European Union finance ministers tackle tax fraud and money-laundering as they wrap up two days of talks on Saturday.

After a first day in Dublin focused on eurozone bailout issues -- tougher terms for Cyprus, easier repayments for Ireland and Portugal -- ministers want to flesh out a banking union that sets down the pecking order for creditor losses in future Nicosia-style private-sector "bail-ins".

The European Union must clarify "rules of the game" regarding help for Europe's ailing banks, and accelerate the creation of a mechanism to either help them or wind them up, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Ollie Rehn said in a interview published Friday by three European newspapers.

"I think it's important that, as there is still some uncertainty on rules of the game concerning resolution and bail-in, that we clarify these rules now," Rehn told the Wall Street Journal Europe, the German newspaper Die Welt and the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad.

The heiress of Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis, Athina, is negotiating a lease of the Ionian Sea island of Skorpios that was one of her family's most prized assets, a local official said on Friday.

"There are advanced talks that may have already produced a deal," Stathis Zavitsanos, the mayor of neighboring island of Meganissi that administers Skorpios, told Agence France Presse.

Cyprus eased from Friday unprecedented eurozone capital controls it imposed to prevent a run on its stricken banking sector, ending restrictions on all transactions under 300,000 euros ($393,000).

But a daily cash withdrawal limit of 300 euros is to remain in place for at least the next seven days, the finance ministry decreed.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday criticized changes made by U.S. lawmakers to last year's defense budget as purely political and contrary to the department's future as envisioned by Pentagon leaders.

Hagel expressed frustration that -- despite Pentagon efforts to trim programs it deems bloated -- members of Congress have reintroduced expendable programs, apparently to please constituents in their home districts.

The International Monetary Fund announced Thursday the release of a portion of its $2.1 billion loan to Jordan to help it weather regional instability, including an influx of Syrian refugees.

The IMF executive board, after its first review of Jordan's economic performance under the three-year loan approved last August, made $385 million immediately available to the country, the second tranche of funding under the program.

Lebanon has returned to Tunisia 28.8 million dollars stashed away there by the family of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was overthrown in January 2011, President Moncef Marzouki's office said Thursday.

The funds were returned by Qatari chief prosecutor Ali bin Fetais al-Marri, who has been charged by the United Nations with coordinating inquiries into funds diverted by leaders overthrown in the Arab Spring, a statement said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a joint cabinet session Thursday as the European export power and the Asian population giant seek to boost economic ties.

While Germany, amid the eurozone crisis, wants to broaden trade and investment links with large emerging markets, India is seeking German technology and expertise in areas such as renewable energies and education.

Abdel Qayum had to borrow money back home in India to buy a Saudi labor visa, but with new curbs on foreigners in the kingdom the construction worker could be deported even before paying off his debt.

"I paid an equivalent of $4,000 in India to get a work visa in Saudi Arabia," said the shabbily-dressed bearded man who earns less than $600 a month in Riyadh where he has been working for two and a half years.

Eurozone and EU finance ministers meet from Friday in Dublin to put finishing touches on the Cyprus bailout, and also to consider extending debt repayment dates for Portugal and host Ireland, as well as tackling how to stamp out tax fraud.

The ministers from the currency area gather first on Friday morning, and later they are to be joined by non-euro, European Union peers. Europe's central bankers will enter the fray thereafter for talks wrapping up on Saturday.