Greeks opposing a new round of austerity cuts on Wednesday began a two-day round of strikes and protests timed to pressurize EU leaders ahead of a summit later this week.

Lawyers, notaries, pharmacists and doctors were told by their respective associations to walk off the job ahead of a full-blown general strike on Thursday called by the country's main unions.

Spain has won breathing space but nothing more, analysts said Wednesday, after it escaped feared downgrade of its debt to junk-bond status.

Even if Madrid secures a rescue in which the European Central Bank buys its bonds so as to lower borrowing costs, Spain will be left with deep-seated economic problems unresolved, economists said.

Nordic telecom operator TeliaSonera intends to shed 2,000 jobs, it said on Wednesday while announcing a 1.2-percent fall in quarterly profit, which was below market expectations.

In the three months ending September 30, the group's net profit fell by 1.2 percent to 4.8 billion kronor ($727.66 million, 555.85 million euros).

Mexican telecoms mogul Carlos Slim will enter the cement business in 2013 through a big stake in a new company, Cementos Fortaleza, the firm said Tuesday.

Cementos Fortaleza hopes to become "the best cement maker in Mexico," with Slim taking a 46 percent stake and business partner Antonio del Valle owning 54 percent, chief executive Antonio Tarracena told a news conference.

French luxury handbag maker Longchamp is eyeing a huge expansion in China despite the country's economic slowdown, its chief executive said as the firm opened a new store in Hong Kong Wednesday.

The 64-year-old family-owned brand, famous for its colored fold-up nylon and leather totes, said it was optimistic about the Asian market, especially China, as European economies -- its main markets -- remain "unfavorable".

Iraq's cabinet on Tuesday named an interim replacement for the country's central bank chief, who was suspended amid an inquiry over currency manipulation, the premier's spokesman told AFP.

"The cabinet decided to authorise Abdelbassit Turki, the head of the Board of Supreme Audit, to run the central bank indefinitely," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman Ali Mussawi said, adding that Sinan al-Shabibi had been suspended from his post by the country's anti-corruption watchdog.

Switzerland has blocked nearly one billion Swiss francs ($1.1 billion, 800 million euros) in assets linked to former autocratic Middle Eastern leaders since the Arab Spring, the Swiss foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The Swiss government has held funds linked to ousted Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali since he left the country in January 2011, and those of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak after his departure from power the same year, said Valentin Zellweger, the head of the foreign ministry's international law department.

Prices for basic provisions have nearly doubled in Syria and the U.N. food agency failed to deliver essential food supplies to 100,000 people last month because of the fighting, it said Tuesday.

"We can see that with the increasing violence in some areas, (food) prices have kept going up since the start of the fighting," World Food Programme (WFP) spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters in Geneva.

Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah Tuesday proposed setting up a $2 billion fund to fight poverty in Asia and said the Gulf state will donate $300 million to its corpus.

"In a bid to fight poverty and improve the standard of living ... I propose an initiative to set up a $2 billion program," Sheikh Sabah said as he opened the first Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) summit.

Investor sentiment is cautiously improving in Germany, as fears about a break-up of the euro have eased somewhat in recent weeks, data showed on Tuesday.

Nevertheless, investors' assessment of the current situation in Europe's top economy is worse than it has been since June 2010, the data showed.