| * China seeks to water down key World Bank report * Brussels trains its sights on Slovenia * US says China is stepping up cyber war * Hopes of a truce for Vodafone and India are fading * Hong Kong dockers accept pay rise and end strike action * Political status quo in Malaysia masks social change * Somalia needs a Marshall plan, president says before aid meeting * Brazil in tight race with Mexico to head WTO * Middle East and north Africa sees surge in M&A activity * Barclays Says GCC Refinancing Spurs Mideast Syndicated Loans Markets: mixed China seeks to water down key World Bank report
China is leading an effort to water down the World Bank's most popular research report in a test of the development institution's new president, Jim Yong Kim.
http://on.ft.com/ZBz6Mn Brussels trains its sights on Slovenia
The European Commission is being pushed to take a tougher line with Slovenia amid mounting concerns that infighting is hampering the country's ability to overhaul its banking sector and avoid becoming the next rescue target in the eurozone crisis.
http://on.ft.com/12Laxx9 US says China is stepping up cyber war
Beijing is engaged in systematic cyber spying on the US military and private businesses to acquire technology to boost military modernisation and strengthen its capacity in any regional crisis, according to the Pentagon.
http://on.ft.com/10eQUfx Hopes of a truce for Vodafone and India are fading
A much-anticipated deal to settle the $2.6bn tax row between the Indian government and Vodafone appears unlikely to happen for at least another year, in a further blow to faltering investor confidence in Asia's third-largest economy.
http://on.ft.com/13eC0Lu Hong Kong dockers accept pay rise and end strike action
A month-long strike that pitted Hong Kong dock workers against Asia's richest man has ended with the strikers accepting a 9.8 per cent pay rise, much less than the 23 per cent increase they had been demanding.
http://on.ft.com/10lKbRO Political status quo in Malaysia masks social change
The rally on the Kuala Lumpur stock market that greeted news that Malaysia's ruling coalition had won the closest-fought election in a generation spoke volumes about how investors have interpreted the outcome.
http://on.ft.com/16LGoEP Somalia needs a Marshall plan, president says before aid meeting
Somalia needs its own Marshall plan to recover from decades of poverty, civil war and terrorism, says the country's president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
http://on.ft.com/11Oi5jz Brazil in tight race with Mexico to head WTO
Roberto Azevêdo of Brazil and Herminio Blanco of Mexico are scrambling to secure last minute votes in a tight race to become the next head of the troubled World Trade Organisation.
http://on.ft.com/10653j1 Middle East and north Africa sees surge in M&A activity
The past few years have been grim for corporate advisory work in the Middle East and north Africa as disappointing merger activity combined with lacklustre markets to confine the great pre-crisis banking boom to history.
http://on.ft.com/16c2wYP Barclays Says GCC Refinancing Spurs Mideast Syndicated Loans
Middle East syndicated lending is rebounding from a three-year low as companies seek to lock in cheaper funding costs to repay debt maturing this year and in 2014, according to the regional head of Barclays Plc. (BARC)
http://bloom.bg/12NnCGv Emerging Markets
MSCI Emerging Market Index up +0.29% at 1,049 Europe
FTSE unchanged +0.33% at 6,543
RTS up +0.44% at 1,438
Warsaw Wig up +0.35% at 44,699
FTSE 300 Eurotop up +0.32% at 1,221 Americas
DJIA down -0.03% at 14,969
S&P 500 up +0.19% at 1,618
Bovespa down -0.10% at 55,430 Asia
Nikkei 225 up +3.55% at 14,180
Topix up +3.06% at 1,189
Hang Seng up +0.58% at 23,047
Shanghai Composite up +0.20% at 2,236
MSCI Asia ex-Japan up +0.40% at 483.74
CNX Nifty up +1.19% at 6,042 Currencies
€/$ 1.31 (1.31)
$/¥ 99.11 (99.33) Commodities
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.46 at 105.00
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.52 at 95.64
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -4.50 at 1,464 | 
