to drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which is facing allegations of bribery, in a closed trial shut to relatives and diplomats, people familiar with the case said.

British national Peter Humphrey and his wife Yu Yingzeng, an American citizen, will on August 7 face charges of illegally obtaining personal information, a family friend who asked not to be identified told Agence France Presse.

General Motors recalled 3.4 million large cars last month after finding a 9-year-old email from an employee in its files warning of trouble, according to documents released by the government.

The 2005 email, unearthed in April during a company wide review of ignition-switch problems, is more evidence that GM knew about safety problems for years but failed to recall troubled cars until recently.

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said the economy in the West Bank and Gaza is weakening and urged Israel to lift restrictions on the Palestinians.

After briefing the international donor community and the Palestinian Authority, IMF mission chief Christoph Duenwald said in a statement that the authority is "doing a commendable job" managing the economy in difficult circumstances.

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper is betting that bitcoins will bring more financial stability to countries with shaky economies, even though the digital currency faces an uncertain future itself.

The financier revealed Wednesday that he snapped up nearly 30,000 bitcoins in a recent U.S. government auction and plans to trade them on a platform catering to markets looking for alternatives to their own volatile currencies.

The European Central Bank is unlikely to make new policy moves at its monthly meeting on Thursday, focusing instead on assessing the impact of last month's unprecedented package of measures.

After cutting rates last month and unveiling new liquidity measures in its battle to prevent the single currency area from slipping into deflation, the ECB will "sit tight" at its meeting on Thursday, central bank watchers predicted.

Oil extended losses in Asia Thursday on prospects that Libya will begin exporting more crude into a global market flush with supplies, while easing concerns about the Iraqi crisis also weighed on prices. 

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for August delivery eased 47 cents to $104.01 while Brent crude for August was down 33 cents at $110.91 in late-morning trade. 

Chinese banks can now set their own exchange rates between the yuan and the U.S. dollar for some customers, the government said, in a small step towards liberalization of the tightly controlled currency.

Banks can decide the "spread" -- the range between the buying and selling price -- for customers based on market demand, according to a central bank statement posted on the website of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange late Wednesday.

Oil prices edged higher in Asia Wednesday as dealers await the release of a U.S. stockpiles report for clues about demand in the world's top crude consumer, while upbeat Chinese manufacturing data lent support.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery rose 10 cents to $105.44 while Brent crude gained nine cents to $112.38 in afternoon trade. 

ExxonMobil is to invest one billion dollars in an existing refinery in Antwerp, Belgium it said on Wednesday, despite adverse market conditions and falling demand for energy in Europe.

The U.S. energy giant said it intends to instal a new unit at the site which will convert heavy crude into diesel and marine fuel, a market it believes will grow in the long term.