Asian countries dominate a league table of economies most at risk from earthquakes, floods, storms and other natural hazards, according to research published on Wednesday.

In an assessment of 197 countries, British risk consultancy Maplecroft said six Asian countries were among the 10 countries whose economies were most vulnerable to catastrophes.

Three years after its near collapse, U.S. auto maker Chrysler has pulled back into market contention helped not just by snazzy new models but also a revolution on the factory floor.

Hundreds of small changes in production, more than any radical technology, has increased flexibility and output and brought once at-odds workers and management back on the same page, according to employees.

Syrian businesses should make a "strategic choice" and start exporting their goods to Asian markets instead of the West, a newspaper said Tuesday, in the face of tough Western sanctions on the regime.

The call came in the state-owned Ath-Thawra newspaper with Syrian exports taking a dive since the conflict erupted in March last year, triggering a blitz of sanctions by the United States, the European Union and the Arab League.

The EU, IMF and World Bank said Tuesday that economic reforms agreed with the Romanian government, currently in political crisis, remain "broadly on track."

In a statement marking the end of a sixth review of progress under a three-year-old bailout program, the international lenders said Bucharest was going in the right direction despite "challenging conditions."

France's economy managed zero growth in the second quarter of 2012, data showed Tuesday, beating expectations it would begin a slide into recession.

In its first flash estimate for the second quarter, the national statistics institute INSEE said that French gross domestic product (GDP) was unchanged.

British energy group BP said Monday that it had agreed to sell its Carson refinery in California to U.S. peer Tesoro Corporation for $2.5 billion (2.02 billion euros).

The sale is part of BP's previously-announced plans to sell $38 billion of assets by the end of 2013 to help pay the clean-up bill and compensation costs from the devastating 2010 U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Oil prices were higher in Asian trade Tuesday buoyed by an expected crude supply cut in the North Sea and intensifying talk of an Israeli military strike against Iran, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, gained 23 cents to $92.96 a barrel, while Brent North Sea crude for September advanced two cents to $113.62.

The Group of 20 top economies will meet shortly to try and coordinate a response to soaring food prices, driven by drought and rising demand, the Financial Times reported Monday.

Over the weekend, U.S. President Barack Obama called on Congress to help farmers struggling with the worst U.S. drought in half a century after the U.S. Department of Agriculture warned of sharply rising crop prices.

Swiss private banking group Julius Baer said Monday it will acquire Merrill Lynch's International Wealth Management business outside the United States from Bank of America for some 860 million Swiss francs ($879 million, 716 million euros).

The acquisition, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, is expected to add up to 72 billion Swiss francs to assets under management over the next two years, the bank said in a statement.

Australia's struggling BlueScope Steel Monday announced a U.S. $1.36 billion joint venture with Japan's Nippon Steel in a bid to tap new markets and help ease concerns over its balance sheet.

The 50-50 joint venture, NS BlueScope Coated Products, will see Nippon Steel acquire half of BlueScope's interest in its Southeast Asian and North American building products businesses.