Sanctions-hit North Korea on Wednesday formally launched a development bank aimed at attracting foreign funds to revive its economy, state media reported. Directors of the State Development Bank held their first meeting to elect officers and decide on a management structure and annual budget, the Korean Central News Agency said.

British state-owned bank Northern Rock, which came close to collapse three years ago, said Wednesday that losses narrowed to 257. 5 million pounds (282 million euros, 383 million dollars) last year. The pre-tax loss was a large improvement after a massive shortfall of 1. 36 billion pounds in 2008, the group said in a results statement.

Ratings agency Moody's said Tuesday that an expected wind-down of exceptional support measures for banks in Britain could trigger downgrades -- a warning that roiled stock and currency markets. "As the UK financial sector slowly emerges from the recent crisis, the extraordinary support from which the country's banking system has benefited is likely to be gradually withdrawn," Moody's said in a new report.

The head of the Serbian central bank warned Tuesday that if Serbia continued to base its economic growth on excessive domestic consumption it could suffer a "Greek scenario. ""Public consumption will be the biggest challenge in 2010, in other words how much will wages and pensions be determined by politics and to what extent they will depend on economic trends," Radovan Jelasic was quoted by Tanjug news agency as telling an annual meeting of businessmen and economists in central Serbia.

Former figure skating world champion and 2006 Olympic silver medallist Stephane Lambiel has confirmed his retirement from official competition, the International Skating Union (ISU) said on Tuesday. Lambiel's agent had earlier announced that the 24 year-old Swiss skater would take part in the professional US 'Thin Ice' dance show later this month as he shifted towards gala events.

The overwhelming rejection by Iceland voters of a deal to repay losses of collapsed bank Icesave does not affect the country's credit rating, Standard & Poor's said on Monday. "In our view, the referendum outcome does not constitute an outright repudiation of Iceland's international obligations," S&P said in a statement.

Sri Lanka will relax strict foreign exchange controls on Thursday in a bid to boost investor confidence in the country after four decades of ethnic strife, the central bank said. Sri Lankans will be allowed from Thursday to open foreign bank accounts while procedures for foreign investors in the Colombo stock exchange and the local bond market will also be eased, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka said.

Leading central bankers believe economic growth is advancing on a "very positive" path, allowing them to unwind stimulus measures, European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet said after they met on Monday. "At the global level, the sentiment is that growth continues to be very positive, and with a number of corrections," he told journalists after the group of central bankers held their regular meeting at the Bank for International Settlements.

The German finance ministry said Monday it would present legislation in April for distressed banks that will likely include the creation of a stabilisation fund fed by banks themselves. The "bank restructuring law" would create a fund to be used in case of crisis to "dismantle or stabilise" troubled banks, ministry spokesman Michael Offer told a press conference.

Iceland's resounding rejection of a deal to pay Britain and the Netherlands billions for losses over the Icesave bank collapse radically changes the terms for any new talks, local press said Monday. "It is out of the question to continue negotiations on British and Dutch terms as if nothing has happened," the main Morgunbladid daily said in an editorial two days after more than 93 percent of voters cast ballots against the Icesave deal.