China's Xi Jinping at a regional summit signed a deal to build a gas pipeline through the impoverished ex-Soviet country of Tajikistan, Tajik television reported Saturday.

The pipeline will transport gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to China in as part of a huge supply deal.

EU finance ministers discussed Saturday how to close down failing banks before they damage the wider economy, a divisive issue for those wary of giving Brussels more power.

Sharp differences emerged Friday at informal talks in Vilnius over a planned Banking Union, the new regulatory framework meant to ensure that the taxpayer no longer foots the bill for bailing out over-extended banks.

Around 100,000 angry Polish trade unionists marched through Warsaw Saturday in the finale of a four-day protest against the unpopular and increasingly fragile center-right government.

The protest reflects widespread public gloom over a sharp economic slowdown in Poland, which has sent the coalition's popularity plunging to its lowest level since Prime Minister Donald Tusk took office in 2007.

Spain's accumulated public debt soared to a record high at the end of June, the Bank of Spain said Friday, shattering government targets despite a relentless austerity squeeze.

Spain, which boasts the eurozone's fourth largest economy, had racked up an unprecedented public debt of 942.8 billion euros ($1.3 trillion) by mid year, the bank said.

British police said Friday they have arrested 12 men over a "sophisticated" plot to remotely take control of a computer at a branch of Santander bank and steal millions of pounds.

Police found a device fitted to a computer in a branch of the bank in London which would have enabled the suspects to download data from the desktop machine.

Eurozone finance ministers meet in calmer times Friday but still need to ensure bailed-out member states meet their targets amid growing speculation some will need more help to get back on track.

The informal talks are overshadowed by upcoming elections in Germany, the 17-nation bloc's paymaster and most powerful economy where the prospect of any more taxpayer funded rescues is hugely unpopular.

A planned free-trade zone in Shanghai is raising hopes that China's new leaders will revive long-stalled economic reforms as they seek to make their mark.

China has become the world's second-largest economy and a driver of global growth thanks to a boom unleashed three decades ago when the Communist Party loosened state control of business and began to embrace the market.

Divided American lawmakers careened Thursday towards a budget deadline that could see the U.S. government shut down on October 1, as their leaders sniped over who is to blame.

The debate over how to fund government is once again pushing Congress to the brink, with Democrats and Republicans seemingly unable even to compromise on a stop-gap measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to keep federal offices and programs running for even two more months.

Around 40 unemployed security guards staged a protest on Thursday on top of the ancient Arch of Constantine next to the Colosseum in Rome, an Agence France Presse photographer saw.

They climbed up on scaffolding surrounding the 1,700-year-old, 21-meter (69-foot) arch and unfurled a banner reading: "Work, Rights and Respect".

Growth in the Group of 20 emerging and advanced economies accelerated in the second quarter of this year to 0.9 percent from 0.6 percent in the previous three month period, the OECD said Thursday.

Most G20 members saw growth pick up momentum in April through May, with Turkey posting the highest quarter-on-quarter expansion of 2.1 percent, said the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.