Ukraine’s government asked parliament on Friday to lift a ban on the privatisation of gas pipelines that pump Russian gas to Europe, which could allow Kiev to sell or lease them to Moscow in return for cheaper gas supplies.

Leone Pattofatto, formerly in charge of mergers and acquisitions at Credit Suisse’s Italian division, has moved to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), the latest investment banker to join the Italian state-backed fund.

A U.S. appeals court on Friday declined to rule on a legal challenge filed by business groups against a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that would force energy and mining companies to disclose payments to foreign governments.

Louis Dreyfus Commodities will expand its Canadian canola-crushing plant capacity by 20 percent, making it one of North America’s largest, the company said on Friday.

The Federal Reserve’s inspector general expects to complete this quarter an audit into the early release of minutes of the central bank’s most recent policy-setting meeting, according to a work plan posted on Friday.

Hints the euro zone may shift away from front-loaded fiscal austerity have been treated kindly by financial markets this week as bond investors seem comfortable with at least a measured tilt in the policy mix.

The Bundesbank has sharply criticised the European Central Bank’s plan to buy the bonds of highly indebted states in a report to Germany’s top court but EU officials said the programme was outside the court’s remit.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday there was limited but growing evidence that Syria had committed a war crime by using chemical weapons.

Mexico’s central bank on Friday brushed off a recent pick-up in inflation, keeping the door ajar for a possible further relaxation in credit costs if stimulus in advanced economies fans capital inflows.