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Oil Prices Rise on Libyan Violence

Oil prices edged higher in Asia Monday on escalating violence in crude producer Libya following a coup attempt by a rogue general that has raised concerns about potential supply disruptions, analysts said.

The U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in June, rose 17 cents to $102.19 in afternoon trade, while Brent North Sea crude for July rose 24 cents to $109.99.

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Pinterest Valued at $5 bn after Fresh Funding

Pinterest on Friday confirmed that another $200 million has been pumped into its coffers to build up search capabilities at the booming, bulletin board-style social network.

The latest round brings to $764 million the total amount of funding raised by the San Francisco-based start-up and gives Pinterest an overall value of $5 billion.

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Taiwan Approves 'Rich Man's Tax'

Taiwan's parliament has approved a so-called "rich man's tax" on nearly 10,000 of the island's wealthiest people in a bid to narrow the widening income gap. 

Starting next year, those with annual net income of over Tw$10 million ($333,000), or the richest 1.5 percent of individuals or families, will be subject to a 45 percent income tax rate, up from the current 40 percent, said the finance ministry.

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Moody's Upgrades Ireland by 2 Notches on Faster Growth

Moody's raised its credit grade for Ireland Friday by two steps, to Baa1 from Baa3, citing the impact faster growth will have on improving the country's debt profile.

While the country still has a high level of public debt and sizable fiscal deficits, Moody's said faster growth will reduce its debt ratio faster than had been expected.

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Venezuela to Send Oil to Palestinians

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pledged Friday to send oil and diesel to the Palestinian Authority, as part of agreements signed with its leader Mahmud Abbas during his visit to Caracas.

Venezuela, which sits atop the world's largest oil reserves, said it would provide an initial shipment of 240,000 barrels of oil, but gave no details as to how it would send them.

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Bailout Ends but Austerity Stays for Portugal

A thousand days on from its near-economic collapse, Portugal is ready to stand on its own again and is promising not to go back to its bad old spend-happy ways.

On Saturday, after an internationally-mandated makeover, Portugal will become the second country that uses the euro as its currency, after Ireland, to officially shake off its bailout shackles.

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Oil Climbs Higher on Ukraine Uncertainty

Oil prices advanced Friday as the market won support from the ongoing Ukraine crisis and upbeat data in the United States, which is the world's top crude consumer.

Brent North Sea crude for July rose 28 cents to trade at $109.37 per barrel approaching midday in London.

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German Tourism Giant TUI Narrows Loss in Q2

German tourism and travel giant TUI said Friday that it is sticking to its full-year forecasts after narrowing its losses in the second quarter. 

"TUI is on track to deliver its strategic and economic targets," chief executive Fritz Joussen said in a statement.

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Asia Shares Slip after Wall St Losses, Weak Europe Data

Asian markets were mixed Friday following another sell-off on Wall Street and worse-than-expected eurozone data while Mumbai hit a record high on expectations pro-business candidate Narendra Modi will become India's next prime minister.

Tokyo fell 1.41 percent, or 201.62 points, to finish at 14,096.59 owing to a stronger yen and Sydney eased 0.58 percent, or 31.8 points, to close at 5,479.0 but Seoul edged up 0.16 percent, or 3.24 points, to 2,013.44.

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Eurozone First Quarter Growth 'Major Disappointment,' Economy Struggling

First-quarter growth in the eurozone was a "major disappointment," falling well short of forecasts and stoking fresh concerns a modest recovery is struggling to make ground, official data showed on Thursday.

Worse still, the Eurostat data agency also revised down the three months to December performance -- from the initially given 0.3 percent to 0.2 percent.

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