On the afternoon of Wednesday June 8, Sir Richard Sykes strode in through the neo-classical portico of London's Athenaeum Club and ordered champagne.

Thomson Reuters could reap $1bn from selling its healthcare division to reinvest in professional information and services in faster-growing markets such as Latin America and Asia, according to people familiar with the auction.

Though he has been in office for three years, Dmitry Medvedev remains a political enigma even in a country so rich in mind-muddling mysteries.

ANNE LAUVERGEON, who was replaced on June 16th as chief executive of Areva, a nuclear-energy supplier, thought she was untouchable.

The consortium developing the Karachaganak gas project is close to agreement on ceding a stake to the government of Kazakhstan, Andrei Kuzyayev, head of Lukoil Overseas (LKOH.MM), told Reuters on Friday.

The International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for U.S. economic growth on Friday and warned Washington and debt-ridden European countries that they are "playing with fire" unless they take immediate steps to reduce their budget deficits.

ASTANA, June 13 (Reuters) - China, expecting trade with Kazakhstan to double by 2015, signed a currency swap deal worth $1 billion with its Central Asian neighbour on Monday and agreed a $1.5 billion loan to copper miner Kazakhmys.

Carlos Slim is under attack. For decades, the world's richest man built a business empire in his native Mexico with little resistance from the competition.

Even with the 2008-2009 policy effort that successfully prevented financial collapse, the US is now halfway to a lost economic decade. In the past five years, our economy's growth rate averaged less than one per cent a year, similar to Japan when its bubble burst.

A third independent director is set to leave the board of FTSE 100 miner Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, thrusting the London-listed Kazakh company further into turmoil.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been in discussions with the White House about leaving her job next year to become head of the World Bank, sources familiar with the discussions said on Thursday.

Ho Ching, the executive director and chief executive officer of Singapore's Temasek investment fund, is likely to step down in August, according to people familiar with the matter.

Private feuding within Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, the Kazakh miner, spilled out into the open on Wednesday as investors in the tightly held company overwhelmingly voted against the re-election of Sir Richard Sykes, the senior independent director, and fellow board member Ken Olisa.

Ben Bernanke sent a strong signal that the US Federal Reserve is not planning to loosen monetary policy despite weaker economic data, saying that the recovery "appears to be proceeding at a moderate pace".

NEW DELHI - A consortium of state-run companies in India is working on plans to buy at least part of Exxon Mobil Corp.'s stake in Kazakhstan's Kashagan oil field in yet another push by the energy-hungry South Asian country to secure oil and gas resources for its expanding economy.