Chinese cities now dominate the list of the most expensive places in Asia for expatriate residents due in part to a stronger local currency, a regional survey showed Wednesday.

Of the top 50 most expensive cities in the region, 16, or 32 percent, are from China, according to the survey by human resource firm ECA International.

The world's biggest clothing group, Spain's Inditex which controls the Zara brand, reported Wednesday a surge in profit in the first three quarters as it expanded globally and launched online sales in China.

Inditex said net profit leapt 27 percent from a year earlier to 1.655 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in the nine months to October 31.

OPEC holds a meeting here Wednesday to decide on the cartel's oil output levels and to choose a new secretary-general, ahead of a predicted slowing of world energy demand growth that may dent high crude prices.

While the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries appeared set to hold its oil production ceiling at 30 million barrels per day (mbpd), there was uncertainty over who would become the group's new administrative head.

After years of battling each other on trade issues, U.S. and European officials are contemplating a dramatic change in direction: joining together in what could be the world's largest free-trade pact in an attempt to boost their struggling economies.

Discussions are in the most preliminary of stages and there would be significant obstacles to overcome, including sharp differences on agriculture, food safety and climate change legislation. Still, top European Union and U.S. officials have said they want to see it happen. And America's main labor federation, often the biggest opponent to U.S. trade pacts, says it wouldn't stand in the way.

Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday said Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's policies were "too German-centric" and bonds spreads were "an invention" to bring down his government, as he begins his sixth election campaign in two decades.

"Monti followed policies that were too German-centric. All the economic statistics have worsened," Berlusconi said in an interview with Canale 5 television, part of his media empire.

The world's biggest investors have their "heads in the sand" over climate risk, according to a survey released Tuesday which warned of risks to pension funds.

The Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP) looked at the world's 1,000 largest retirement funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth pools on their management of the risks associated with rising global temperatures.

Banking giant HSBC said Tuesday it would pay U.S. authorities a record $1.92 billion to settle allegations of money laundering that were said to have helped Mexican drug cartels, "terrorists" and Iran.

"HSBC has reached agreement with United States authorities in relation to investigations regarding inadequate compliance with anti-money laundering and sanctions laws," the Hong Kong-listed lender said in a statement.

The Syrian economy has crumbled into a disjointed patchwork as civil war rages in the country, forcing some people to subsist through looting while others collect ransoms and civil servants continue to pay taxes and receive state salaries.

"Twenty-one months into the revolt -- with large swathes of territory slipping from government control -- we can no longer speak of just one Syrian economy," said Jihad Yazigi, director of the Syria Report economic website. "Now we have a mosaic of economies."

Prime Minister Mario Monti on Monday promised that Italy's next government would be pro-European as financial markets plunged and EU leaders called for stability after the caretaker leader announced he will step down ahead of a general election.

"I am very confident that. . . whatever coalition or government there will be, will be a highly responsible, Europe-oriented government," Monti said on the sidelines of a ceremony in Norway awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union.

The European Union, winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, said at the award ceremony Monday that the conflict in Syria was "a stain" on the world's conscience.

"Let me say it from here today," said European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. "The current situation in Syria is a stain on the world's conscience and the international community has a moral duty to address it."