Russia on Wednesday crowned a tortuous 18-year campaign by becoming the largest country outside the World Trade Organization (WTO) to formally join the world's premier free trade club.

The Geneva-based institution's 156th member had spent years harboring deep suspicions about what a flood of better Western products and services might do to the country's fitful recover from its late Soviet malaise.

Heineken NV continued to inch toward a takeover of Tiger beer maker Asian Pacific Breweries on Wednesday, revealing that it has purchased a 2.68 percent stake in the company for around $290 million, even as it struggles to buy a much larger, controlling stake, from Singapore's Fraser and Neave for $4.7 billion.

The news comes on the same morning Heineken reported weak first-half earnings, with margins hurt by rising costs, although the company did report an increase in sales and market share.

U.S. officials are investigating possible violations of sanctions against Iran by Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain's Financial Times reports.

The bank declined to comment on Wednesday's report except to repeat previous disclosures that it is in contact with U.S. and British authorities "to discuss its historical compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. economic sanctions regulations."

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said his country needs more time to effectively implement financial reforms and spending cuts, as eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker heads to Athens for the first of Samaras' top-level meetings on his country's international bailout.

Juncker arrives in Athens Wednesday afternoon for talks with Samaras and his finance minister, Yannis Stournaras.

Japan Tobacco said Wednesday it was being probed by the European Union after a report it broke sanctions by shipping cigarettes to a firm linked to the Syrian regime, but denied any wrongdoing.

Japan Tobacco (JT), which is 50 percent owned by the government, insisted its Geneva-based subsidiary JT International (JTI) had done nothing wrong amid claims it supplied a firm with family links to President Bashar Assad.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistoe said Tuesday that leaving the Eurozone would not help resolve the economic crisis plaguing the 17-member bloc.

"There is no fast and easy solution for the European crisis. Or, at least, I'm not able to come up with one," Niinistoe said in a speech delivered to an annual ambassadors meeting in Helsinki.

Spain's short-term borrowing costs tumbled Tuesday as it raised 4.51 billion euros ($5.6 billion), buoyed by the possibility of European Central Bank intervention.

The Treasury raised the cash in a sale of 12- and 18-month bills, enjoying a lull in interest rates following ECB chief Mario Draghi's comments that the bank may resume bond purchases if necessary.

Recession-hit Britain unexpectedly added to its public sector debt pile in July, official data revealed Tuesday, dealing a blow to the government's hopes of reducing the country's large deficit.

Public sector net borrowing stood at £600 million ($946 million, 763 million euros) in July compared with a net repayment of £2.8 billion in the same month one year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

U.S. billionaire George Soros has bought a stake in Manchester United, the British football club that made its Wall Street debut earlier this month, according to a filing with U.S. regulators on Monday.

Soros' investment firm bought approximately 3.1 million class A shares, or 7.85 percent of the total Class A shares, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed.

The U.S insurance giant Aetna will acquire managed health care company Coventry in a transaction valued at $7.3 billion, the two companies announced early Monday.

Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by the board of directors of each company, Coventry stockholders will receive $27.30 in cash and 0.3885 Aetna common shares for each Coventry share, according to a statement issued by the two firms.