Eurozone private sector business activity in January showed the best performance since June 2011, fresh evidence that a modest recovery is gaining traction, a key survey showed on Wednesday.

Markit Economics said its Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for January rose to 52.9 points from 52.1 in December, the seventh monthly rise in a row.

A major international ratings agency expects the local government in Sochi, Russia, to struggle with the cost of maintaining the Olympic venues despite the massive state investment.

Moody's said in a report published on Wednesday that Sochi and the Krasnodar region have benefited from the government funding but are likely to be tight for money in the longer term.

The former head of a Greek bank at the heart of a criminal investigation into allegedly unsecured loans has been taken into custody after his return from neighboring Turkey.

Angelos Filippidis, Hellenic Postbank's CEO from 2007 to 2010, was arrested at Athens airport early Wednesday.

Indonesia's economy grew at its slowest pace in four years in 2013 because of a slump in commodity prices and a slowdown in consumer spending.

The Central Statistics Agency said Southeast Asia's largest economy grew 5.8 percent last year, the first time it has expanded less than 6 percent since 2009.

Sony is in talks to sell its personal computer business to a Japanese investment fund as part of the electronics giant's wider restructuring, reports said Wednesday.

The leading Nikkei business daily said Sony was looking to sell the division to Japan Industrial Partners for between 40 billion yen and 50 billion yen ($396 million to $495 million).

Romania and the IMF reached an agreement on sustaining a stand-by credit deal, threatened by a row over a fuel tax rise, an IMF official said on Tuesday.

"Staff level agreement has been reached, the program remains broadly on track," IMF mission chief Andrea Schaechter told a press conference.

Spanish government figures show that the number of people registered as unemployed rose by 113,097 in January as temporary job contracts created over Christmas came to an end.

The Labor Ministry said Tuesday that the reduction put the total number of those registered in unemployment offices at 4.81 million. Year-on-year, the figure was down 166,343.

Banks in recession-hit Cyprus, reeling from a financial crisis, are struggling with non-performing loans that make up nearly half their lending and are hampering efforts to finance a cash-starved economy.

The central bank says banks' liquidity is sufficient to absorb NPLs up to a certain point, but fast action is needed as the figure is rising.

Australia's central bank held its cash rate steady at a record low of 2.50 percent Tuesday and hinted at a prolonged pause, saying a period of interest rate stability was prudent as the mining boom unwinds.

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Glenn Stevens said the board had decided to leave interest rates on hold for a fifth consecutive month, as expected by analysts.

Online advertising spending totaled $300 million in the MENA region today, and is increasing at a 37% growth rate a year to reach an astounding $1B in 2017.

“Online advertising is an essential driver for the growth of Arab web and mobile businesses. With the increase of ad budgets, the entire digital sector will flourish,” stated Omar Christidis, CEO and founder of ArabNet.