Global banking giant HSBC is closing the accounts of foreign diplomats in Britain and giving them 60 days to move their money, a report said Sunday.

More than 40 embassies and consulates are said to have been affected, including the Vatican, with the decision being described as creating "havoc" in the diplomatic corps.

Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a decree on Sunday banning the use of foreign currency in commercial transactions, state news agency SANA said.

"It is prohibited to make payments, reimbursements, commercial transactions and any other commercial operation in foreign currency or in precious metals," it quoted the decree as saying.

The U.S. economy is steadily adding jobs — just not at a consistently strong pace.

July's modest gain of 162,000 jobs was the smallest since March. And most of the job growth came in lower-paying industries or part-time work.

Work on the main structure of the world's second tallest skyscraper was completed on Saturday, as the final beam was placed on the Shanghai Tower.

A crane placed the steel beam 580 meters (1,900 feet) above the ground in Shanghai, China's commercial hub, as the building formally overtook Taiwan's 509 meter tall Taipei 101 building to become the highest tower in Asia.

Facebook's resurgent stock has closed above its IPO price for the first time since the online social networking leader made its debut on Wall Street more than 14 months ago.

The shares gained 56 cents to finish Friday's session at $38.05. That's the stock's highest closing price since ending its first day of trading at $38.23 in May of last year.

Qatar on Friday announced it has shipped a consignment of liquefied natural gas as aid for the Egyptian people, in its first such gesture since president Mohammed Morsi's overthrow.

State news agency QNA said the LNG shipment was loaded on Thursday and was headed for Egypt on a gas tanker.

Spain basked in a summer jobs boom in July when the number of people registered as being unemployed dropped for the fifth month in a row, government figures showed Friday.

The number of jobless benefit claimants fell from the previous month by 64,866 people, or 1.36 percent, to 4.70 million in July, according to raw figures issued in a report by the Labor Ministry.

Australia plans to slap a levy on bank deposits to help boost its coffers with the money raised used to protect savings against a bank collapse, sparking criticism Friday from the industry.

It was widely reported that a 0.05 percent tax on deposits up to Aus$250,000 (U.S.$223,255) will be collected from 2016, raising a forecast Aus$733 million in its first 18 months.

Bank of America may face civil charges over its actions during the financial crisis related to its mortgage products, the bank said in a filing to a U.S. regulatory agency Thursday.

The bank "has received a number of subpoenas and other requests for information from regulators and governmental authorities regarding MBS (mortgage backed securities) and other mortgage-related matters," it said in its quarterly report to the Security and Exchange Commission.

Etihad Airways says it plans to acquire a 49 percent stake in Serbia's JAT Airways in a wide-ranging deal that will bring a new name and expanded routes for the struggling Belgrade-based carrier.

The pact is the latest partnership for fast-growing Etihad, which is locked in competition with other Gulf carriers, the Dubai-based Emirates and Qatar Airways.