Brazil announced an economic stimulus scheme Wednesday to modernize the country's aging infrastructure by selling road and railway concessions to the private sector.

The private investment measures come amid an economic slump -- growth is forecast at just two percent this year -- and as the country prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

As Britain loses faith in its banks and feels shockwaves from the euro crisis, one city is trying to keep local wealth in local pockets with the launch of its own currency.

The Bristol pound -- usable only with member businesses in the city in southwest England -- is to launch in September, and organizers are deluged with local firms wanting to sign up.

Singapore Airlines has said it plans to introduce revamped seats and cabin interiors with an upgraded in-flight entertainment in a bid to stay ahead of Asian and Middle East rivals in the premium travel market.

SIA is regarded as a trendsetter in aviation and is famous for its cabin service, but rivals like Cathay Pacific in Asia and Etihad, Emirates and Gulf Air from the Middle East have been closing the gap while offering lower fares.

Australia's biggest banking group, the Commonwealth Bank, on Wednesday posted a record full-year net profit despite subdued revenue growth with customers cautious about global instability.

The country's top home lender said profit for the 12 months ending June 30 rose 11 percent to Aus$7.09 billion (U.S. $7.43 billion), from Aus$6.39 billion the year before.

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.