Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb Thursday said a massive Pacific trade pact could be concluded in the "next three to four weeks" when the 12 nations involved are due to meet.

Expectations that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an accord that would encompass 40 percent of global trade, would be sealed this year increased after U.S. President Barack Obama was last month given fast-track authority by Congress to negotiate such deals.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras vowed to present "credible" reform plans before a Thursday deadline set by exasperated European leaders, as Athens formally asked for a new bailout to avoid crashing out of the euro.

Despite mounting fears of a looming "Grexit" from the single currency, the French and Spanish premiers on Wednesday welcomed the latest "positive" developments, just days before a deal needs to be reached for Athens to avoid bankruptcy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet world leaders on Wednesday including China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi ahead of the start of a summit of the BRICS emerging economies.

Putin is to hold bilateral talks with leaders of the other BRICS countries -- China, Brazil, South Africa and India -- in the city of Ufa in the Ural mountains for a summit that Moscow hopes will show it is not cut off, despite its standoff with the West over Ukraine.

Australia's corporate watchdog Wednesday outlined details of its investigation into possible manipulations of interbank lending as it warned banks to be mindful of how they set interest rate benchmarks.

Similar investigations in the U.S. and UK have resulted in massive fines this May for six major global banks. The fines total nearly U.S.$6 billion for rigging the foreign exchange market and Libor, the London interbank offered rate.

Rocketing housing costs in Britain's capital have fueled a surge in Londoners seeking cheaper accommodation on boats, with increased numbers putting pressure on the city's historic network of rivers and canals.

The picturesque lifestyle of sleeping in a colorfully painted narrowboat or barge can seem tempting, especially when buying one can cost a fraction of the price of bricks and mortar.

Eurozone nations showed the "political will" to help Greece reach a bailout deal at emergency talks in Brussels Tuesday despite a referendum that rejected creditors' terms, new Greek finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos said.

Tsakalotos, who replaced maverick Yanis Varoufakis in the job on Monday, told reporters there had been "progress" in meetings with his 18 counterparts from the single currency and added there was "political will to give Greece a new chance."

European leaders accused Greece at an emergency summit Tuesday of failing to produce concrete proposals for a new bailout to keep it in the euro after Greeks defiantly voted against further austerity.

Greece's leftist prime minister Alexis Tsipras faced his 18 eurozone counterparts for the fraught talks in Brussels, while at home Greek banks remain closed and fears grow that the economy could implode.

The British government announced plans on Tuesday to allow shops to open longer on Sundays to compete with online shopping and global tourist destinations like Paris and New York.

Finance Minister George Osborne said he wanted to give mayors and local authorities the power to decide Sunday shopping hours in his budget, which will be unveiled on Wednesday.

Hated in Athens and brushed off by the Europeans, the International Monetary Fund approaches the next round of negotiations with Greece in a delicate position.

The global crisis bank is anxious to craft a compromise, but also under pressure to recover the billions it has lent to the country.

British bank HSBC fired six staff after they filmed a mock Islamic State-style execution video during a team-building day out and posted footage online, a spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.

The bank described the video, showing staff members in balaclavas holding a fake knife over a kneeling man in an orange jumpsuit, as "abhorrent".