China's manufacturing activity hit a 14-month high in December, a further sign of a rebound in the world's number two economy as domestic demand improved despite external weakness, HSBC said Friday.

The preliminary purchasing managers' index (PMI) released by the British banking giant hit 50.9 this month, up from a final 50.5 in November, when the figure returned to growth after 12 consecutive months of contraction.

Confidence among Japanese manufacturers hit a near three-year low in the final months of 2012, a Bank of Japan (BoJ) survey showed Friday, adding to concerns about the already weak economy.

The central bank's quarterly Tankan survey came just days after official figures showed the world's third-largest economy shrank in the July-September period, buffeted by a weak global outlook, a strong yen and a spat with China.

Coca-Cola FEMSA of Mexico is to take control of the U.S. soft drink firm's bottling operations in the Philippines in a $688.5 million cash deal, the buyer announced on its website Friday.

The transaction gives the Mexican company, the world's largest Coca-Cola bottler, 51 percent of Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc., with an option to acquire the remainder within seven years of the deal's close.

The Slovak parliament passed on Thursday a 2013 budget aimed at slashing the public deficit to 2.94 percent of output from this year's estimate of 4.6 percent.

The center-left government is applying an austerity program and is counting on boosting revenue from higher taxes on the rich, banks and corporations as well as on changes to the pension system.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday praised a new EU accord to create a supervisor to oversee banks across the eurozone and urged the release of urgently needed funds for Greece.

Addressing lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, she said the deal clinched earlier in Brussels just hours before an EU summit was of inestimable value and had met German concerns.

The European Union agreed early Thursday to create a bank supervisor to oversee lenders across the eurozone, following marathon talks which ended hours before the year's final EU summit.

The summit later on Thursday will aim to end the third grueling year of the debt crisis on a high note with a Christmas gift for Greece, by officially releasing the next tranche of international aid.

Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest bank, must pay U.S. authorities a fine totaling some 8.6 million dollars for flouting U.S. sanctions on Iran, Sudan, Myanmar and Cuba, the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubish-UFJ (BTMU) circumvented the sanctions between April 2006 and March 2007, Treasury said in a statement.

The World Bank will lend $100 million to the Philippines to bolster a government scheme that helps millions of poor families give their children proper schooling and healthcare, it said Wednesday.

The extra funding will mean 200,000 more households are given a monthly subsidy of not more than $34 in return for ensuring children under 14 go to school and get regular health checks.

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.