Australia's central bank on Tuesday lowered its key interest rate by 25 basis points to a new record low of 2.25 percent, saying after a year-and-a-half on hold the cut was justified to spur growth.

The Reserve Bank of Australia said the economy was expanding at a below-trend pace and inflation was low, while unemployment had risen in the past year and was expected to climb further.

A Chinese solar energy tycoon has replaced e-commerce giant Alibaba's founder Jack Ma as the country's richest man with a fortune of $26 billion, a wealth survey showed Tuesday.

Li Hejun, founder and chairman of Beijing-based Hanergy, saw his wealth nearly triple from a year ago, according to the Hurun Report's Global Rich List 2015.

Suicides in Greece surged by a third after the country implemented an austerity program in June 2011, health investigators said on Monday.

After the measures were passed, the number of suicides leapt by 35.7 percent compared to preceding months, they said.

Union workers at nine U.S. oil refineries were striking Monday for a second day after contract negotiations with plant owners broke down.

But only one of the nine plants had curtailed production as a result of the strike, Bloomberg News reported. 

U.S. and EU negotiators began their latest round of talks Monday seeking to push through the world's biggest-ever free trade deal, which after nearly two years remain bogged down by public opposition.

The eighth set of talks on the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact, or TTIP, take place in the face of attacks by activists and mixed signals from key governments, including Europe's biggest economy Germany.

President Barack Obama has put forward a $4 trillion budget loaded with spending and tax reforms that will likely be dead on arrival at the Republican-controlled Congress.

Using a healthier economy to turn away from years of austerity-first policies, Obama's plan includes sizable spending on infrastructure, research and the military, according to details released Monday. 

Indonesia's inflation rate slowed in January, official data showed Monday, after the cost of fuel in Southeast Asia's biggest economy fell on the back of lower oil prices.

Inflation rose 6.96 percent year-on-year, slowing from an 8.36 percent rise in December, according to data from the national statistics agency. 

The world's gambling capital Macau saw another month of decline in casino revenues in January, figures showed Monday, as a corruption crackdown by the Chinese government continues to rein in big spenders.

Official figures published by the former Portuguese colony showed that gaming revenues fell 17.4 percent year-on-year to 23.75 billion patacas ($2.97 billion) in January -- cementing an eight month losing streak for the gambling hub.

US authorities are investigating the credit rating agency Moody's over its glowing assessments of mortgage deals in the runup to the 2008 financial crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Citing people familiar with the situation, the newspaper said Justice Department officials had met with several former Moody's executives. It wasn't yet clear if the probe would result in a lawsuit.

Greece will not deliver a strong economic recovery unless authorities loosen austerity programs, U.S. President Barack Obama suggested in remarks that aired Sunday.

"You cannot keep on squeezing countries that are in the midst of depression," Obama told CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" when asked about the situation in crisis-hit Greece.