The Philippines' Department of Finance announced that it had begun to accept development proposals under the Philippines-Italy Debt for Development Swap Program.

The government of Japan announced that by next month, it would begin to thresh out the details of a joint procurement plan for the purchase of liquefied natural gas.

The National Pension Service of South Korea increased its stake in six local companies as the government lengthened disclosure times for share purchases over 10%.

Eike Batista's OSX Brasil SA engaged the services of Bingham McCutchen LLP for its restructuring efforts.

The Indian Telecom Commission had cleared the planned exit of Telecommunication Consultants India (TCIL) for its 30% stake in Bharti Hexacom.

NBC reporter Michael O'Brien said the legacy of President Barack Obama would be on the line as he awaits Congressional approval on air strikes against Syria.

The award to Tokyo as the 2020 Summer Olympics host leveraged to pass gambling casino legislation. Two major gaming firms, Las Vegas Sands Corp and MGM Resorts International are searching for sites to build casinos in Japan.

The higher interest rates imposed on small businesses hurt the Spanish recovery program. Despite the expansion of Spanish manufacturing and services sectors of the country, which is the first time in the past two years, the lack of available funds for lending clearly hindered the growth of the country.

Standard and Poor's analysts have criticized the practice of Scandinavian banks. The biggest banks of Scandinavia have failed to curb risks of financial innovation and would avoid downgrades unless national regulators requiring stricter measures, according ratings agency to Standard & Poor's.

The rule increasing the processing time from five to fifteen days was met with waves of complaints as it hinders business operations.