Total foreign and domestic investments in Arab states rose slightly last year despite widespread unrest, the Kuwait-based Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corp. said on Tuesday.

The investments, both private and government, increased by 1.2 percent to $496 billion in 2011 from $490 billion in the previous year, the organization said in a report without providing details on the foreign share.

A Chinese train maker said Wednesday it will sell components to German engineering giant Siemens, in what will be the first time Chinese high-speed train parts have been exported to Europe.

The deal, reportedly worth more than 11 million euros ($13.6 million), will see parts including some aluminum-alloy car bodies shipped to Europe, said an official with the state-owned China CNR Corporation Limited.

Standard & Poor's cut Greece's debt rating outlook to negative Tuesday, saying the worsening economy and political challenges could soon force another downgrade.

With Greece's sovereign credit rating already at junk-level CCC, S&P said Athens's lenders are likely to have to adjust their bailout financing terms or put up more money to avoid another downgrade for the country.

As Europe battles its never-ending debt crisis, Turkey, with its flourishing economy, is increasingly attracting the attention of German companies, as well as German-born Turks in search of a job.

The Turkish economy is the envy of the crisis-wracked Eurozone: its gross domestic product (GDP) has expanded by an annual average 5.4 percent over the past 10 years. Its public debt has fallen below 40 percent of GDP, much lower than the majority of European countries. And inflation, which was once dizzyingly high, is now under control.

Australia's central bank held interest rates at 3.50 percent for a second consecutive month Tuesday, saying previous cuts were still trickling through the economy despite a softer global outlook.

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Glenn Stevens said the world economy had cooled after rallying earlier in the year and global gross domestic product was now expected to grow "at no more than average pace" this year.

South Korea's cabinet Tuesday endorsed a bill which sets up a special fund to cover the huge cost of potential reunification with North Korea.

The bill calls for dividing the existing Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund into two accounts -- one for promoting cross-border cooperation and the other for covering unification costs, said the unification ministry.

Standard Chartered Bank on Tuesday rejected allegations from U.S. regulators that it hid $250 billion in transactions with Iranian banks for almost a decade in violation of U.S. sanctions.

The bank's shares plunged 14.9 percent to HK$160.10 at the close of trade in Hong Kong and opened 15.7 percent lower in London after New York state regulators branded the lender a "rogue bank".

Iran's currency plunged five percent on Monday in street trading after the central bank announced an imminent decision to revise upwards its official fixed exchange rate used as a market reference.

Money changers were exchanging one U.S. dollar for 21,450 rials at midday, significantly higher than Sunday's 20,440 rate.

Greece's international creditors called their Sunday talks with Athens productive and said the country was committed to hammering out further spending cuts to secure a new tranche of aid.

The so-called troika of creditors -- the EU, IMF and the European Central Bank -- met about the reforms Greece needs to implement to secure 31.5 billion euros ($39 billion) in aid and stay afloat.

U.S. auto giant General Motors said Monday that its sales in China surged to a record 199,503 vehicles in July, defying a market slowdown and moves by a major Chinese city to limit car numbers.

GM's sales in China -- the world's biggest auto market -- rose 15.1 percent in July from the same month last year, it said in a statement.