Slovenia has raised 3.5 billion dollars (2.7 billion euros) in a successful bond sale, two days after Moody's downgraded the eurozone country's rating to "junk", the finance ministry said on Friday. The country sold 2.5 billion dollars in 10-year dollar-denominated bonds at an average interest rate of 6.00 percent, and 1.0 billion dollars in five-year bonds at 4.95 percent, the ministry said.

AMSTERDAM - Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Monday Chief Executive Peter Voser will step down in early 2014, and the company reported lower first-quarter profits in the wake of a decline in oil prices. The departure comes as a surprise, as Voser is just 54 years old and is well-regarded within the industry. Shell broke with a longstanding tradition of alternating British and Dutch chief executives with the July 2009 appointment of Voser, a Swiss national.

Mexico's Senate on Tuesday approved legislation to open up the telecommunications industry, a sector dominated by two television channels and billionaire Carlos Slim's phone empire. The bill, already approved by the lower house, is one of the signature reforms being pushed by President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December with a vow to improve the country's competitiveness.

Aetna's first-quarter net income fell 4 per cent as acquisition-related costs and rising health care expenses more than offset government business gains for the health insurer. But earnings still topped analysts' expectations, the company raised its 2013 forecast and said it expects more growth on top of that once it closes the acquisition of fellow insurer Coventry Health Care. Shares of the Hartford, Conn., company reached their highest price in more than five years in Tuesday morning trading after the company announced results.