Sydney / AFP Australia on Wednesday boosted funding to the corporate regulator by Aus$127.2 million (US$99 million) and appointed a special prosecutor to investigate financial crime, in sweeping reforms prompted by public outrage over numerous bank scandals. The nation’s major banks — which regularly rake in multi-billion-dollar profits — have been under scrutiny following a series of consumer fraud …

  TOKYO / AP Japan’s exports fell for a sixth straight month in March, sapped by weak shipments of machinery and chemicals, though a sharper decline in imports helped push the trade surplus to its highest level in more than five years. Customs data reported on Wednesday showed exports fell 6.8 percent from a year earlier to 6.46 trillion yen …

  Islamabad / Bloomberg Pakistan is vowing to get tough on tax evaders who have so far shunned an amnesty program set to finally expire on April 30 after four deadline extensions. Less than 0.3 percent of Pakistan’s 3 million goods traders have participated in the programme, well below the 17 percent forecast by the government when it began in …