Indonesia's inflation accelerated to 6.79 percent in April spurred by higher fuel costs after global oil prices rebounded, official data showed Monday.

The year-on-year consumer price index rose from 6.38 percent in March, the statistics agency said.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Saturday that Greece could manage without a new "loan" if its debt was restructured, as the country waits to find out if it has secured critically-needed bailout funds.

Asked if the nation could do without one, Varoufakis told the Efimerida ton Sindakton daily in an interview: "Of course it can. One of the conditions for this to happen though, is an important restructuring of the debt."

Oil giant Saudi Aramco named an interim president and CEO after his veteran predecessor's appointment as minister of health.

Amin Nasser was named "acting president and chief executive officer of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company until further notice," Saudi Aramco said in a statement.

Foreigners who break rules on buying Australian real estate will face up to three years in jail or fines of Aus$127,500 (U.S.$100,050) for individuals and Aus$637,500 for companies under tougher rules unveiled Saturday.

In announcing the changes, conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his government was in favour of foreign investment.

A U.S. judge Friday ordered BNP Paribas to pay a record $8.9 billion fine to settle violations of U.S. sanctions linked to Iran and other countries.

Judge Lorna Schofield finalized a sentence that also included a five-year probation and the imposition of a monitor at France's largest bank.

The Syrian capital's tiny tourist train is returning puffs of hope to a city encircled by war with short trips to the greener suburbs of Damascus. 

The train, whose large yellow wagon and leather seats can hold 100 people, had stopped running since the 2011 outbreak of Syria's conflict.

Britain's state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group announced Friday that net profits sank by a fifth in the first quarter, after taking a charge against the disposal of its TSB retail division.

Earnings after taxation slid to £913 million ($1.40 billion, 1.25 billion euros) in the three months to the end of March, compared with £1.148 billion a year earlier, Lloyds said in a results statement.

Milan's Expo 2015 opens on Friday with hopes the six-month food-themed world fair will be a catalyst for economic revival competing with fears it will simply underline Italy's deep-seated problems.

The first global exhibition since Shanghai's groundbreaking hosting five years ago has been beset by delays which mean the site will be far from being fully completed when it opens to the public at 0800 GMT.

Japanese inflation picked up in March for the first time in 10 months, data showed Friday, but household spending tumbled in a worrying sign for consumer confidence. 

Core inflation, excluding volatile fresh food prices, hit 2.2 percent year-on-year, accelerating from the previous month for the first time since May 2014, and offering a sliver of hope for Tokyo's war on deflation.

China has for the first time overtaken the United States as Australia's largest source of foreign investment, according to official data, laying out Aus$27.7 billion (U.S.$21.8 billion) in 2013-14 as real estate purchases more than doubled.

The Asian economic giant's spending in Australia for the year ending June 30, 2014 far outstripped the Aus$17.5 billion from the United States -- which was the biggest investor for more than a decade -- and Canada's Aus$15.4 billion, the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) said in its annual report.