Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer were among the six central bankers to receive the top grade from the Global Finance magazine. The others were Lebanon's Riad Salameh, Malaysia's Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Amando Tetangco of the Philippines and Taiwan's Fai-Nan Perng.

Political leaders anywhere in the world, however great they are, often do not have the luxury of actually making choices; choices are usually forced upon them by economic or political circumstances.

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said Friday that the economy is recovering and the nation's long-term prospects remained strong, an upbeat assessment that offered little indication of any plans for additional measures to boost short-term growth.

Schott Solar advised that it had achieved 20.2% efficiency on its monocrystalline screen-printed solar PV cell; a feat that was confirmed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE).

Renewable Energy Corp. ASA, a Norwegian maker of solar-power components, extended a shutdown of plants in Norway until the end of the year because demand for wafers and cells has failed to pick up.

Japan approved a bill today to subsidize electricity from renewable sources, joining European nations in shifting away from nuclear power after the Fukushima reactor meltdowns in March.

The price of gold has plunged 9.3%, after hitting a record US$1,913.50 an ounce on August 23, as markets became more upbeat about the economy.

Applied Materials CEO Mike Splinter told analysts on a conference call that he is now expecting chipmakers to spend US$1 billion less on new equipment than the company forecast in July. "We've seen demand from our foundry customers soften significantly in the past six weeks," Splitner said.

"Semiconductor companies now need to become much more systems-oriented," Freescale CEO Rich Beyer said during a technology forum. "We are into an era of connected intelligence where data is ubiquitous, and these devices [such as tablets] will conform to us and not have us conform to them, as in the case of the personal computer."

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Wednesday placed its noninvestment-grade "B+" corporate credit rating for LDK Solar Co. Ltd. under review for possible downgrade after the Chinese solar products company cut its financial outlooks for the second quarter and the full year.

The pressure in the DRAM business today is "untenable for a number of players," with something needing to happen to the struggling Asian memory makers within the next couple of quarters, Micron CEO Steve Appleton was quoted as saying.

Moody's now holds rating for Japan at Aa3, on a par with rival agency Standard & Poor's, which rates the world's third-largest economy at AA-, the same level as China.