Vietnamese police have arrested seven ex-bankers accused of approving illegal loans that led to $21 million in losses, state media reported Wednesday, the latest scandal to hit the country's financial sector.

Those arrested by anti-corruption police late Tuesday include former chairman Hoang Van Toan and CEO Tran Son Nam of TrustBank, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper said.

Turkey's embattled lira on Wednesday took a new pounding on foreign exchange markets as emergency measures announced by the central bank failed to impress markets rattled by terror attacks and political instability.

The lira has lost almost 10 percent in value against the American dollar since the start of this year alone with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's plan for a presidential system, currently debated by parliament, unnerving investors.

The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday plans to invest 600 billion dirhams ($163 billion) in projects to generate almost half the country's power needs from renewables.

Egypt's annual inflation rate rose to 24.3 percent in December, official figures showed on Tuesday, two months after the government floated the pound sparking the biggest price hikes in years.

Industrial action brought fresh disruption for travellers in Britain on Tuesday as rail workers and airline cabin crew walked off the job, the day after a major strike on the London Underground.

Japan's top pharmaceutical company Takeda said it is buying a US cancer drugmaker for $5.2 billion, as its top executive left the door open to more overseas acquisitions.

Takeda is paying $24 a share for Ariad Pharmaceuticals, a premium of about 75 percent over Ariad's closing price on Friday, the companies said in a joint statement on Monday.

The Turkish lira, pounded by higher-than-expected inflation and security fears, hit record lows against the dollar on Monday after a gloomy Moody's statement.

A major contractor on Riyadh's $22.5 billion urban rail and bus system said Monday the project is on track despite Saudi government cuts to infrastructure last year after oil revenues fell.

Embattled President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday raised the minimum wage by 50 percent in Venezuela, a country with astronomical inflation.

Maduro said he was raising the minimum wage to 40 bolivars, about 60 dollars at the highest official exchange rate, or $12 on the black market.

Swedish automaker Volvo said Sunday that it expects to export half of the cars produced at a future plant in the United States. 

The first plant in North America by Volvo, a company owned by a Chinese automotive group, will begin producing the next generation of S60 mid-size sedans in 2018, according to Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson.