Chinese computer giant Lenovo will buy IBM's low-end server business for $2.3 billion, it said Thursday, giving it a platform to compete in that sector with U.S. giants Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

IBM will receive $2.07 billion in cash and the rest in shares for the x86 business, Lenovo said, in a deal seen as helping the Chinese firm diversify away from the slumping PC-sales sector.

Kuwait's three oil refineries, with a total production capacity of 930,000 barrels per day, halted operations on Wednesday following a power cut, a spokesman for the national refiner said.

"The three refineries have stopped operations, with the exception of the gas plants, after a power cut," said Khaled al-Asousi, spokesman for the state-owned Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) which owns the three refineries.

The Vatican bank said Wednesday it is cracking down on unsuitable clients, a day after fresh charges were laid against a former accountant at the scandal-hit financial institution.

The bank, officially known as the Institute of Religious Works (IOR), said it had screened 55 percent of its customers -- some 10,000 client records -- by the end of 2013 as part of a mammoth anti-money laundering clean-up operation.

Iraq's oil exports in 2013 declined compared with the previous year, new figures showed on Wednesday, despite the country's efforts to dramatically ramp up crude sales to fund much-needed reconstruction.

Exports in December recovered from multi-month lows earlier in the year, but were still below their peak, with overall exports and revenues for the year lower than similar figures for 2012, according to oil ministry data compiled by Agence France Presse.

Relatives of China's president and other business and political leaders are linked to offshore tax havens that "helped shroud the communist elite's wealth," a U.S.-based journalism group said Wednesday.

The report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists might fuel politically awkward attention on President Xi Jinping's family and its wealth at a time when Xi has made fighting corruption a theme of his leadership.

Australian inflation hit a stronger-than-expected 0.8 percent in October-December from the previous quarter, official figures showed on Wednesday, dampening hopes of an interest rate cut.

Economists had anticipated a quarterly rise in the consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, of about 0.5 percent after it hit 1.2 percent in the previous three months.

Myanmar's economy is on pace to grow 7.5 percent this fiscal year, the International Monetary Fund said, praising the government for working to liberalize the foreign exchange market and boost central bank reserves.

It warned, however, that inflation is expected to surpass 6 percent by March, when the current fiscal year ends, and could continue to rise.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on Tuesday cut its economic growth forecast for Turkey, blaming the impact of a deep political crisis and tighter U.S. monetary policy.

The London-based EBRD also trimmed its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for its operating zone, citing capital outflows as the U.S. Federal Reserve prepares to taper its vast stimulus.

Turkey's central bank is due to meet on Tuesday with the local currency in freefall, pressured by the political crisis rocking Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

The lira was quoted at 2.2379 to the dollar in morning trade compared to a record low of 2.2412 on Monday, and at 3.0349 to the euro from 3.0392.

It may not be a free haircut, but prices in Greece are finally getting trimmed after salaries were hacked back.

At Ioannis Maikantis' central Athens barber shop, a trim costs just 4.5 euros ($6) and business is brisk, among signs that the recession gripping Greece for the last six years is finally showing up in high street prices.