National Bank of Kuwait, the emirate's largest lender, on Thursday reported a 39.5 percent slide in second quarter net profit as the bank took huge provisions, a statement said.

NBK's profit in the first half of the current year also dropped 17.7 percent as the bank cited "a challenging operating environment and weakening outlook."

Online auction house eBay on Wednesday reported that its profit in the recently-ended quarter more than doubled due to strong showings by its Marketplaces and PayPal services.

The California-based company said it had a net income of $692 million on revenue that rose 23 percent to $3.4 billion in the quarter that ended June 30.

Regulators are investigating Credit Agricole, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale over the Libor manipulation scandal that claimed the boss of British bank Barclays, the Financial Times reported Thursday.

Citing sources close to the probes, the FT said regulators were examining evidence of links between traders at all four banks and Barclays' former trader Philippe Moryoussef.

President Hu Jintao said Thursday China would offer $20 billion in new loans to Africa, as he delivered a speech to a Beijing forum on co-operation with the resource-rich continent.

The pledge -- double the amount Beijing agreed to lend to Africa at the last forum in 2009 -- underscores China's growing links with African nations as it looks to secure key commodities to feed its economic growth.

WikiLeaks is opening a new front in its battle to break the financial blockade imposed by credit card giants Visa and MasterCard, the group said Wednesday, saying it could now accept donations through a French non-profit.

Visa and MasterCard were among half a dozen U.S. payment firms to pull the plug on WikiLeaks once it made its controversial decision to begin publishing some 250,000 secret State Department cables in December 2010.

German sportswear giant Adidas said Wednesday it was closing its only company-owned factory in China, although the country would continue to be its "main global production site" via subcontractors.

A spokeswoman confirmed that the site in Suzhou, near Shanghai, which employs 160 people, would close at the end of October for "efficiency" reasons.

Shares in global banking giant HSBC fell more than two percent in Hong Kong on Wednesday after a top executive resigned over the lender's failure to control money laundering and terrorist financing.

London-based HSBC apologized Tuesday for failing to apply anti-laundering rules as U.S. lawmakers accused it of giving Iran, terrorists and drug dealers access to the U.S. financial system.

Baghdad's top energy official inaugurated a giant oilfield in south Iraq on Wednesday, with a group of Chinese, French and Malaysian firms set to pump 535,000 barrels of oil a day there within five years.

The official opening of the Halfaya field in Maysan province comes after Iraq signed three preliminary energy exploration deals with foreign firms, and with the country looking to ramp up oil output.

As markets and debt-wracked Eurozone countries cry out to Chancellor Angela Merkel for immediate action, a defiant top court and a strengthened role for Germany's parliament are slamming on the brakes.

On Thursday, German MPs will be dragged back from holiday to vote on a rescue package worth up to 100 billion euros ($123 billion) for beleaguered Spanish banks. Germany's parliament has to vote on all Eurozone bailouts.

In a hard-hitting report, U.S. lawmakers accused the global bank HSBC on Monday of opening the doors of the financial system to terrorists, drug dealers and money launderers.

Senators found the London-based lender allowed affiliates in countries such as Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh to move billions of dollars in suspect funds into the United States without adequate controls.