Latin America's top oil exporter, Venezuela, is deep in an economic and political crisis brought on plummeting oil prices and marked by violent anti-government protests.

The company owned by the family of President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is close to receiving a bailout of its flagship New York building from a company with ties to Qatar, The New York Times reported Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump threw cold water on the chances of reaching a deal on trade with China, just as a delegation from Beijing was in Washington for talks on Thursday.

Danish shipping group Maersk Tankers on Thursday said it would cease its activities in Iran due to the US's decision to leave a landmark nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions against the Islamic Republic. 

The Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union trade bloc signed an interim trade deal with Iran on Thursday and plans to negotiate a free trade zone, said Kazakhstan which hosted the talks. 

On an avenue in Maracaibo, the once-thriving heart of Venezuela's oil industry, the buses no longer run. Instead, people squeeze onto a dinky tourist train to take them home.

The Philippines on Wednesday lifted its ban on migrant workers heading to jobs in Kuwait, capping a diplomatic row sparked when a murdered Filipina maid was found in her employer's freezer.

Turkey's embattled currency the lira on Wednesday hit new historic lows against the dollar as investors took fright at comments by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggesting he wanted a bigger say in monetary policy.

The lira has lost nine percent in value over the last month alone as Turkey heads to snap presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24 amid growing concerns over the health of the economy.

Greece's creditors were back in Athens on Wednesday to tie up the loose ends of an agreed programme of reforms as the country's third and final bailout comes to an end. 

With a meeting of eurozone finance ministers set for June 21, teams of experts from the EU, the ECB and the IMF were scheduled to meet with the Greek government to discuss its privatisation drive, an overhaul of the civil service and the deregulation of the state-dominated energy market.

In the Turkish city of Gaziantep, home to around half a million Syrians who fled the civil war south of the border, hundreds of Syrian businesses are thriving in a boost both for the displaced community and their host country.