Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the central bank and government on Thursday to take 'tough action' to stop speculation on the ruble after the currency hit new all-time lows this week.

"I ask the Bank of Russia and the government to carry out tough coordinated actions to discourage the so-called speculators from trading on the fluctuations of the Russian currency," he said during his annual state of the nation speech in Moscow.

The British government on Wednesday slapped a new tax rate on multinational companies that seek to avoid paying their fair share to Treasury coffers.

The levy -- nicknamed the 'Google (Xetra: A0B7FY - news) tax' because of the high number of technology firms seeking to avoid tax -- will come into force in April, finance minister George Osborne said in a budget update.

Microsoft shareholders gave a lukewarm vote of approval Wednesday for CEO Satya Nadella's $84 million pay package, after an investor advisory group said the company was paying him too much.

Nadella's pay package puts him among the highest paid CEOs in the country for last year, although his pay as a first-year CEO falls short of the $378 million that Apple awarded to Tim Cook when he became CEO in 2011. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison was awarded stock options and other pay valued at $67.3 million last year. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was paid only $1.3 million in 2013, but he held shares worth nearly $16 billion.

Kuwait on Wednesday accused oil-producing countries that had urged OPEC to cut its output, in a bid to curb sliding prices, of doing the opposite by pumping more crude.

Oil Minister Ali al-Omair defended the oil cartel's decision last week to maintain production levels, insisting that member states want to keep their market share.

The Palestinian Authority lost at least $310 million in customs and sales tax in 2011 as a result of importing from or through Israel, the UN said Wednesday, urging a radical change to the system.

The lost revenue, worth 250 million euros, was equivalent to 3.6 percent of gross domestic product and 18 percent of the tax revenue of the authority, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said.

The ruble turned back down on Wednesday, reaching new record lows against the dollar and the euro as trading began, before recovering slightly.

At 0803 GMT the Russian currency was 54.82 to the dollar and 67.82 to the euro.

France's finance minister said Wednesday that the French public deficit would be "well below" EU limits by 2017, as he trimmed his deficit forecasts for next year.

Michel Sapin said that "new measures" announced in October would push France's 2015 deficit down to 4.1 percent of gross domestic product, compared with the 4.3 percent previously feared.

India on Wednesday announced a move to speed up approval for U.S. investments, just weeks after the two countries settled a global trade dispute and President Barack Obama agreed to visit.

A new Indian government committee will "identify bottlenecks" faced by U.S. firms wanting to invest in the country, where foreign companies must contend with byzantine regulations and large amounts of red tape.

Australian energy firms are having to reassess their investment strategies and outlook as oil prices sit at multi-year lows, with analysts warning of knock-on effects for the wider economy as it shifts away from resources-driven growth.

OPEC's decision to maintain output sent the price of oil plunging last week, extending a sell-off since June that has been fuelled by a supply glut and slow demand growth.

Indonesia is set to lead a boom in online shopping across Southeast Asia as Internet access explodes and investors pour money into a rapidly growing host of retail startups, analysts say. 

Much like China several years ago, the region is enjoying a rapid increase in web access that observers say is starting to drive a fundamental shift in shopping habits among the emerging middle class.