Chinese telecoms giant Huawei says it would no longer focus on the US market for its core business, months after Washington effectively closed the door on it by labelling it a security threat.

With recession-hit Cyprus facing an even deeper slump on the back of a draconian EU-IMF bailout, thousands of Asian housemaids, nannies and caregivers on the small Mediterranean island fear for their jobs and futures.

South Korea's economic growth accelerated to the 2-year high in the first quarter, breaching market estimates, as brisk exports offset a reduction in private consumption, central bank data showed Thursday.

Residential property prices in the country will continue to rise 10 to 15 per cent this year, according to real estate services firm C H Williams Talhar and Wong Sdn Bhd.

Apple reported Tuesday that its quarterly profit dipped for the first time in nearly a decade as it squeezed less money from its champions in the competitive smartphone and tablet markets.

Manufacturing activity in China slowed in April due to sluggish foreign demand, HSBC said Tuesday, in a sign of further weakness in the world's second-largest economy.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 (G20) major economies on Friday pledged further actions to shore up growth while watching for monetary easing effects, and urged ratification of the IMF governance reform.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher left a mixed economic legacy, with both the upside and the downside of her policies leaving their mark on contemporary Britain, a leading economist told Xinhua Friday.

Advanced and developing countries alike voiced worries over fragile global growth, eurozone stagnation and the swamp of excess monetary liquidity as the IMF and World Bank spring meetings kicked off Thursday.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China rose marginally in the first quarter, the government announced on Thursday, led by Japanese, EU and US companies after declining last year.