In a rare piece of good news for Greek leaders, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) confirmed Tuesday that it has been forced to throw the cash-strapped country a half-billion-euro lifeline. 

After a week in which the Eurogroup of finance ministers and the European Central Bank turned the screws on Athens, the 555 million euros ($593 million) will give its radical new government a brief respite from its creditors.

Egypt hosts a foreign investor conference Friday it hopes will jump-start its battered economy while showcasing international support for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as he battles increasingly radical Islamist opponents.

Sisi, a former army chief voted into office after toppling his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi, has positioned himself as a frontline ally in the regional fight against Islamist militants, arguing that his country deserves more international support.

The dollar marched higher Wednesday, supported by expectations for a mid-year U.S. rate hike and diverging policy paths between the U.S. Federal Reserve and other major central banks.

The U.S. currency's unrelenting rise saw it jump against a string of global peers, including the euro and yen, while it also advanced against emerging market currencies from the Indonesian rupiah to the Thai baht.

Under the patronage of the Minister of Tourism, His Excellency Mr. Michel Pharaon, ihjoz, the first digital ticketing network in Lebanon, hosted a conference entitled: Ticketing in the Digital Age for Events and Tourism. The event was held at the Hilton Hotel on March 10, 2015, in the presence of partners, industry stakeholders and key members of the press.

Panelists at the ihjoz conference included His Excellency Mr. Michel Pharaon, Minister of Tourism, Mr. Khalil Daoud, CEO of LibanPost, Mrs. Randa Bdeir, Head of Electronic Banking at Bank Audi, Mr. Bassam Tueni, co-founder of ihjoz, and Sami Tueni, co-founder and CEO of ihjoz.

The euro tumbled Tuesday towards a 12-year dollar low, hit by eurozone stimulus, growing U.S. rate hike speculation and Greek debt concerns, dealers said.

In morning London deals, the European single currency sank to $1.0735 -- the lowest level since mid-April 2003. The region's stock markets were lower.

Italy will commit 8.0 billion euros ($8.6 billion) to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's plan to boost economic growth, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said Tuesday.

EU leaders last December approved the broad outline of Juncker's 315 billion euro investment plan, intended to kick-start growth in Europe by financing hundreds of projects.

The United Arab Emirates has denied claims from U.S. airlines of lavishing its fast-growing carriers with state subsidies as "false and unacceptable," local media reports said Tuesday.

The three top U.S. airlines last week accused Dubai's Emirates, Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways of receiving subsidies from their governments amounting to $42 billion (39 billion euros).

South Korean companies will be penalised if they yield to pressure from North Korea to raise the salaries of workers in their joint Kaesong joint industrial complex, Seoul officials said Tuesday.

Seoul has been seeking talks for several weeks since Pyongyang announced it planned to unilaterally raise the basic salary of the 53,000 North Korean workers employed across more than 100 South Korean firms operating in Kaesong.

China's consumer inflation rebounded in February from a more-than-five-year low, official data showed Tuesday, but a plunge in factory gate prices added to persistent concerns about deflation in the world's second-largest economy.

The 1.4 percent increase in the consumer price index (CPI) compared with a gain of 0.8 percent in January, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures.

Credit Suisse announced on Tuesday that Tidjane Thiam, currently chief of UK-based insurer Prudential, will take over as chief executive from Brady Dougan who will step down at the end of June.

During his eight-year term Dougan steered the bank through the financial crisis and through a tax evasion probe by the U.S. Justice Department that eventually saw the Swiss banking giant slapped with a $2.8 billion fine.